Is there an epidemic? What is the definition of epidemic? Wikipedia defines an epidemic as new cases in a given human population, during a given period, at a rate that substantially exceeds what is "expected". Well, this week was an epidemic. First my colleague identified 2 possible FASD relatives as I wrote about in the blog "I Can See Clearly Now". The same day, another colleague came to my office to ask about FASD, as there was a parent coming to an IEP meeting who had identified his child as FASD. As that staff person gathered the information I provided, she started talking about her adopted son whose mother drank during the pregnancy. I could see the realization hit her as she wiped away tears. Her son was FASD. He was suffering from depression and had tried to commit suicide. He also had other behavioral indicators. All I could say was to read, learn, and understand the behaviors were not a result of poor parenting. She left clutching the information in her hand and with a website address to study about her future with an FASD child.
Today is Wednesday, Already, I am aware of two colleagues who are seeing through enlightened eyes. But the week is not over. This morning, two consultants for the tribe visited the school. As I have come to do, I mention my research into school shooters. Imagine my surprise when one of the consultants immediately responded with, "I adopted an FASD child. He started a fire in a school. When he got into the navy, he started a fire and was put into the brig." I almost fell over. Here is another incident that links FASD children to aberrant behaviors in school. Not to be outdone, the other consultant told me his brother teaches in a school where an FASD child brought a gun to school. Another link to FASD and school shooters. Both are willing to provide more information on their experiences.
Six additional examples of FASD in three days. Is this an epidemic? Well, not 15 minutes after I left the meeting with the consultants, another colleague pulled me aside and told me about her experience last night. Her friend, a doctor, and her friend's husband, a cop, invited her for dinner. During the dinner, the cop told of a recent experience with a child, an eight year old girl, who was taken by the police after attempting to kill her 6 month old sister. The description of the eight year old's behaviors and responses to questions caused my colleague’s immediate response of, "Is she FASD?" My colleague has learned to ask the question. Now the question has been asked, the cop can find the answer.
Well, by today, Thursday, the flood continued. My collegue, who told me about her adopted son, came to me today with his pictures. While the pictures were not conclusive, her discription of her son's behaviors, the indication by the Romanian adoption agency that his mother drank alcohol, and his diagnosis of ADHD led me to the conclusion that her son is a victim of FASD. She then started telling me about her daughter, another adopted child from Romania. She said she and her husband went to Europe to adopt because they did not want a cocaine baby. That is so sad, as cocaine babies did not suffer brain damage, while FASD babies do and our society made such a big issue of cocaine babies in the late 80's and early 90's. After she explained her daughters behaviors and challenges with reading and her limited thinking abilities, I saw the tears well up in her eyes again as she began to understand how her family was impacted by FASD. Two children......last week she did not know, now she has something to study so she will have a better understanding of what her family is looking at in the future.
This is an epidemic that is invisible to most people. When you have your eyes opened, you can see it. Please, please learn more about FASD. Only when we can see the epidemic will we understand what this is costing each individual victim and society as a whole.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
I Can See Clearly Now
A collegue came back to work after being with his family during an unexpected family crisis. During this difficult time, he began to look at his family with eyes experienced in identifying FASD behaviors and experienced in asking the question, in this case, asking himself if his sisters had drank any alcohol during their pregnanies. His revelation to me this morning was similar to mine when I reached a point of understanding. The process of understanding the impact of FASD is just that, a process. At first, there is disbelief. A non-believer says this is not something that impacts people like they are saying. No way.....this guy telling me this is off his rocker..... Or, as a counselor told me 5 months ago, "We got trained in that a couple of years ago, that is not a problem now". Then, you work with FASD victims for a while. For much of that time, you do not believe the kid is brain damaged. No, he is just defying me, or he is not paying attention, or he can control his behavior, he just does not want to. Then you see more and more kids with the same condition. Each time, that crazy superintendent asks if the child is FASD. Every time, you think he is crazy. Next, you find yourself asking the question on the first display of a behavior, then.......then....you start seeing with opened eyes. That kid in the newspaper who murdered that girl. Is he FASD? Yes, maybe that is what was wrong with those kids in that public school where I taught for years. Their parents were drinkers. Now you have moved through the disbelieving part of the process and are seeing through informed eyes. Then, you start looking at people who are near and dear to you. When you reach that point, you have a clear understanding of the true impact of FASD in our society. My collegue now can see clearly the impact in his family, just like I saw the impact in my family. Only when I can get people to see like I see, will we truly be able to change the disbelieving attitudes in our society.
