I'm a Teacher | Integrated Learning Therapy

What are possible causes of childrens’ concentration problems?

Oct 16, 2024 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog

Teachers have so many roles to play and balls to juggle that life can seem overwhelming for much of the time. Added to their load is the expectation that they have to be able to meet the needs of children with a wide variety of abilities and challenges. No wonder they feel unraveled by the end of term!

But is there something they can do to perhaps better understand the causes of the frustrating behaviours they have to deal with in classrooms every day? When children continually daydream, fail to listen, seem to be unable to follow simple instructions and are incapable of completing any work, it is understandable that their thoughts turn to ‘ADHD’. Social media also continues to emphasise the number of children diagnosed with ADHD in various countries so it seems logical to conclude that the child in their class is yet another with the disorder. But perhaps they’re making a mistake.

South Africa has one of the highest rates in the world of prescribing medication for ADHD – even higher than the USA. Parents are lamenting that sometimes a third of their child’s class is on some or other psychostimulant or other brain-altering drug to control difficult behaviour.

It is easy to believe that ADHD is a widespread mental disorder but that is a fallacy. In our work, Integrated Learning Therapy practitioners and teachers who have studied with us see how other underlying causes can be ignored in favour of an ‘easy’ diagnosis, with a seemingly quick fix of a drug to quieten children down and calm the classroom. When we take the time and the trouble to investigate more closely, we have found there are many other causes for children’s inability to behave appropriately and learn efficiently.

Our approach finds support around the world, where there is far greater emphasis on finding out why a child behaves in certain ways or fails to learn rather than accepting the symptoms. So many underlying causes can cause identical symptoms – and the actual incidence of ‘real’ ADHD is far, far lower than commonly believed

Some of these causes are due to neurodevelopmental problems, meaning that brain development did not proceed optimally. These we can identify and correct. Other causes are linked to nutrition intolerances and poor diets. Others may be due to lifestyle, anxiety and so on.

My fervent wish is that teachers could be better equipped with the knowledge and skills to understand what lies beneath the surface. We see the iceberg, but have no understanding of what is invisible to us below the level of the water.

This is why Integrated Learning Therapy (ILT) offers in-service courses designed to help teachers gain this knowledge. Our eco-systemic approach has been helping children for nearly twenty years now to shed the label of ADHD and other incorrect diagnoses. Teachers who train with us stop insisting that children have a mental condition and pushing parents towards medications. Schools have made changes to tuck shops and lunch boxes too and even added brief periods of movement to help children’s behaviour improve. This is the natural, sensible and intelligent approach to the torrent of behavioural challenges we experience in the classrooms.

Our courses are accredited with SACE so in addition to valuable, add-on knowledge, you gain CPTD points. ILT 1 will earn you 14 points.

In the words of a fellow teacher: “Integrated Learning Therapy should be compulsory for all teacher training courses. I’m really seeing children with new eyes these days!”

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Can you help your child to enjoy maths?

Oct 9, 2024 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog

I attended a talk on the magic and mysteries of numbers recently. The presenter gave fascinating insights to the world of mathematics but admitted that too many people are wary of maths and tend to avoid the subject. It seems as though children need encouraging to look at the world of numbers with enjoyment rather than fear. How can you help?

Recently Dr Melania Alvarez of the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences and University of British Columbia Department of Mathematics, and Dr Lindsey Daniels, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Mathematics were asked how we can help children succeed at maths. Their answers to key questions are given below.

Why do you think some young people are scared of math?

MA: Most children like math when they are very young, but as they hear from their teachers, parents and people around them that math is hard or difficult, a fear of math or anxiety sets in.

It’s important for parents to instead talk about the importance of math and how fun and interesting it can be.

LD: One of the issues for students leaving high school and entering university is uncertainty. At university, classes are much bigger and the pace is often faster.

What can parents do to set their children up for math success?

MA: Parents can expose their children to fun and interesting math activities at all ages. For instance, did you know you can earn a living doing origami for NASA?

