The IEP Process – Special Education Advice for Parents (Part I – The Beginning)

March 8, 2009 by 3 Comments

Learning about special education is a daunting journey. I’ve been doing it for over four years now and I’m still learning. I can barely remember the very beginning and how confusing it all was. That’s why when I read a call from Karen Nowicki (an integrative coach) for tips for parents with children on IEPs, I responded, even though it was tough to make my response so brief to meet the 100 words limit.

Karen was gathering responses for an article for Root & Sprout (a site I’ve never heard of until then) and has published her piece on IEPs just recently (update on December 3, 2009 – the site seems to have gone defunct since then).

When the article was posted, Karen wrote to me to let me know she received a lot of responses, and could not possibly include all of them, so I’m more than flattered that she did quote parts of my submission and included a link to this blog, even though I’m not anonymous any more. (I was planning to “go public” soon anyway, although I probably would not have published my name, just give the readers enough information that they would be able to find who I am.)

I’m also happy to be in the company of www.weddingsx3.blogspot.com, by Debbie Yost writing about mothering, family life & Down syndrome awareness; www.motheringautism.blogspot.com, by Pam Walsh, and on the same page that mentions www.wrightslaw.com, by Pete & Pam Wright, William & Mary Law School, Education Law Clinic & Special Ed Advocates, and www.LDpodcast.com, by Whitney Hoffman.

The first tip on how to prepare

Preparing for an IEP will require you to read everything made available to you by the school and everything else you can get your hands on to support your child’s rights to special services.

Is similar to what I wrote to her as well

Read, read, read – You have to know the law, your rights, and what the school is obliged to do for your child. There are several very good books on IEPs out there. My absolute favorite: Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide

The “Top Ten IEP Tips” from Carrie Gilmer and “Parent IEP Tips” from Eileen Mullin, are great too.

All that said, I tried to read this article as if I were a parent just starting out in this journey, and I’m afraid I probably would still not know what IEPs are all about and how to start the whole process, especially if my child was not in school yet and I did not know any staff from the district yet.

Most likely I would not understand the advice “Know and use IDEA 2004 laws and proper IEP procedure,” especially given the fact that the article does not explain what IDEA 2004 laws are. It is, of course, everyday language for parents of children with disabilities and in special education, but typical parents usually have never heard of IDEA (the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), unless they work in Special Education themselves. And if they go searching for the term, they are most likely to get to the U.S. Department of Education web site, which is not very “beginning parent” friendly. (as I commented on in “IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) U.S. Department of Education Web Site” from December 31, 2008)

The advice “Become an expert on your child’s disabilities” while extremely important, also assumes a parent knows what the child’s disability is. At the beginning of the journey, many parents may not even have a diagnosis yet and don’t know what to search for. In our case, the specialists disagreed on a diagnosis for quite a while. (as I complained in “Personal Introduction“ from September 2007)

So here comes:

Advice for Parents of Preschool-Age Children

When nearly four years ago my son’s private daycare teachers politely told us they won’t be able to “meet his needs” the following year when the number of children in the classroom was going from nine to fifteen and advised us to contact the local school district to see if he qualifies for special education services, I had to call a couple of places in the district before I found the right person to talk to. By the way, at that age “special education services” meant an “integrated” preschool with a comparatively low number of kids and a high number of teachers in the class, who can keep good tabs on everyone.

I know now that the place to start may not necessarily be called “Special Education Office.” In Massachusetts that’s usually called “Pupil Services.” If a district is large, the main office might refer a parent to a local school’s special education coordinator.

Whoever you talk to in that office will probably ask why you think your child should be evaluated and will ask for copies of any paperwork that would support that. They might ask for letters from the pediatrician and/or current teachers. It wouldn’t hurt if you wrote a letter too, listing all of your concerns, with examples. (I like to say things like “I am concerned about my son’s x y and z, because I have observed that …. Because of the concerns mentioned above, I am asking for ….”)

Starting the Binder

The day you first call the “Special Education” department at school is also when you should start a binder to document everything and where you start filing all paperwork, including the logs of phone calls.

I learned about the binder idea in a workshop “Getting Organized” presented to our local Special Education Parent Advisory Council by the Federation of Children with Special Needs. Until then I had been just simply keeping files in my file cabinet. But just about the same time I went to the workshop I found out I routinely ended up taking the files out of my file cabinet and lugging them to various appointments and meetings, where inevitably I was asked if these are originals or copies. I had to say “these are originals,” at which point they’d go and make copies, and sometimes, not often but it did happen once or twice, a page or two from the original would get lost.