Why do I say the attitudes need changing? Click on my youtube tirade against Coors Brewing and read the first comment. That type of attitude is more common than not and needs changing.
Why do I say the attitudes need changing? Click on my youtube tirade against Coors Brewing and read the first comment. That type of attitude is more common than not and needs changing.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Not My Town
Mid-Minnesota nice, playground for the cities, Brainerd is the gateway to the lakes of central Minnesota. Behind the hustle and bustle of this growing city, the specter of FASD hides behind the community's ignorance, much like any other community in the nation. Oh, FASD happens on the reservation thirty miles away, that that is not our problem. Well, Brainerd, it is your problem.
A few examples of the hidden epidemic
A local businessman presented at the Brainerd Lakes Rotary meeting on an upcoming fundraising drive. Following the presentation, I visited with him about using some of the funds generated for FASD Awareness. To my surprise, he energetically engaged me in the conversation, seemingly relieved to talk to someone who understood FASD. His story did not surprise me. His was one I had heard several times from several different parents in the Brainerd Lakes area.
He and his wife adopted a son. Their dream of having a loving relationship dissolved into years of seeking help for the multitude of problems they were experiencing. Finally, after having to take their son to a professional over 3 1/2 hours away in North Dakota, they found the answer, an answer that gave them a name, but not a prescription to heal the symptoms. Their son was permanently brain damaged by the pre-natal exposure to alcohol by the birth mother. Within my small circle, this is the first of many examples of the hidden epidemic in Brainerd.
While I consulted with the National Indian School Board Association and tribal schools across Minnesota, I began building a house. One of the men I hired to work with me became a good friend. He and his wife had adopted two daughters as babies and raised them in a fine Christian home. They were deeply involved in their church and in the lives of their daughters. From the outside, an unknowing person would have no suspicion of the difficulties they were experiencing. These difficulties were driving them to doubt their abilities as parents.
One day, he came to me distressed with what had happened with his daughter. The story was so familiar with me. His daughter did not seem to comprehend what was right or wrong and she was in her early adolescent years. The incident he related to me happened at the church and was traumatic, embarrassing, and humiliating to her parents , and her reaction was one of shrugging her shoulders as if it did not mean anything to her. I asked him to show me a picture of her. When I started explaining what FASD was, he immediately identified the fact the biological mother drank alcohol when she was pregnant with both girls. I showed him the physical characteristics on the girl's faces. Both he and his wife started researching FASD on the websites I had shown them. They needed to know this was not a result of their parenting. They were feeling very guilty and depressed with the behaviors of both girls. Just knowing the root cause of her behaviors gave them something to grasp and try to understand.
Among the same circle of friends, another business owner came to me asking for advice. He had adopted two children birthed by his sister who had been drinking during her pregnancies. His adopted son was tantrumming and his behaviors were escalating. He was asking what to do, as he knew I worked with children with similar brain damage. He and his wife were struggling with their guilt about their parenting skills also. All I could really say is to keep high structure in his son's life, as that is strategy that will provide the most success.
For many years, I have watched a young girl grow into a teenager. Her parents were deeply involved with the community, spending an enormous amount of time with friends as they developed a hugely successful yearly event. Much of that time was spent selling beer to raise money and the parties after the fundraising events were beer soaked.
This young girl is a handful. Her parents participate in activities with their daughter and provide a structured household. She is talented, talkative, and has a short attention span. Sadly, her face shows physical characteristics of FASD. Another example.
When my daughter was in th 9th grade, I had the opportunity to speak to her Life Skills class. My daughter had told the teacher I knew about FASD and would be willing to talk to her class. The hour went well and I had time for questions. The girls were very interested and inquisitive. Then, out of the blue, one of the 9th grade girls said, "That's what's wrong with my brother!" She went on to explain that her mother and father divorced when her mother was pregnant with her brother. She could remember her mother going on a several month long drinking binge. The result was a brother with brain damage. She now knew, and the revelation was something she was struggling with. Another example of the hidden epidemic in Brainerd.
