SED 302

1) What I found most interesting is Robert Cimera’s ability to use ADHD to his advantage. Cimera is a teacher and with being diagnosed with ADHD, he has learned to utilize his disorder into something that is more of an asset than a problem. For example, Cimera always kept things moving and implemented funny, creative and odd activities. This ultimately helped with student participation. I have had a professor at the University of Maine, who was diagnosed with ADHD. He was able to use his disorder to an advantage. ADHD helped his teaching style and made the content much more interesting. Cimera’s view on exercise was highly interesting. Cimera said that exercise could be better than medication. I found that as interesting because sometimes I have trouble focusing and by working out it seems to help me concentrate more on academic activities.

2) Kendrick Royal allowed me to think more deeply about medicine for ADHD. The medicine for ADHD may help with academic tasks, but it puts a hamper on creativity. I value creativity as just important as academic tasks. There is more than one type of intelligence and creativity is certainly one of them. Kendrick Royal’s recording certainly made me think more deeply. I now wonder whether the use of ADHD pills is worth it, if it hampers one of Kendrick’s strengths.

3) Karran Royal brings up an important aspect on the ADHD debate. As she says, parents that have children diagnosed with ADHD should learn all the information that they can. The rationale for this is that many others do not have a clue about ADHD and may even believe it is a fake disorder. With a parent being educated over ADHD, they can then school the uneducated ones that come up to them and challenge their decision on medicating th...

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... it would certainly scare some parents. To me, minimum brain dysfunction is a scary term, which reminds me of a brain disorder, which would harm intelligence. The child’s brain is functioning; just he or she has more energy than others around.

9) Mathew Mills story is certainly sad, as he had to move to a different school that would cater to his needs more. I find that it is sad that schools cannot create an environment to cater to students with ADHD. The last time I checked, there were approximately 11% of children between 4-17 that had ADHD. That is a high number, which I view as big enough to have universal accommodations. A number that large would certainly mean a potential class that I may have will certainly have at least one or even maybe two learners with ADHD. With such a high number, all schools should have systems that will cater to students with ADHD.