The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Thursday, April 12, 2012

Jason still on green! Not a cure, but...

I am more than cautiously optimistic now. Jason had Spring Break with his cousins, came back after I'd taken off for Norwescon, and went to school Monday and was on green. Tuesday, green. Wednesday, green. I am attributing the massive shift in his (ADD-linked) behavior to three things:

1) The "Om" exercise with little pinches.

2) Reading aloud every night

3) The punishment of "no speaking without raising his hands" on any day he has been on Yellow or Red.

The reasoning is this:

1) The "Om" exercise is direct transmission with Dad. I have to hold the space of clarity myself. Matching body language tends to guide internal states. He must remember the numbers, which causes a problem if he lets his mind wander too much, and I can watch his eyes shift as he seeks the memory, giving me insight into what is happening inside him. If his eyes shift during the "Om-ing" sequence, I communicate directly with his nervous system with discomfort. If a light pinch doesn't work, I increase the pressure until he pays attention. I'm quite certain he is unaware of how inattentive he is, as if wandering in a house with too many rooms. The combination of visual, auditory, and simultaneous kinesthetic feedback and input allows him to access any possible open door.

2) Reading is such a wide-spectrum activity I barely need to comment on it. But in addition to the obvious, there is the fact that again he is getting my attention, that if we alternate reading sentences he gets to model my own diction, pace and emphasis, and that he is currently reading the second Harry Potter novel, which he saw as a film. Therefore, he is creating a nice digital-visual link in his mind.

3) Raising his hand is great, because it forces him to think about something that has been spontaneous. When he makes a mistake, he must do pushups (kinesthetic). If I add that he must call me "sir" instead of "Dad" he just hates that formality, and is an additional aversive conditioning.

So there it is at the moment, the three things I think are responsible for 80% of the results. If he were more severely ADD I would concentrate on the kinesthetics, engaging rapport through matched breathing. I have no idea how that would work, but offer these thoughts for feedback and experimentation.

Steve

4 comments:

Travis said...

Great work - both of you!

Anonymous said...

So Steve do you think that girls might have a different response ? would you use the same 3 items ?

Steven Barnes said...

I'm going to assume that the basic framework would work, but must be modified for the personalities of parent and child more than the divisions of gender.

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