A seventeen year-old murderer with FASD and another murderer who committed suicide, two more examples of violent actions by FASD men in Brainerd. These are the ones I know. My belief is Brainerd has no idea how this epidemic is effecting them.
Each of these parents could write a chapter in my book. Each have different, yet similar experiences of ignorant professionals, inaccurate diagnosis, and children who defy the common perception of kids will be kids, and behaviors are the result of poor parenting. In my home town, I could not get the local newspaper to start asking the question.......if I can't make it happen in Brainerd, what chance do I have to make it happen across the country? Please help me pass this message!
A few examples of the hidden epidemic
A local businessman presented at the Brainerd Lakes Rotary meeting on an upcoming fundraising drive. Following the presentation, I visited with him about using some of the funds generated for FASD Awareness. To my surprise, he energetically engaged me in the conversation, seemingly relieved to talk to someone who understood FASD. His story did not surprise me. His was one I had heard several times from several different parents in the Brainerd Lakes area.
He and his wife adopted a son. Their dream of having a loving relationship dissolved into years of seeking help for the multitude of problems they were experiencing. Finally, after having to take their son to a professional over 3 1/2 hours away in North Dakota, they found the answer, an answer that gave them a name, but not a prescription to heal the symptoms. Their son was permanently brain damaged by the pre-natal exposure to alcohol by the birth mother. Within my small circle, this is the first of many examples of the hidden epidemic in Brainerd.
While I consulted with the National Indian School Board Association and tribal schools across Minnesota, I began building a house. One of the men I hired to work with me became a good friend. He and his wife had adopted two daughters as babies and raised them in a fine Christian home. They were deeply involved in their church and in the lives of their daughters. From the outside, an unknowing person would have no suspicion of the difficulties they were experiencing. These difficulties were driving them to doubt their abilities as parents.
One day, he came to me distressed with what had happened with his daughter. The story was so familiar with me. His daughter did not seem to comprehend what was right or wrong and she was in her early adolescent years. The incident he related to me happened at the church and was traumatic, embarrassing, and humiliating to her parents , and her reaction was one of shrugging her shoulders as if it did not mean anything to her. I asked him to show me a picture of her. When I started explaining what FASD was, he immediately identified the fact the biological mother drank alcohol when she was pregnant with both girls. I showed him the physical characteristics on the girl's faces. Both he and his wife started researching FASD on the websites I had shown them. They needed to know this was not a result of their parenting. They were feeling very guilty and depressed with the behaviors of both girls. Just knowing the root cause of her behaviors gave them something to grasp and try to understand.
Among the same circle of friends, another business owner came to me asking for advice. He had adopted two children birthed by his sister who had been drinking during her pregnancies. His adopted son was tantrumming and his behaviors were escalating. He was asking what to do, as he knew I worked with children with similar brain damage. He and his wife were struggling with their guilt about their parenting skills also. All I could really say is to keep high structure in his son's life, as that is strategy that will provide the most success.
For many years, I have watched a young girl grow into a teenager. Her parents were deeply involved with the community, spending an enormous amount of time with friends as they developed a hugely successful yearly event. Much of that time was spent selling beer to raise money and the parties after the fundraising events were beer soaked.
This young girl is a handful. Her parents participate in activities with their daughter and provide a structured household. She is talented, talkative, and has a short attention span. Sadly, her face shows physical characteristics of FASD. Another example.
When my daughter was in th 9th grade, I had the opportunity to speak to her Life Skills class. My daughter had told the teacher I knew about FASD and would be willing to talk to her class. The hour went well and I had time for questions. The girls were very interested and inquisitive. Then, out of the blue, one of the 9th grade girls said, "That's what's wrong with my brother!" She went on to explain that her mother and father divorced when her mother was pregnant with her brother. She could remember her mother going on a several month long drinking binge. The result was a brother with brain damage. She now knew, and the revelation was something she was struggling with. Another example of the hidden epidemic in Brainerd.
A seventeen year-old murderer with FASD and another murderer who committed suicide, two more examples of violent actions by FASD men in Brainerd. These are the ones I know. My belief is Brainerd has no idea how this epidemic is effecting them.