There are a lot of games you can play, and they don’t have to cost money. For example, when you’re out driving, use the numbers on license plates to get to a specific number. We’ve put together a resource with more of these sorts of games.

Lead by example and show an interest in math. When children see their parents reading, they read. Math is the same. Teach them how to think like a mathematician by asking them, how did you use math today?

LD: It’s important to be consistent. Math is like stacking LEGOs—it’s OK if there’s one missing brick when building a wall, but if there are multiple missing bricks, it will crumble. We want strong foundations before moving on to new concepts.

Be a cheerleader for your child: If they come home with a low test score, help them identify what topics they need to work on and a successful study strategy for moving forward. Everyone has gotten a bad grade—even those of us with Ph.D.s in math! It’s an opportunity to identify where there’s a missing brick and plug that gap.

How can parents help young people heading to university?

LD: Parents can support their kids in asking for help, whether that’s from the instructor, the teaching assistant or the math help center on campus, including UBC’s center. Offer to go with them, or to watch some YouTube videos like Numberphile and 3Blue1Brown and take notes together.

Encourage your child to set themselves up for success: They should attend class, take notes, go to office hours, find a study strategy that works for them and apply it consistently. This will look different for every student. It might take a term or two, so it’s best to start figuring this out early.

A great strategy is to ask them to teach the concept or terminology to you, because to coherently explain something, you have to really know it. Ask with enthusiasm to show you’re interested.

What can parents do if they notice their child is struggling?

MA: Making mistakes is part of learning. Talk about the mistake and work on it together to find a way forward.

LD: It’s 100-per-cent OK to tell your kid, “I don’t know, but I’m going to start asking questions.”

Validate your child’s feeling: It’s OK that this is challenging. Offer to work through a problem together, or find an easier problem to tackle first. Write out questions together for their teacher. And ask about available resources at school you can look at together.

Provided by University of British Columbia.

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Should my child be studying music?

Oct 2, 2024 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog

Individual music lessons aren’t part and parcel of school these days, unlike years ago, when children had the opportunity to learn an instrument in their mainstream school. Very few schools have a row of ‘music rooms,’ with specially trained teachers employed to coach youngsters in the practical and theoretical aspects of music. Today, parents usually have to find a private music teacher and arrange for lessons. Is this something worth considering?

The literature says yes. There are studies showing that music can benefit a child in terms of both cognitive ability and academic achievement.

So if you are considering enrolling your child for music lessons, what would be the ideal starting age?

Timothy McKenry, writing for The Conversation, offers some guidelines as to this.

The benefits of starting young

It is never too late to learn music. Recent research highlights the positive impacts of music lessons for elderly people. For children, however, there are special benefits for starting before the age of nine. At around nine years of age musical aptitude or “talent” becomes fixed. Before this age it is pliable and engaging in organised musical activity expands a child’s musical potential.

Should I wait for my child to ask for lessons?

There is debate among parents and teachers about whether parents should wait for their child to express interest in music lessons before starting.

Some children ask for lessons but although asking is a good indication a child is ready, it is not necessary to wait. Time is a factor here because a UK survey showed that enthusiasm for learning an instrument peaks at ages five to six years. If a child is not yet learning an instrument, their enthusiasm halves by age seven.

Which instrument?

Instruments including the piano, keyboard, violin, flute and recorder are ideal for an early start. The Suzuki Method allows children to begin learning some of these at aged three. It’s common for teachers of any method to teach children these instruments from five years and up.

String instruments like violins are tailored to a child’s development with different sizes available. A child under five may begin learning with an instrument 1/32 the size of an adult instrument.

The ukulele has also become an increasingly popular “primer” instrument for children as young as four.

Brass and reed instruments (such as the trumpet or clarinet) require greater strength and losing baby teeth can make forming the right mouth shape or embouchure difficult. It is more usual for children to start brass and reed instruments in high school.

It’s not uncommon for a child to begin on one instrument and later change to another. This usually happens when a child begins on an inexpensive instrument such as recorder or ukulele and progresses onto the saxophone or guitar. Or a child might enjoy music, but dislike or become frustrated by their current instrument.

