Benefit Auction

Thanks to everyone who sent in RSVPs for Sonnets, Phonics & Pi - A Gala with a Touch of "Class". We look forward to seeing many of you at tomorrow night's event!

Summer School Deadlines

The deadline to enroll in Summer Programs for Lower and Upper School is Friday, May 30. See descriptions on the bottom r-hand side of this newsletter for more details.

Internet Safety at Home: The last free parent technology course this year is "Parental Control on Your Home Computer" on Thursday, May 15, from 4-5:30 pm in Room 412 of the Upper School. Learn how to protect your child while he/she is on the computer at home.  Parents, staff and friends of the school are invited to attend. For questions, contact Sally Garza via e-mail or at 440-832-7840. To see the complete list of free courses, click here.

Lower School Summer Programs: Lawrence is currently enrolling students for Summer School programs, from June 16 - July 11. The Lower School offers a morning academic program with remediation in reading, written expression, language arts and math. Its afternoon program will focus on creativity and fun with technology, art and physical education. For details, please click here or visit the Summer School link at www.lawrenceschool.org. Students do not need to be enrolled at Lawrence during the school year to register, so please help us spread the word!

Upper School Summer Programs: Upper School is enrolling students for Summer School programs, from June 16 - July 11. Courses include math, science, assistive technology, organization, music, drama, cooking, physical education, history, creative writing, keyboarding, forensics and more. High School students may take courses for credit. Students do not need to be enrolled at Lawrence during the school year to register, so please help us spread the word! For a complete listing of courses and details on enrollment, please click here or visit the Summer School link on www.lawrenceschool.org. 

Thank you to those who took time to share their thoughts and questions about ADD.  Several of our readers expressed their appreciation to Chris Achkar for the blog he wrote the week before last.  I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Chris for sharing his perspectives - for his energy and optimism, and for his determination to succeed.

One thing that struck me as I read Chris' blog was the level of his self-awareness - his insights into how his mind works and his ability to cope and adjust - along with his refusal to accept failure. These are key ingredients in the resilience we all hope to see grow in our kids as they navigate the often choppy waters of their school years.

While ADD persists into adulthood, the impact in school is often the most intense, and can create feelings of defeat and discouragement. Our job is to make sure our children do not draw any permanent conclusions about themselves based on how they perform tasks in school. Or, as Mark Twain once quipped (I paraphrase), "Don't let school interfere with our children's education!"

So, thank you, Chris. And thank you to the Lawrence teachers, administrators and staff for programs that give students the opportunity to learn and grow in an environment that fosters self acceptance and self awareness, and encourages the kind of self-advocacy that Chris described was so important to him as he matriculates to college next year.

Over the next two weeks, I have decided to use the wealth of information provided by Russell Barkley at this month's ADHD conference to provide some thoughts in response to the questions readers have been sending in.

The questions you sent fell into several categories:

• What can we do to prepare students for transitions to high school, where presumably the demands on executive skills and time management increase? And how do we prepare students for the transition to adult life, where the symptoms of ADD may persist and interfere with success in the workplace?
• There were several questions about medication as a treatment - and even one about why some students are resistant to taking the medication prescribed by physicians for treatment of ADHD.
• Another parent asked about summer activities and projects designed to keep "small but significant degree of academic structure" in the lives of our students during the vacation weeks.
• There were questions about how to help and support students who are in schools where there may be little understanding, acceptance or flexibility in regard to students with learning differences. The greatest challenge for our kids in school and in the work place is organizing time, space and materials - then planning effectively. Barkley refers to these as "executive skills."

In response to the first set of questions, what seem to be key factors in assuring successful transitions to high schools, colleges, and even to jobs and professions is accurate understanding of the strengths and challenges our students bring to the tasks and requirements they are likely to encounter. 

Most of us assume heavy homework will be a problem, and it certainly is for some of our students. It is therefore very important to compare the strengths and challenges students have with the support and demands of the schools and college to which they aspire.  Choose carefully - and avoid those where the demands will be too great, or the support insufficient for requirements like homework, which will not be as important a factor once our kids are through secondary school.

The challenges of the workplace may be quite different from the challenges faced in school because of the heavy emphasis on due dates, time and requirements for planning in school. In the workplace, the challenges may again fall into the category of time and materials management, but there may not be so many different required "sets" in which to stay current.

There is often more flexibility in regard to time in the workplace - and even college students experience a relief from the relentless pressure of time that is so customary in high school. 

Dr. Barkley has published some provocative research regarding the persistence of ADD from childhood to adulthood, and the symptoms that can interfere with our students finding satisfactory employment.  ADHD persists into adulthood in 65-85% of the cases studied in a longitudinal study of 21 and 27 year-olds.  People with ADHD are more often fired, change jobs, get lower performance ratings, and have lower overall socio-economic status when compared with peers that have no ADHD. Interestingly, by the time they reach their thirties, these kids are 35% more likely to be self-employed (see the blog for December 07 regarding entrepreneurs). 

Another major transition that parents face is the transition from car passenger to car driver. We were stunned (but not so surprised) to read and hear Dr. Barkley's stats on students with ADHD and driving: slower reaction and braking latencies, more speeding and other citations, more accidents, more injuries, and greater adverse impact of alcohol on driving.  Here the 30% rule that Mrs. Diffenbacher and Dr. Shaffer wrote about last week takes a heavy toll and may require a different approach before handing over the keys to the family car. 

In next week's blog, I will begin to tackle the questions regarding medication, summer activities, reading materials and how we might best help children in other schools where there may be little understanding about learning differences.

See you this Saturday at the Upper School for our annual benefit auction: Sonnets, Phonics and Pi--a Gala with a Touch of Class! Have a great weekend!

Lou 

Did this week's Head Notes column inspire you, puzzle you, or otherwise stir a response you would like to share? Let Lou know how you feel!  He welcomes all comments and correspondence via e-mail or phone (440-832-7820).