Each of these parents could write a chapter in my book. Each have different, yet similar experiences of ignorant professionals, inaccurate diagnosis, and children who defy the common perception of kids will be kids, and behaviors are the result of poor parenting. In my home town, I could not get the local newspaper to start asking the question.......if I can't make it happen in Brainerd, what chance do I have to make it happen across the country? Please help me pass this message!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Where the Abnormal Has Become Normal
Where the Abnormal Has Become Normal
Within the first three years of my teaching experience, I could not escape the fact that many of the students in my classroom were exhibiting behaviors indicating something was drastically wrong with their thinking patterns. From the Bureau of Indian Affairs bureaucrats and national Indian education literature, I was hearing theories of cultural differences and dominant society “white man’s world” impact on our students, but those theories, romantic as they sounded, did not begin to touch on the depth of the problem. Students sight reading as fast as anyone in the class, but unable to comprehend what they were reading, students who would not remember concepts and skills from one day to the next, let alone one hour to the next, students who had physical deformities and medical conditions at a much higher rate than normal, students who would tantrum, students who were impulsively impulsive, students who were exhibiting abnormal sexual deviancy, students who would, at the drop of a hat, become aggressive toward adults and other students, students who would not think anything of spitting in the face of a teacher or taking a big stick and threatening the principal. Their interpersonal behaviors and academic behaviors were years behind, and in many ways, well outside the norm. Yet, but for a couple of the kids, behind their survival mask, they were kind and tender, remorseful and wanting forgiveness, eager to please, and keenly aware that they were not “normal”. And, these students had other ways of showing their feelings, such as native dance and art. In a strange sort of way, they were more accepted in the tribal schools because they became the ‘normal student’ and the usually normal student was the exception. I worked in a place where the abnormal had become normal.
This phenomenon was the same in the second and, in a lesser degree, in the third tribal school I worked in. Good, well-meaning teachers, working in the schools for a long period of time, would begin to have a skewed sense of reality. Students years behind academically would be getting A’s and B’s. Average achieving students would be considered gifted when compared to the entire student population. An essay of questionable quality would be touted as excellent. High stakes testing procedures were compromised by teachers in order to “give the student every chance to succeed”. Curriculum was watered down, minimized, adapted, or completed changed to accommodate the majority of students in the classrooms. These practices, well-meaning as they were, would then create a skewed sense of reality for the ‘normal students’ when he or she, either returned to public school, went out into the work force, or attempted college. The academic abnormal had become normal in attempt to create a feeling of success for the students.
I don’t know how to impress on anyone reading this the depth of the problem in the tribal schools and, to a lesser degree, in the public schools. Our FASD children are victims of a terrible affliction. Remember, it is not that the FASD student is not intelligent, its just his or her brain can’t organize and generalize the information like a normal brain. Just think what it would be like to daily have people shaming you for not remembering what was said or taught yesterday, for accusing you of not acting your age, of threatening you with punishment when you don’t understand why or what the punishment is for, giving you several directions at once when you can only focus on one direction at a time, or looking at you with contempt because you can’t do what others your age can and should be doing. I believe the No Child Left Behind mandates have created a stressful dilemma for our schools. FASD students are at a high risk for failure and the pressure on the classroom teachers puts the teachers at risk to act in a manner that is counterproductive with FASD children.
Within the first three years of my teaching experience, I could not escape the fact that many of the students in my classroom were exhibiting behaviors indicating something was drastically wrong with their thinking patterns. From the Bureau of Indian Affairs bureaucrats and national Indian education literature, I was hearing theories of cultural differences and dominant society “white man’s world” impact on our students, but those theories, romantic as they sounded, did not begin to touch on the depth of the problem. Students sight reading as fast as anyone in the class, but unable to comprehend what they were reading, students who would not remember concepts and skills from one day to the next, let alone one hour to the next, students who had physical deformities and medical conditions at a much higher rate than normal, students who would tantrum, students who were impulsively impulsive, students who were exhibiting abnormal sexual deviancy, students who would, at the drop of a hat, become aggressive toward adults and other students, students who would not think anything of spitting in the face of a teacher or taking a big stick and threatening the principal. Their interpersonal behaviors and academic behaviors were years behind, and in many ways, well outside the norm. Yet, but for a couple of the kids, behind their survival mask, they were kind and tender, remorseful and wanting forgiveness, eager to please, and keenly aware that they were not “normal”. And, these students had other ways of showing their feelings, such as native dance and art. In a strange sort of way, they were more accepted in the tribal schools because they became the ‘normal student’ and the usually normal student was the exception. I worked in a place where the abnormal had become normal.
