Photo: Students and friends enjoyed the dedication of Hadgis Field last week, and the first home baseball game on the new Upper School campus.

No School - Friday, April 25

There is no school for students on Friday, April 25 due to an in-service day for teachers.

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.

Benefit Auction News: 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 on Saturday, May 3 for a memorable evening at the Upper School. If you would like to volunteer for the evening please contact Lora Tomba via e-mail or 216-671-2256.

Lower School End-Year Conferences: End-year conferences between Lower School parents and teachers take place between May 19-22. Teachers will contact parents to set up appointments.

May Parent Tech Class: The next free technology course is "Fun With Photoshop Elements" on Thursday, May 1, from 4-5:30 pm in Room 412 of the Upper School. Learn how to use Photoshop Elements to correct, enhance, and manipulate pictures, and have fun with using filters to add WOW effects to your pictures and graphic images!  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.

Lifesavers: We apologize for the last-minute cancellation of the LifeSavers presentation scheduled for this past Wednesday, 4/23. Our presenter Mr. Bob Schuppel was ill. We hope to bring him back to speak at a future event.

9th Grade Health Fair: Thank you to the special guests who hosted presentations for the 9th graders for Health Day on 4/22. Students learned about environmental science, boxing, personal training, nursing and more.

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. 

Last week, several of us had the opportunity to attend a one-day professional workshop with Russell A. Barkley, PhD, who is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina, and is considered to be one of the world's foremost authorities on ADHD in children and adults. I asked Vanessa Diffenbacher, Lower School Head, and Dr. Ethan Schaffer, Lower School Psychologist and Director of our Assessment Center, to share some of what they learned at last week's conference. Stay tuned to next week's Loop, when we will begin to answer your specific questions on ADD.  -Lou Salza

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On Wednesday, April 16, several of us at Lawrence attended conference at Walsh University, where Dr. Russell Barkley presented the newest findings on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  Dr. Barkley's own research and his encyclopedic knowledge of existing ADHD science led to several important insights on the nature of ADHD and how to treat it.

We were so energized by his presentation, we are going schedule an evening series of presentations for the 2008-09 school year, where we will share the information we have learned with parents and friends. Here is just a small sampling of the topics we will discuss:

First, Dr. Barkley asserts that professionals, parents and educators must start viewing ADHD as a real, biologically-based disorder that is likely to be chronic. Most children do not "grow out of" the most important symptoms of ADHD.

These symptoms include dis-inhibition (having significant difficulty waiting before responding to stimuli, such as speaking out in class), self-regulation (an action a person directs to themselves in order to change the likelihood of a future consequence, such as making negative comments that may hurt someone else's feelings) and executive function (planning, organizing and controlling one's actions, such as scheduling or remembering homework).

The positive side of viewing ADHD as a purely biological disorder is that schools and medical professionals can begin to find uniform ways of providing our children with the help they truly need, rather than marginalizing them in the classroom or simply waiting for them to "grow out of it."

Second, Dr. Barkley reinforces the assertion that, despite the words "attention deficit" in the diagnosis, ADHD is not a problem with holding attention at all. In fact, as Mr. Salza has pointed out in previous columns, our kids tend to attend to everything. ADHD is rather an impaired ability to persist towards the completion of a task - whether that task is focusing on a teacher, completing math problems, resisting distraction, sitting still, etc.

The problem ADHD children face is not with the input they are receiving - their brains receive and process information just as well as any other child - but with how they output the information. In other words, a child who struggles with ADHD can fully understand how to do a series of math problems, but his difficulty in remaining focused on the steps of task-completion keep him from finishing the problem.

The fourth point we would like to share with you today, and perhaps the most helpful in a practical sense, was what Dr. Barkley calls the "30% rule".  When it comes to developing inhibition, self-regulation, and executive functioning, Dr. Barkley has concluded that the average ADHD child is about 30% behind his or her peers, and that teacher and parent expectations should be adjusted accordingly. This assertion is based on brain and psychological research, and is not at all related to intelligence or IQ.

For example, a 10 year-old boy with ADHD should have the same expectations regarding the ability to wait in a doctor's office, sit still in school, or complete homework as a 7 year-old boy (30% of 10 is 3, 10 -3 = 7).  

Again, this does NOT mean there is a similar lag or deficit in intelligence, only in the child's ability to persist towards goals or tasks, resist distractions, inhibit verbal or motor impulsivity, engage in thoughtful decision-making, etc. But once we understand where the precise areas of difficulty for our students and children lie, it becomes easier for us to help them hone in on methods of treatment and strategies to help compensate for the deficits they face.

We look forward to sharing more with you in the fall on this topic and encourage you in the meantime to contact us directly if you have any questions or comments.

Vanessa Diffenbacher, Lower School Head (440-526-0003)
Dr. Ethan Schaffer, Lower School Psychologist & Assessment Center Director (440-832-7850)

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).