Now I still keep the originals in the file cabinet, but as soon as I get any paperwork, I make at least three copies of the originals for the binder, one of which serves as the “pseudo-original” for copying, the other one is an extra copy I can just give out if necessary, and the third one is a “mark-up” copy where I write my comments.

I learned about the phone call log from what I consider one of the best books on special education — Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide, by Pam Wright and Pete Wright, founders of the Wrightslaw web site, which is packed with useful information. Until then it never occurred to me to create a written record of meetings and phone call conversations, but it’s a great idea, because couple months down the road you may not remember the day you called, who initiated the phone call, even if you remember who you talked to, the reason for the meeting or the call, and exactly what was discussed.

What I do now is a bit different than what the Wrights suggest — I write a follow up e-mail to the person I met with starting with “Thank you for taking the time to meet with me (talk to me) on (date) to discuss x, y, and z.” and including all the pertinent information about the conversation, especially if something was decided or agreed to during the conversation. I then print the e-mail and put it in the binder in the “Correspondence” section.

My son’s binder currently has the following sections, separated by labeled tab dividers (like the Avery(R) Write-On Tab Dividers With Erasable Laminated Tabs, 5-Tab, White):

  • Current grade work by date (the work he does at school that is being sent home)
  • Current year’s correspondence by date
  • Current year’s IEP
  • Current year’s progress reports, meeting notes, and data
  • Current year’s report cards
  • Last year’s correspondence by date (for the first couple of months of meetings in a given school year, after that I file it in an “archival” binder)
  • Last year’s IEP
  • Last year’s progress reports, meeting notes, and data
  • Last year’s report cards
  • Extra copies of documents (for photocopying, each in a separate plastic sleeve)

First meeting with the school (pre-IEP)

During the first meeting the school will probably hand you a lot of forms to sign consenting to various testing. The testing is supposed to assess the child “in all areas of suspected disability.” (IDEA Statue, Title I, B, 614, b, 3, B) The typical testing at preschool age usually includes

After all the testing is done, the school will (should) send the parents all results, with raw data and an explanation and recommendations for the future, and schedule a meeting to develop an IEP. At that point the school usually also asks (should ask) the parents to write a “Vision Statement” and “Parent or Student Concerns.”

The thing is – without knowing any information beyond the basic “Procedural Safeguards” and “Special Education Guides” that the school hands out, figuring out what to include in the “Vision Statement” and “Parent Concerns” might turn out to be a tricky homework. But that’s a huge topic, probably deserving a separate blog entry. I’ll try to get to it soon. (I’ve been very busy recently, hence the decline in the number of posts.) But I hope the above, nearly two-thousand word-overview somewhat covers the “What to Expect” part covering the very beginning of the process.

By the way, the tips I narrowed down to 100 words or fewer that I sent to Karen were as follows:

1. Don’t despair. Join a parent networking group if your district has one. In some states a Special Education Parent Advisory Council is mandated by law. It may be very active and working closely with the school administration or it may not. But it’s a great place to meet other parents who understand what you’re dealing with.

2. Read, read, read! You have to know the law, your rights, and what the school is obliged to do for your child. There are several very good books on IEPs out there. My absolute favorite: Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy: The Special Education Survival Guide.

I see networking and knowledge as crucial to the whole process. You need to learn about what you’re dealing with and since you’re not the first person starting on this daunting journey (even though it might feel like it at the beginning), connecting with other parents who’ve been doing it for a couple of years usually turns out to be very helpful for several reasons.

Filed Under: Education, Intelligence, Other Blogs, PDD-NOS, Personal Information, Special Education, Testing, Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

Sari Solden – Part Seven of the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

May 2, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Guest of the seventh lecture in the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series was Sari Solden.

Sari Solden has a Masters Degree in clinical counseling from California State University and is also licensed as a marriage and family therapist (LMFT). She currently serves on the professional advisory board of the National Attention Deficit Disorder Association and has a private practice in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In addition, she’s the author of Journeys Through ADDulthood: Discover a New Sense of Identity and Meaning with Attention Deficit Disorder, published in 2002 by Walker & Company and Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Your Life, published in 1995 by Underwood Books (second, revised edition was published in 2005).