Choosing a teacher

It’s wise to exercise diligence when selecting a teacher. Good teaching—particularly for younger children—requires more than simply the ability to play. Teachers should have a qualification, experience and ideally belong to a professional affiliation. In South Africa, the South African Society for Music Teachers (SASMT) is possibly the best known.

Whatever their method, a good teacher will be able to articulate an age-appropriate learning method and explain how their approach changes as a child matures.

A good teacher will also be able to outline realistic strategies to help a child develop a sustainable practice routine. The amount of practice required depends on the instrument and the age of the child, but there should be clear expectations around practice.

There should also be clear expectations around the degree of parental involvement and intended learning milestones.

What if private lessons aren’t an option?

Music lessons can be expensive and they can take up time in our busy lives. Online lessons may be a useful way to expose children to music so finding video tutorials and music learning apps might be a possibility.

Provided by The Conversation.

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How can children learn to be tidy?

Sep 25, 2024 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog

Some children manage to keep their rooms tidy but they are probably in the minority. Most will allow toys, clothes and other assorted items to accumulate everywhere. They seem to prefer facing the wrath of a parent rather than attempting to clean up the mess.

Daily confrontations cause stress in a family but there is perhaps hope. Elizabeth Westrupp, Christiane Kehoe and Gabriella King, writing for The Conversation, offer a different way to approach this problem.

Why are many children and teens so untidy?

It seems that knowing how to efficiently organise a mess requires a certain amount of brain maturation that children and teens have not yet developed. The ability to sort out chaos and effect high-level organisational tasks is the work of a certain part of the brain that only develops in adulthood.

As with other aspects of development though, this ability can be helped to develop during childhood through practice. A child from as young as 18 months can be encouraged to help put away toys and possessions.

Why you shouldn’t just clear it up yourself

As a parent we can get caught in a cycle of feeling overwhelmed and frustrated and become disconnected from our child’s perspective. For younger children, play is work—much of their learning happens as they play so cleaning up their play space may deprive them of a lesson or two..

When we interrupt their play and tidy up their masterpiece, or throw out a special object, it can break trust and feel devastating for them.

For teenagers (and even younger children), having personal space is important to develop a healthy identity and sense of control in their world.

So when parents barge into their room and move their things, this can feel like a violation.

How can you teach them about tidying up?

Have a chat with your child about tidying up at a calm moment (when you’re not asking them to clean anything). Don’t lecture but acknowledge how hard it is for them to keep a room tidy. Ask for their ideas on what might help and decide together on a regular routine (perhaps they always give their room a quick tidy before TV, or it’s a job on a certain day). Discuss what could get in the way and how you will work together.

Have fewer toys in your child’s room and a special place for these. One key is to limit the amount of toys in a child’s room. If they have to scratch through a pile of toys to find something, they will inevitably create a mess. But there are other ways of addressing the problem. Having fewer toys can make the room more appealing and organized, inspire play and creativity, and make tidying up easier.

Notice when your child is doing any kind of cleaning up and acknowledge the effort. Children love to feel noticed—we all do!

Break the task down into smaller parts for older children. For example, you could suggest that they tackle a particular area (e.g. lego blocks) rather than just saying “tidy your room.”

Be playful with younger children. Cleaning up can be a time for connection. Get them to find all the red toys first, then see how fast they can bring you any socks that need washing.

Notice how your child feels when you are asking them to tidy up. See these emotions as an opportunity for connection and guidance. For example, “It’s hard to clean up this amazing fort, you worked so hard on it and made it so cozy.” Name emotions as you go. For example, “It’s overwhelming when there is so much to clean. Are you worried about where to start?” Or problem-solve together: “What could we clean up first?”

With teenagers, use single word reminders, starting with just one thing that needs cleaning (for example, “washing?” Or “plates?”). Single word reminders allow a teen to save face and prevent battles. Watch your tone of voice and body language—try to stay warm, firm and kind.

Provided by The Conversation.

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How to teach children to tell the truth

Sep 18, 2024 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog

We all appreciate truthfulness and as parents and educators, try to encourage our children to tell the truth. But it isn’t always easy to know whether to punish them for telling a lie or not.