This phenomenon was the same in the second and, in a lesser degree, in the third tribal school I worked in. Good, well-meaning teachers, working in the schools for a long period of time, would begin to have a skewed sense of reality. Students years behind academically would be getting A’s and B’s. Average achieving students would be considered gifted when compared to the entire student population. An essay of questionable quality would be touted as excellent. High stakes testing procedures were compromised by teachers in order to “give the student every chance to succeed”. Curriculum was watered down, minimized, adapted, or completed changed to accommodate the majority of students in the classrooms. These practices, well-meaning as they were, would then create a skewed sense of reality for the ‘normal students’ when he or she, either returned to public school, went out into the work force, or attempted college. The academic abnormal had become normal in attempt to create a feeling of success for the students.
I don’t know how to impress on anyone reading this the depth of the problem in the tribal schools and, to a lesser degree, in the public schools. Our FASD children are victims of a terrible affliction. Remember, it is not that the FASD student is not intelligent, its just his or her brain can’t organize and generalize the information like a normal brain. Just think what it would be like to daily have people shaming you for not remembering what was said or taught yesterday, for accusing you of not acting your age, of threatening you with punishment when you don’t understand why or what the punishment is for, giving you several directions at once when you can only focus on one direction at a time, or looking at you with contempt because you can’t do what others your age can and should be doing. I believe the No Child Left Behind mandates have created a stressful dilemma for our schools. FASD students are at a high risk for failure and the pressure on the classroom teachers puts the teachers at risk to act in a manner that is counterproductive with FASD children.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
What Works? Computers
"I just told you that yesterday", "Where did you put your pencil?" "We went over that last week." "How could you forget that? I told you that yesterday." On and on goes the comments. Farther and farther behind Johnny goes, with gaps in learning that seemingly were filled throughout the past lessons. He doesn't seem to remember, or is it he just isn't paying attention.
"Adults with FAS/E {and children too} have what is known as “flow- through phenomena” – information may be learned, stored, and retained for a while, only to disappear without warning, and reappear just as suddenly, all with no predictable pattern – hours, days or weeks later. What can be said with certainty, is that this unpredictable pattern happens just often enough to convince those who do not understand, this this is deliberate “behavior”, under the control of the person with FAS/E. The reality is very different, and no one is ever more frustrated than the person with FAS/E, who must constantly deal with the reactions of others to this behavior." NEUROBEHAVIOUR IN ADOLESCENTS AND ADULTSFAS/E Support Network
http://www.fetalalcohol.com/
So what works with students? Computers. Computer assisted instruction. Computers do not get angry with FASD students when the student has to do a problem over and over. The proper computer asisted instruction software will present skills to students and manage the student's responses, moving the student forward as they show mastery. The appropriate program will continue to review to assess mastery, remediating as necessary. Good software provides immediate feedback to responses, which is optimum for the FASD brain. Lesson lengths can be managed on an individual basis. Gaps in learning can be found easily with good software and software assessment tools. A students who can not move today's lesson into short term and long term memory on the first, second, third, tenth, or 100th attempt create a management nightmare for the classroom teacher. I have been told Albert Einstien said something to the effect of " Computers are fast, accurate, and stupid, humans are slow, inaccurate, and intelligent. So let's put them together to become fast, accurate, and intelligent." We need to use technology as much as possible to provide the best opportunity for FASD students to learn. One parent, in a youtube video, The Invisible Children and Families of FASD,Part 2, states her daughter had to have a skill presented 625 times before her daughter was successful with that skill.
