I am at loose ends as of late June, looking for a new ADHD community. Nothing against the good people of the old community. But there were a couple rotten apples among the management of the old community. So like Elmer Fudd a-hunting I will go. Since there can be some unpleasant side effects to the community where I used to participate I am removing all mention of it. I don't want to be responsible for sending anyone into the dragons' lair. If I hear things have changed for the better I'll add that community back to my short list of communities I'll recommend.
So. Here is what's left among my personally tried out forums.
Miller Mom's Site
Main focus is on medications and education. More for parents of ADHD children than for ADHD adults. Miller Mom's ongoing research and knowledge sharing about Strattera is continuing here.
A forum for Braintalk Refugees. Mostly from the ADHD forum.
Dang they're busy over there! They now have a support community website going. It's just starting up but they're creating a directory of online website resources in a bunch of ADHD related categories.
If you've ever participated on the Braintalk ADHD forum, you'll see a lot of old familiar faces especially among the moderators. It's a small group but very active. Right now I'd say their strong suit is school, accomodations, IEPs and 504 plans. Couple of veteran broom carrying moms and a school psychologist are on the ball. They have a different take on alternative therapies though. A lady named Reiki has a few things to say about Eastern philosophies and Eastern medical practices with ADHD. Keep an eye on them. They're gathering some good research on accomodations and co-morbids.
The droll professional had something to do with this splinter group splitting from Braintalk. I don't think they'll take kindly to the droll professional dropping by and poking any hornets nests.
Middle aged. Dang close to 50.
Southern by birth
Californian by lucky accident
Married to a humdinger
Two children with mild special education needs and ADHD. Not much question who they inherited the ADHD from
Health issues include headaches and mild peripheral neuropathy
Live in the Sierra Foothills. High enough to see snow. Not so high as to need to shovel it. Usually.
Why does this page exist?
I am creating this web page mostly so my cyber-friends can keep track of me. I participate in the MGH Advanced Chat Rooms when I can make my fingers and eyes move fast enough and I used to participate on the MGH Forums. Parting is such sweet sorrow. My new forum home is at adhd.com
So, what's up? My two sprouts are doing well on their current medications. They are getting pretty good accommodations at the schools. But the more I sniff the more rotten the school systems out here in California appear to be. Even in a good school there are some serious fundamental problems. By good school I mean the staff is high quality, the infrastructure is good, and the parents are involved and generous with their time and their checkbooks. The issues I am concerned about appear pretty big to me. There is very little time devoted to math and science in middle school. The periods are less than 45 minutes per day. There are new mandated programs that take time out of the teaching day. Aids/HIV awareness and prevention. Drug awareness and prevention. Harassment awareness and prevention. Sex education. Diversity Awareness. Fire Safety. Teen mental health and abuse awareness. The list is hardly complete. I have no argument that these are important things for kids to learn.
The question is what do you not teach so these things can be fit in? The answer is nothing. Every type of question that will be on the standardized tests must be addressed in the classes. The result is that too many subjects aren't taught. They're introduced and skimmed over in the hopes that the students will recognize a geometric relationship or an algorithm on the state test. The subject is pre-algebra, but precious little pre-algebra is taught in class. If the student is good at reading and understanding a math textbook the concept explanation and some good examples are available. If not then I just hope the parent recognizes the student is floundering and furthermore is capable of using the textbook to understand a problem well enough to explain it.
I'm not too quick on the uptake. I spent almost 2 years assuming my oldest son was just not getting the explanation of the math concepts because he'd give me a blank stare when I would help him with his math homework. Like the words out of my mouth had never been spoken before. Sort of by accident I came to find out the words hadn't been spoken to him before. Talking to his math teacher I learned that there wasn't time to teach the concepts behind the algorithms. The students were just expected to do their best to memorize algorithms and know which algorithm goes with which type of problem.
Mind boggling.
So the more I pry the more problems I find. Too much mandated material taking away from teaching time. Some silly standardized test driving the curriculum instead of focusing on really teaching particular subjects. Not enough classroom time for two crucial subjects to start with. My sprouts are lucky enough to have parents who can in large part make up for the school deficits once we understand them. But where does that leave children whose parents can't make up the deficits because of their own educational limitations, lack of time, other family stresses, or simply the wrong disposition to teach. Worse yet parents aren't professional educators. They havent been taught how to effectively teach to different learning styles. What if a parent's only teaching style is a total mismatch with his childs best learning style?
My other key gripe with the current state of education is that it leaves precious little time or energy for children to follow their own muses and study something that interests them.
I find that most of my sprouts teachers agree with me. But they have no say in the matter. An un-elected bureaucratic committee made these decisions along with many others. My current goal is to first find out where to apply pressure. Then to see if there are other parents who are concerned about the same things that worry me. The watchword these days is accountability. It seems like many parents are satisfied to hear the word and know that the schools are being held accountable for the students' test results. I hope there are enough parents who have seen the fallacies in this approach in my general geographic area. If so we can study up enough to know what pressure to apply. What changes we'd specifically like to see. And finally to see if I can help organize a parents' movement to apply some pressure.
I've heard from more than a few parents who have simply given up on the status quo and either have their kids tutored at their expense or have ditched public schools and found a private school they like. I understand this approach. It solves their kids problems. But what about all the children whose parents dont have such options?
No. I don't necessarily think school vouchers are the answer. That just creates a second class of schools that would operate outside the poor requirements we have now. Many of those new schools wouldn't even have accredited teachers. This may be a boon for homeschoolers but homeschooling is not the only or best answer for every family.
What I do for a living
Computer Science consulting. Side interests in bioinformatics and text analysis using advanced algorithms. Big side interest in the eternal and ever growing Information Overload megalith. I used to live down in the flat lands near Silicon Valley. I came to my senses.
Aside from raising Cain and raising kids:
I live such a left brained life I enjoy right brained activities for leisure. Whittling. Sketching. Water colors. Found art. Hiking. Meditating. I also take my dog anywhere I can get away with it. She is my constant companion. I understand her better than I do most humans. I think the feeling is mutual.
The left brain has to get into the leisure act though. I am a voracious reader. I read approximately 10 books a month for pleasure. I usually manage 3 or 4 books related to my profession. The professional texts are usually a little tougher going. Something in the range of 10K pages per month all told. I also like participating in round-robin humorous story writing and composing doggerel verse. I'm partial to iambic pentameter.
Pardon My Dust
I just wanted to put something up to assure my friends I haven't gone and got lost in a cave. Did I mention I like spelunking? I need to write a little bit about my headache odyssey. Or is it an odyssey headache? When I have time I'll add updates about how things are going and a few pictures. I've got some great pictures of my dog doing what I myself do best. Baiting, chasing and evading lumbering cows.
Well, I have a mountain retreat waiting for me.
More to come
The MGH Forums -- Good neurology websites. The ADHD forum is a little biased toward supplements and there's a certain tone that if supplements don't cure your child then you must be one bad parent. Beware the droll troll. I'd pass on this recommendation if it weren't for the other neurology forums. I learned some interesting things about headaches there.
http://adhdrefuge.proboards18.com/ -- Best of the comprehensive forums with a personal touch that I've seen. They need to get over Braintalk though. Life's too short to spend it looking backward.
