If your child is struggling with focus, testing and some academic work, there is no understanding, no work around, no assistance for them as visual learners. But if your child is unfocused, distracted, struggling academically, and diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, help is available in the form of a 504 learning plan.
I’ve compiled a list of things that your visual ADD/ADHD kid will do well. These will really boost their confidence in their awesomeness. So, try them out and have fun!
In episode 27 of Living Life as a Visual Thinker, I answer a parent email about a second grader whose school wanted to have him tested for ADD.
Approximately 11% of children 4 to 17 years of age have been diagnosed with ADD as of 2011, and it’s most commonly diagnosed in 7 year olds. That’s an alarming statistic, but we can turn the negatives of ADD into positives by understanding and applying the success strategies used with visual-spatial learners.
It’s a very intense time of year for the teachers with so many new faces to get to know and so many things to accomplish in the classroom – so how can you tell her how awesome your kid is without being thought of as one of those crazy moms !?
First and second grade is the time that most children are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. But many of the same characteristics of visual learners are the same traits that point to an attention deficit.
It’s a busy time of year. It’s time to go back to school. This month we talked about a few different things that you can do to get your kids ready for the transition back to the school routine. From finding the right extracurricular activity to appreciating how your child wins with art to understanding your own thinking as a visual thinker, we have lots of information for you.
You may have gone your whole life wondering “what is wrong with me?” You have a hard time focusing and feel distracted by all the things that are going on in your mind.
Have you been labeled – scatter brained, distracted, inattentive, even impulsive? Has your child? Perhaps ADD or ADHD diagnosis has been away to explain these behaviors. Diagnosing ADD or ADHD is highly subjective and comes with a multitude of negative connotations. But what if it’s not a negative? What if its not even ADD ?
There’s good news. Visual learners share many of the same traits as ADD. Visual learners need more visual, hands on learning experiences and often struggle to organize, stay on task and pay attention. This is increasingly apparent with children in today’s language heavy, test oriented classrooms. And yet there are great advantages to being a visual learner. Some of our most creative minds, great leaders and innovative business people have been and are visual thinkers.
After a long summer filled with a variety of activities, it’s time for kids to head back to the classroom. Unfortunately, for many kids this means a lot of time sitting in chairs and listening. If your child has trouble paying attention, gets fidgety, displays disruptive behavior, makes careless mistakes, has difficulty organizing and completing assignments—they may be recommended for an ADD evaluation. It extremely important to find out what’s distracting them, but rest assured, it may have nothing to do with ADD.