Research by Brock University suggests that punishing a child for telling a lie might actually make things worse. Children are afraid of getting into trouble so they often lie to avoid this.

A study with children aged 3 to 8 tested whether the combination of two techniques could boost truth-telling across the age groups. One technique involved modelling, where children were exposed to examples of other people being honest. The other involved consequences, which shows children a positive outcome of truth-telling (approval from parents and others) when the truth is spoken.

A total of 228 children participated in an exercise in which each child was left alone in a room with a toy on a table behind where the child was sitting. The experimenter instructed the child not to peek at the toy and then left the room, with a hidden camera recording what the child did when alone. Most of the children peeked at the toy.

After returning to the room, the experimenter read a story to the child. Some children heard a version about a character who modelled honesty by admitting they broke a window with their bouncy ball. Others heard a story without the character owning up to breaking the window but the mother saying she would be pleased if her child told the truth, which simulated consequences.

Finally, a portion of the child participants heard the full story of the character saying they broke the window, the mother’s encouragement to tell the truth and praise for the character for having done so: “I’m glad you did not lie. It makes me happy that you told the truth.”

The child was then asked whether they had peeked at the toy.

The researchers found children across all age groups who heard the full version of the story were the most likely to confess peeking at the toy compared to those who heard the versions containing only modelling or consequences.

These findings suggest that using both techniques – i.e. modelling honesty as well as telling children about the positive outcomes of honesty are more effective than using only one.

The researcher suggests that parents provide models of honesty for their children through parental behaviour, reading stories such as “George Washington and the Cherry Tree” that encourage truth-telling, and rewarding honesty in day-to-day interactions.

The researcher writes that as parents, our gut reaction to a child’s misdoing is to chastise for the negative behaviour but it might be more effective to focus on their telling the truth about a wrongdoing rather than the wrongdoing itself.

Of course it might be necessary to punish a child for a wrongdoing but if they tell the truth about it, consider making them aware that the punishment may be less (e.g. one week without TV instead of two) if they told the truth than if they had lied – and be very explicit that the difference is due to their honesty.

More information: Angela D. Evans et al, Encouraging honesty: Developmental differences in the influence of honesty promotion techniques, Developmental Psychology (2024). DOI: 10.1037/dev0001640

Journal information: Developmental Psychology

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Does screen time interfere with parent-toddler interaction?

Sep 10, 2024 | I'm a Parent, I'm a Teacher, ILT Blog

Ernie Mundell, writing for Health Day, reports on research findings concerning toddlers amount of screen time and how it may impact on their interaction with parents or other caregivers.

In short, the study showed that using TVs and tablets as “e-babysitters” significantly cuts down on the time toddlers spend interacting with parents or other caregivers.

The Australian team of investigators are calling the phenomenon “technoference”—a scenario where “young children’s exposure to screen time is interfering with opportunities to talk and interact in their home environment.”

Current guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics for kids ages 2 to 5 recommend “no more than one hour per day [of media use], to allow children ample time to engage in other activities important to their health and development.”

Unfortunately, many toddlers are being exposed to screens at much higher rates than that.

“Increases in screen time were associated with decreases in measures of parent-child talk,” the researchers found.

By the age of 3, the average child in the study was watching some type of screen for two hours and 52 minutes each day.

And “for every additional minute of screen time, children heard fewer adult words, spoke fewer vocalizations and engaged in fewer back-and-forth interactions,” the researchers found.

Put more concretely, by the age of 3 every extra minute spent looking at a TV or computer screen was linked to 6.6 fewer words spoken with an adult that day.

Parents may not be aware of the impact of screen time on kids’ development and may need to understand the potential association of screen time with opportunities for children and adults to talk and interact in their home environment.

More information: Find out more about media’s impact on your toddler at the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Mary E. Brushe et al, Screen Time and Parent-Child Talk When Children Are Aged 12 to 36 Months, JAMA Pediatrics (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.6790

Journal information: JAMA Pediatrics

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