In short, she said that it’s okay to be disorganized and messy. Well, no… Not quite. At least not exactly in these words.

Solden’s message was aimed primarily (but not only) at women with ADHD – she emphasized how crucial it is for women to move “from perfection to fullness” which (if I understood her point correctly) means to let go of the idea of trying to achieve the impossible and unattainable ideal of perfection in life and instead find strength from embracing one’s differences and learning how to respect oneself and expecting respect from others.

Women, according to Solden, have a harder time getting diagnosed with ADHD because they are not as hyperactive as men and instead frequently are given the diagnosis of depression, which of course is present, because women, more than men, feel more ashamed of themselves if they cannot meet the prevalent cultural expectations of women as being good organizers, housekeepers, and caretakers. There’s more acceptance in the society for men who are disorganized — the absent-minded professor type.

Women are also more likely to overfocus on their deficits than men and have a harder time to seek help. Once they do look for help they also have a harder time with healing and improving their condition because they continue being so critical of themselves.

Solden says that instead of trying to attain the lofty goal of trying to live up the ideal stereotype, women need to redefine their idea of success and learn to build on their strengths and their unique traits, concentrate what they’re good at while not obsessing about but acknowledging and coming to terms with their weaknesses.

(At that point I was thinking that Solden has been saying also applies to children –parents need to help children “experience success” – find an activity that the kids are good at and then teach them to concentrate on the feeling of being successful to understand that they have both strengths and weaknesses.)

Solden also “warned” that once women seek and receive help and get better, they may need to know how to renegotiate relationships, because they frequently become more outspoken and less intimidated by those around them, which might lead to conflicts, because their family members, friends and co-workers may not know how to “deal” with this “new” person, so confident and full of wonderful ideas and energy.

I liked the story that Solden told at that point – at one time when she was getting ready to go to a conference, she kept losing her conference ID (I believe), and her daughter was getting frustrated to the point that she finally said “Mom, you’re a very messy person.” In response Solden asked her “How big a problem is it for you? How important is it whether I’m messy or organized,” explaining that at the conference she will be talking to other women with ADHD who are probably just as disorganized and messy as she is. And the daughter responded “Tell them it’s not important, what you feel inside is important.”

That also seems to be a pattern in women – to concentrate so much on the external and conforming to the perception and expectations of others to the point that it overshadows their own feelings, desires, and ambitions.

Ultimately, Solden said, women need to learn how to let go of the ideal, allow themselves some slack and acknowledge that it’s okay to get help with housekeeping, laundry, babysitting, paying bills, organizing, whatever it takes. And get social support from family, friends, or even virtual friends on the Internet.

I hope it is all right to quote here an excerpt from her book that is posted to her web site. “I said I’ve learned to live successfully with ADD as a woman. The definition of the word successful is very important, because women very often get locked into a fruitless search for an unachievable goal. When I say I’m living successfully, it doesn’t mean that I’m living stress-free. It doesn’t mean that I’m perfectly organized. It doesn’t mean that I don’t have to constantly strategize and struggle. And it doesn’t mean I’m never overwhelmed or that I don’t sometimes still hide.

What it does mean, for me, to live successfully with ADD, is that I’ve found a way to move the focus of my life onto my strengths, my talents and my abilities, to increase my choices and options. […] It means that I’ve learned to separate out my strengths and my weaknesses and to embrace both of those as part of myself, even though it’s a long stretch. I’ve come to accept the fact that I do have deficits out of proportion with the rest of my abilities, and that these do severely impact my life. I’ve learned to separate out the shame, embarrassment, and guilt surrounding these difficulties from my core sense of self.”

If that peaked your interest, you can see more excerpts from Solden’s books on her web site.

Solden also announced that pretty soon she will be launching a new web site and encouraged everyone interested to contact her to become part of its “special pre-launch group.”

As a sidenote, I also found on her web site a link to “National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization.” Turns out, there exists “a non-profit organization serving professional organizers and related professionals who are interested in the study and methods of serving chronically disorganized people.” I had no idea someone might be interested in studying chronically disorganized people. They even have a clutter hoarding scale.

Filed Under: ADHD, Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

Positively ADD by Cathy A. Corman and Edward Hallowell — Part Six of the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD Series

April 30, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Guest of the sixth lecture (Tuesday, April 29, 2008) in the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series was Cathy A. Corman, Ph.D.

