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Jean

Very interested to read about your grandson. Has that family friend spoken to you about how she changed his behaviour?As a parent it must be all too easy to get caught in that spiral of destructive responses and despair. I have met several parents who have unjustly had to live with the label of being a 'bad parent' and therefore the cause of their child's difficult behaviour.

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I haven't spoken to them much about it, but I gather that she is fairly strict with her own children, has the same expectations for him, and brooks no nonsense in a kind-hearted way which for some reason, he accepts. I think his parents were giving in to him as they were exhausted by his behaviour, and he was emotionally blackmailing them because he knew he could, whereas in the new situation, it doesn't work. He probably needed the rigour but wasn't getting it for obvious reasons. We're all only human after all!

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  • 2 weeks later...

I found this advice by John D. Clare on a educational website that might be of interest.

I strongly advise you to start your son on the Eye-Q capsules. These are obtainable from Boots. Although they are a bit expensive, they are worth every penny. They are ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for a child like your son - who WANTS to concentrate, but can't. The results of the Greenfield secondary trial showed MASSIVE gains in concentration span for 50% of the subjects (and also some spectacular gains in behaviour at the extremes). Madeleine Portwood's contention is that the speed of thought in the brain is controlled by the transmission of signal across the synapses, where the 'spark' has to travel as a chemical reaction across a gap filled with Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. For maxiumum efficiency, this gap should contain Omega 6 and Omega 3 fatty acids in the ratio 2:1. Madeleine's argument is that, because of modern diet, many children have utterly the wrong ratio. Her idea, therefore, is to 'flood' the brain with fatty acids in the right proportion (i.e. by taking 6 Eye-Q capsules a day) for 3 months, and then to relax back to one or two tablets a day to maintain the correct balance after that. This is NOT the same as eating a healthy diet, which many people also advocate - the body does not manufacture these fatty acids, and most modern food has them in entirely the wrong proportions (whereas butter, for instance, has them in the proportion 2:1 - ie correctly - magerine has them in the proportion 2500:1, a proportion which threatens to clog up the brain altogether).

Although the immediate effect is sometimes to make the problem worse for a very short time, many parents claim that they see noticeable results after a fortnight, but I would press on beyond the 3 months WHATEVER - in one case, the substantive improvement only occurred after a year. These capsules can only do good, though I would seek doctor's advice if your child has diabetes, or is taking ritalin.

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Hiya folks,

I've had a class of ADHD and behavioral problem students this afternoon to teach

(8-13yrs).I do the rope through neck trick to start these classes off. It gives me an idea of the sort of kids I'm dealing with from the confessions they make. This afternoon the kid confessed to throwing a brick at a bloke.

Going through the early lessons of tricks with ropes, toothbrush twirling, one + two ball juggling tricks and yo-yo's it was fairly chaotic. About 10-12 kids. I don't think they sat still long enough in one place for me to count them accurately.

Started to notice the first kids focussing in the toothbrush twirling and getting a degree of satisfaction from achieving this.

I offer a challenge with the plate spinning. If they can learn to spin it from scratch, ie from a vertical position, and jump it up and down on the stick, they can keep it.

This is a nice motivating factor which encouraged the focussing of a few more students. Some were still running riot. Lastly the diablo was introduced. Some students had prior experience of this though had not learned it.

About half the students were showing a degree of focus towards the end of the 65 minute lesson. Most concentated on the the diablo and plate spinning when they had free choice.

I thoroughly enjoy working with these kids and am looking forward to the session tomorrow. I have 90 minutes in the morning with them. They will be learning stiltwalking as a new skill. I shall bring in some of my novelty carts + bikes as well. This should help burn off some of their energy. Lovely big sports hall to work in.

I expect as least one girl to win the spinning plate. She may have done the challenge today but one of my conditions is that I see it being done!

I shall update you tomorrow on how the second session goes.

Circus Kevin

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My huge concern for ADHD students is post 16. Many of them view this as the time to dispense with all medication which of course is their choice. When following the progress of some of our ex-students with ADHD it appears that their continued impulsive behaviour can land them in significant trouble. For example, impulsive attitudes towards money coupled with poor social skills can make these students difficult to employ successfully. I have also heard of students with addiction to chat lines running up high expenditure that impacts on their families.

Post 16 is a time when many young people tend lose touch with the professionals who have supported them throughout their school life. Surely there needs to be life coaching or some sort of accessible support available to those who continue to live with this condition.

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My huge concern for ADHD students is post 16. Many of them view this as the time to dispense with all medication which of course is their choice. When following the progress of some of our ex-students with ADHD it appears that their continued impulsive behaviour can land them in significant trouble. For example, impulsive attitudes towards money coupled with poor social skills can make these students difficult to employ successfully. I have also heard of students with addiction to chat lines running up high expenditure that impacts on their families.

        Post 16 is a time when many young people tend lose touch with the professionals who have supported them throughout their school life. Surely there needs to be life coaching or some sort of accessible support available to those who continue to live with this condition.

I remember when I was Head of Sixth Form that there was no special needs support allocated in the College budget for post 16 students. Neither were they entitled (being over 16) to the whole range of support networks younger students can draw on.

Surely if the governemnt is being honest about its committment to post 16 education this must change.

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Hi again folks,

I shall now report on yesterday's session with the kids. Last night I was at my magic class. This morning I have taken my van in for service and ridden 3 miles back on my mini penny farthing - much to the amusement of onlookers.

Only 9 kids at yesterday's class. The girl who so nearly won the spinning plate was missing which was a shame. The kids had the chance today to go on an array of novelty carts which was great for them.

I discovered who the ADHD kids were. One was the lad who confessed to 'throwing a brick at a bloke' in the previous session. He wasn't at this session. The other, rather to my surprise, was the best behaved most hardworking kid of the two sessions. I'd wrongly assumed it was a rather rude, wild, completely undisciplined child. Apparently he was completely normal! This 'rude' child did improve enormously once put on stilts. Rather exeptionally for a boy he was immediately able to walk unaided on them. Girls incidentally are far better than boys on average at primary school age in learning this discipline. This 'rude' child - his behaviour springs to mind rather than his name - then started to regularly appeal to be allowed to take the stilts home. Come to think of it I don't remember any hassles with him after his go on the stilts - maybe I'll remember his name next time!

Going back to the lad with ADHD. I asked him if he was on Ritalin. He said he was and had taken his tablets that morning. I'd arrived half an hour early and played football and basketball with them at the start. The 'ADHD' lad had been passing the ball and was generally very sociable. Before being told of his condition I'd assumed he was a brother possibly of a more difficult member of the group. Apparently he goes to Shenstone Lodge residential school in Lichfield. He's unlikely to get the opportunity to develop his circus skills there which is a shame. Acquiring new and different skills is such a confidence booster. Confidence is great for later life.

All for now folks

Circus Kevin

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