Cathy Corman, a former assistant professor of history at Harvard University, with a Ph.D. from Yale’s Program in American Studies, and a mother of triplets all of whom have learning differences and ADD, is a co-author of Positively ADD: Real Success Stories to Inspire Your Dreams, a book for 9 to 12-year-olds which she co-wrote with Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, published in 2006 by the Walker Books for Young Readers.

Positively ADD: Real Success Stories to Inspire Your Dreams profiles seventeen successful adults with ADHD:

(disclaimer: I am not 100% sure that the links I posted are about the same person or just a person with the same name, if you think I posted an incorrect link, or think a different link would be more suitable, please do let me know.)

As Corman reported, she got the inspiration to write a book about successful people with ADHD during a trip with her family – while on a flight she read an article about a successful person with ADD and after giving the article to her son to read, he started asking “Could I do that?” as if asking “Could I have a good life as well, like this person?”

Corman discovered that there were no books for children about adults thriving with ADD, people who are happy in life, showing that ADHD doesn’t have to hold one back.

The people Corman and Hallowell interviewed for the book recall having lots of trouble in school, being kicked out of class, feeling ashamed and guilty, or flunking college. However, as adults, they have found a way to turn their ADHD into a “gift” – they come to terms with the diagnosis and found their strengths coming from it.

In closing, Corman emphasized that children with ADHD also need to find a passion, find something that’s fun and that they’re good at, just like the people profiled in Positively ADD: Real Success Stories to Inspire Your Dreams.

You can also read what another successful person (an attorney!) with ADD had to say about this show on the discussion about the series carried on the ADD Forums discussion board.

Filed Under: "Insider's" view, ADHD, Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

Peter S. Jensen – Part Five of the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD Series

April 29, 2008 by Leave a Comment

Guest of the fifth lecture (Monday, April 28, 2008) in the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series was Dr. Peter S. Jensen.

Dr. Jensen earned his medical degree from George Washington University Medical School and currently is the CEO and Director of the REACH Institute, the Resource for Advancing Children’s Health, created “to accelerate the acceptance and effective use of proven interventions that foster children’s emotional and behavioral health” (formally launched in July, 2007).

From 1989 to 2000, Dr. Jensen was the Associate Director of Child and Adolescent Research at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and while at NIMH he served as the lead NIMH investigator on the six-site NIMH and Department of Education-funded study of Multimodal Treatment of ADHD (the MTA Study). He has also been involved with the follow-up study of children who participated in the initial MTA Study, the findings of which are discussed in a July 20, 2007 press release from the NIMH titled “Improvement Following ADHD Treatment Sustained in Most Children, But Linked Problems Persist Into Adolescence – Major Follow-up Study”.

Dr. Jensen is also a co-chair of the School Mental Health Alliance, “a coalition of over 25 organizations with interests in advancing school-based mental health services,” which in 2005 released a 37-page-long position paper “Working Together to Promote Academic Performance, Social and Emotional Learning, and Mental Health for All Children,” distributed to members of the Senate by Senators Pete Domenici and Edward Kennedy.

Last but not least, in addition to writing numerous articles for scholarly and academic journals, Dr. Jensen is also the author of Making the System Work for Your Child with ADHD (Making the System Work for Your Child), published in 2004, by Guilford Press; co-author of Toward a New Diagnostic System for Child Psychopathology: Moving Beyond the DSM, published in 2006 also by Guilford Press, and co-editor of Parent Empowerment Advisors Guide (Improving Children’s Mental Health Through Parent Empowerment: A Guide to Assisting Families) published by Oxford University Press in 2008.

Dr. Jensen’s message tied in with what Dr. Hallowell and Kathy Kolbe were saying in previous interviews – unconditional love and support of the family and other adults make the biggest difference over time in a child’s life. Children need to know that they are loved and that ADHD will not hold them back in reaching the stars. He also emphasized the importance of having good relationship with all people involved in child’s treatment, therapy, and schooling, so that both the child and the parents feel comfortable with everyone on the “team.”

Later in the program Dr. Jensen discussed adult ADHD, and the need for practitioners to be adequately trained and educated in diagnosing adult ADHD which manifests itself differently than childhood ADHD, and might show up in being inattentive, impulsive, missing deadlines, and failing to make up to promises. He commented that even though the Civil Rights Law guarantees accommodations for people with disabilities, many individuals with ADHD are unwilling to admit that they have ADHD to their boss and co-workers and request for accommodations for the fear of losing their job. Yet, Dr. Jensen noted, even adults need to have a supportive team around them to succeed – their spouse, their family, their doctor, maybe a coach, and if possible an understanding boss and co-workers.

Filed Under: ADHD, Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

ADDA – Attention Deficit Disorder Association – Part Four of the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

April 27, 2008 by Leave a Comment


Guests of the fourth session (Thursday, April 24, 2008) in the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD Series were board members of the Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA), “the worlds leading adult ADHD organization dedicated to providing information, resources and networking opportunities to adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and the professionals who serve them.”

The association organizes an annual national conference, which this year will take place on July 10-13, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Members of ADDA also receive FOCUS, the quarterly publication of the organization and have access to weekly teleclasses on ADHD.

ADDA has again led the way for the creation of a U.S. Senate resolution designating September 19, 2007 as “National AD/HD Awareness Day.”

The following guests participated in the conversation about ADDA and coaching individuals with ADDA:

David Giwerc, immediate past president of ADDA, also Master Certified Coach (MCC) and Founder/President of the ADD Coach Academy, “a nationally recognized, comprehensive training program designed to teach the skills essential for powerful coaching of individuals with AD/HD.”

Linda S. Anderson, current president of ADDA, also MA, MCC, SCAC, a member of the International Coach Federation (ICF), a Golden Circle member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and co-founder of the Philadelphia NAPO chapter, and founder of Getting Clear coaching practice, specializing in coaching adults with ADHD.

Evelyn Polk Green, MS.Ed, President Elect, a Past President of the CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) National Board of Directors, an adult with AD/HD and the mother of two sons, both of whom are also diagnosed with AD/HD.

Beverly Rohman, ADDA board member, ADHD coach and consultant for learning differences and school searches. She is the founder of The Learning Connections, a coaching practice “working with students, families and adults with Attention Deficit Disorder and other learning and life challenges.”

The organization seems to be geared mostly toward adults with ADHD, however, in the FAQ I was glad to find a reference to an organization I did not know existed – Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc. (COPAA), “an independent, nonprofit, §501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization of attorneys, advocates and parents” whose “primary mission is to secure high quality educational services for children with disabilities.”

Filed Under: ADHD, Coaching, National Organizations, Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

Kathy Kolbe and Conation – Part Three of the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

April 24, 2008 by Leave a Comment

The guest of the third session (Wednesday, April 23, 2008) in the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD Series was Kathy Kolbe.

Kathy Kolbe is a great speaker and her message was very inspiring – we are who we are, each of us is different, and we have to accept each other for who we are and not criticize one another and try to change one another to behave and think “our way.”

Kathy Kolbe is the daughter of Eldon F. Wonderlic, a pioneer in the field of Industrial Psychology (cognitive testing) and founder of Wonderlic,Inc.

During the show, Kolbe recalled how she used to ask her father about his tests and questioned the premise and the importance of cognitive (or IQ) testing. She disagreed with the idea that someone’s intelligence is the most crucial measure of a person and wondered “how how smart you are can have anything to do with what you can do in this world.” She thought there’s more to a person than intelligence and her father suggested she go and try to find it out.

So she did and founded Kolbe Corp.

And while the mission of the company her father founded is to help “thousands of employers worldwide hire and keep the best employees” the goal of her company, as stated on the “About Kolbe Corp.” page is to “provide materials, insights, and experts to help people of all ages identify their instinctive talents, develop their confidence, and use their innate abilities to succeed in a plethora of situations, from getting through school to running a business.”

Kolbe emphasized during the show that everyone was created to be perfect at something, so there are no best (and worst) among us, we just have a different way of seeing and doing things. We all can be successful and happy in life if we have the freedom to do things the way that shows our strengths. We also have to allow children to do the same.

To help figure out what drives us, what makes us tick, our Modus Operandi (MO), she “developed an instrument to measure the instinctive action and problem-solving styles of individuals. This dimension of the mind, called ‘conation,’ determines the way in which each individual might feel most comfortable and perform best in undertaking any action.”

On the Kolbe Corp. web site you can read more about the Kolbe Concept, about “conation,” and about the “Four Action Modes.”

You can also read about this idea in Kathy Kolbe’s books: The Conative Connection : Acting on Instinct published in 1997; Powered by Instinct: 5 Rules for Trusting Your Guts published in 2003; and Pure Instinct published in 2004.

When asked why we need to know about “conation,” Kolbe answered that there’s a tendency to misidentify ADHD as a cognitive issue, when in fact, it’s just the matter of Modus Operandi.

Kolbe used a term “false ADHD” when she talked about how some children whose Modus Operandi is to resist structure, to be active, and to learn by doing and touching, can be misidentified as having ADHD. (Unfortunately, neither Dr. Hallowell nor Dr. Handelman asked her what the difference between “false” and “true” ADHD is. I would have like that explained.)

While talking about schools, school rules, and curriculum Kolbe said something I found very interesting – that while 20% of general population has a tendency to insist on structure, following procedures, etc., as much as 70% of teachers are like that (because they instinctively choose a profession that is highly structured and organized).

Children whose MO is different from their teachers’ MO, suffer at school and are told that they have a problem, when in real world their tendency to multitask, be always “on the go” and skip the details for the big picture usually turns out to be a great strength.

Another interesting thing Kolbe said about schools is that it’s an environment where everyone has the same job, which has to be done the same way, every day after day, while in the real workplace there may not be much consistency, pretty much everyone does something different or in a different way and employees often need to switch gears, jump from project to project, etc.

(I ought to note that Kolbe pointed out that teachers do not intend to make suffer, they just simply may not understand that some of their pupils have a completely different way of doing and learning things, they need to have that pointed out and explained to them.)

Kolbe also talked about relationships and how a lot of conflicts are due to the fact that people don’t understand the “nature” of the other person and try to change them when in reality, that’s impossible and just makes the other person miserable.

To measure people’s Modus Operandi and help them explain what they’re good at, the company offers several “Kolbe Indexes/Instinct Assessments” which can be taken online (for a fee of course). You can see the questions and sample results without paying. If you don’t have much time to spend on the Kolbe Corp. site, at least view (listen to) the Sample Result for Youth (you have to allow pop-ups to be able to open that).

In closing, Dr. Hallowell praised the concept of “conation” saying we should “embrace it” because “it’s a tool to help in understanding who we are, it’s freeing and validating – I’m the way I should be.”

Filed Under: ADHD, Testing, Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

DaVinci Method and LENS – Part Two of the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

April 23, 2008 by Leave a Comment

The guests of the second session (Tuesday, April 22, 2008) in the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD Series were Garret LoPorto and Rebecca Shafir.

Garret LoPorto, a successful entrepreneur with ADHD, is the author of The Da Vinci Method – Break Out & Express Your Fire, published in 2005, by (I believe) his own company, Media for Your Mind, Inc.

LoPorto shared that despite great social life in school he had a low self-esteem as a student and dropped out of college. When he started his own business, he realized the traits of ADHD which caused trouble for him in college were helping him be successful in his business.

He says on his web site that “virtually all self-made millionaires, billionaires, leaders and captains of industry have the same personality type” – they “like thrill, excitement and risk, are a highly creative problem solvers, impulsive in nature, ambitious and industrious, have tons of energy for things they are interested in, and love to be the hero in an emergency.”

Apparently on the Myers Briggs Personality Tests people like that are categorized as N (Intuition) types who intuitively “pay more attention to the patterns and possibilities that they see in the information they receive”) and P (Perceiving) types who “use their perceiving function […] in their outer life” and prefer “a more flexible and adaptable lifestyle”).

LoPorto calls this combination the Da Vinci personality and as examples lists among others: Richard Branson (owner of the Virgin Empire), Bill Clinton, Ben Cohen (co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s), George Lucas (Creator of Star Wars), and others.

LoPorto’s book, The Da Vinci Method – Break Out & Express Your Fire, gives tips on how to master this “fiery” personality. Now he has a new product – a “Psychoactive Soundâ„¢ CD Audio Set” that “brings together technologies from brain research with innovative recording and sound-processing techniques” and is “designed to trigger your brain to produce brainwave patterns that match exactly the state you want to experience.” The set includes CDs for “Alert Focus, Inspired Tranquility, Deep Meditation & Prayer, ‘Better than Coffee,’ and Deep HGH Recovery.”

Rebecca Shafir is the director of the Low Energy Neurofeedback System (LENS) program at the Hallowell Center. The LENS program is “a safe and non-invasive procedure that monitors and analyzes EEG (brain activity) using brain wave monitors on the scalp. The LENS system uses that information as feedback for sending signals back to the brain to normalize brain activity for those whose brain waves are disrupted. Conditions that improve with LENS feedback training include bipolar, depression, anxiety, OCD, fibromyalgia and Asperger’s. […] The LENS method accomplishes improved functioning in about one third the time compared with traditional neurofeedback approaches, with the same durability of treatment effects.”

During the show Rebecca said that while the traditional neurofeedback methods requires on average 40 to 60 or more visits, with the LENS method the patients see improvement with an average of 15 sessions.

Dr. Hallowell pointed out that while both methods anecdotally have great results, it can’t be said that they are “scientifically proven” yet, because there have not yet been any double-blind studies done to prove their effectiveness.

The difference between both methods is that you can listen to the “Da Vinci Brainwaves” when and where you feel like it – you choose the CD and the time; but you have to monitor your reaction yourself – LoPorto cautioned to listen to only one rotation at a time.

With the LENS method you have to make an appointment and travel to the clinic, making it more inconvenient than the Da Vinci Brainwaves, but a trained technician monitors your brainwaves and can adjust the “feedback” as not to overdo the amount of stimulation.

Filed Under: ADHD, Therapy and Treatment, Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

The Gift of ADD – Part One of the Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series

April 21, 2008 by Leave a Comment

One of the most recognizable people in the ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ) circles, Dr. Ned Hallowell, author of, among others, Driven To Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood Through Adulthood; Delivered from Distraction: Getting the Most out of Life with Attention Deficit Disorder; and The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness: Five Steps to Help Kids Create and Sustain Lifelong Joy, and founder of the Hallowell Center is on a campaign for people to recognize and accept that ADHD is not a disability and hindrance but a gift that one has to unwrap.

Today (April 21, 2008) was the first of a series of eight one-hour lectures that he and Dr. Kenny Handelman organized to be aired on the Internet through their web site, www.unwrappingthegiftofadd.com.

I think initially they wanted to limit the access to just under 500 people, but there was so much interest in the series, that somehow they were able to increase it to over 3,700. I think it’s still possible to sign up for the following lectures – three that will be aired this week, and four next week

After registering, through the web site you can also download a 16-page report authored by both doctors titled “Find the Genius in ADD.”

What Dr. Hallowell and Dr. Handelman are saying is that looking at ADHD as a disability and pathology is wrong and leads to a “downward spiral” of thinking that “this ‘disorder’ is going to ruin [...] lives.” What they propose instead is thinking of ADHD as a gift.

During the first lecture Dr. Hallowell was saying that distractibility is basically a higher form of curiosity.

He’s got that right! My six-year-old has calmed down somewhat since the time he dismantled the faucet at his daycare when he was two, but he still begs me to allow him do experiments with vinegar and soda, and likes to mix various ingredients to see what happens and how they react. So far it’s been relatively harmless, but he says he really would like to turn his bedroom into a chemistry lab. He also likes learning about electricity but I told him to never ever try the experiment I did once when I was his age of checking what will happen when you put a paper clip into the outlet. (I was lucky, when I saw the sparks I let go off the clip fast enough not to get hurt and only blew the fuses for the whole place, but my parents, who had guests over that evening, weren’t too happy with me.)

As far as impulsivity goes – Dr. Hallowell linked impulsivity with creativity which, as he says, depends, and in fact thrives on spontaneity and lack of inhibition.

It’s all very positive and hope inspiring. I think I should read “Find the Genius in ADD” at the beginning of each day to remember its message when my son makes a mess in the kitchen while getting too enthusiastic with vinegar and soda or carves with a nail a big heart and “I love you” on another piece of furniture (like he did on my antique dresser).

By the way, a guest speaker during the first lecture was Blake Taylor, an 18-year-old who was diagnosed with ADHD at five, who recently published a quickly-gaining fame book ADHD & Me: What I Learned from Lighting Fires at the Dinner Table, published by the New Harbinger Publications. He said that because his mother treated his ADHD as a gift from the beginning and motivated him, it made a difference in how he viewed his ADHD. Now, he’s a student at UC, Berkeley.

Filed Under: ADHD, Unwrapping the Gift of ADD series