I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Ann Striesguth in Minneapolis, MN at an FAS workshop. She is the preeminent researcher of FASD, now retired. One of the animal research studies she presented supports the above statement of the mother. In the research, the researchers injected alcohol into eggs and incubated the eggs. As the eggs hatched, the chicks looked exactly like any other chick. The only thing different was the injected alcohol. These chicks were placed in a box that had a small enclosure in the corner with a plexiglass window and an open door. In an opposite corner of the box, a feeder bowl was placed. Stooge chicks were placed by the feeder bowl to intice the other chicks to the feed. The FAE (Fetal Alcohol Effected, FASD without any physical deformities) chicks were placed in the small corner enclosure, along with some normal chicks. All the chicks pecked on th plexiglass window, peck, peck, peck.....soon the normal chicks started exploring and found the open door and went to the feed. The FASD chicks continued to peck, peck, and peck on the window. The researchers, after some time, guided the FASD chicks to the door and the feed. The next day, same results. After five days, some of the FASD chicks learned. Some never learned.
How can this be extrapolated to the classroom? We need to have tools to give FASD students multiple presentations of the skills and concepts, with the understanding that FASD students may need many presentations without any shaming and blaming attitudes. Computers can to that. Adults working with FASD students need to understand FASD students may not be able to generalize information, such as learning by observation of other students. Students who look normal may have brain damage that prohibits their brain from gathering information and sorting it like a normal brain. We can't stop trying, because after the 5, 10th, or 100th time, the FASD brain may grasp the skill or concept.
"Adults with FAS/E {and children too} have what is known as “flow- through phenomena” – information may be learned, stored, and retained for a while, only to disappear without warning, and reappear just as suddenly, all with no predictable pattern – hours, days or weeks later. What can be said with certainty, is that this unpredictable pattern happens just often enough to convince those who do not understand, this this is deliberate “behavior”, under the control of the person with FAS/E. The reality is very different, and no one is ever more frustrated than the person with FAS/E, who must constantly deal with the reactions of others to this behavior." NEUROBEHAVIOUR IN ADOLESCENTS AND ADULTSFAS/E Support Network
http://www.fetalalcohol.com/
So what works with students? Computers. Computer assisted instruction. Computers do not get angry with FASD students when the student has to do a problem over and over. The proper computer asisted instruction software will present skills to students and manage the student's responses, moving the student forward as they show mastery. The appropriate program will continue to review to assess mastery, remediating as necessary. Good software provides immediate feedback to responses, which is optimum for the FASD brain. Lesson lengths can be managed on an individual basis. Gaps in learning can be found easily with good software and software assessment tools. A students who can not move today's lesson into short term and long term memory on the first, second, third, tenth, or 100th attempt create a management nightmare for the classroom teacher. I have been told Albert Einstien said something to the effect of " Computers are fast, accurate, and stupid, humans are slow, inaccurate, and intelligent. So let's put them together to become fast, accurate, and intelligent." We need to use technology as much as possible to provide the best opportunity for FASD students to learn. One parent, in a youtube video, The Invisible Children and Families of FASD,Part 2, states her daughter had to have a skill presented 625 times before her daughter was successful with that skill.
I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Ann Striesguth in Minneapolis, MN at an FAS workshop. She is the preeminent researcher of FASD, now retired. One of the animal research studies she presented supports the above statement of the mother. In the research, the researchers injected alcohol into eggs and incubated the eggs. As the eggs hatched, the chicks looked exactly like any other chick. The only thing different was the injected alcohol. These chicks were placed in a box that had a small enclosure in the corner with a plexiglass window and an open door. In an opposite corner of the box, a feeder bowl was placed. Stooge chicks were placed by the feeder bowl to intice the other chicks to the feed. The FAE (Fetal Alcohol Effected, FASD without any physical deformities) chicks were placed in the small corner enclosure, along with some normal chicks. All the chicks pecked on th plexiglass window, peck, peck, peck.....soon the normal chicks started exploring and found the open door and went to the feed. The FASD chicks continued to peck, peck, and peck on the window. The researchers, after some time, guided the FASD chicks to the door and the feed. The next day, same results. After five days, some of the FASD chicks learned. Some never learned.
How can this be extrapolated to the classroom? We need to have tools to give FASD students multiple presentations of the skills and concepts, with the understanding that FASD students may need many presentations without any shaming and blaming attitudes. Computers can to that. Adults working with FASD students need to understand FASD students may not be able to generalize information, such as learning by observation of other students. Students who look normal may have brain damage that prohibits their brain from gathering information and sorting it like a normal brain. We can't stop trying, because after the 5, 10th, or 100th time, the FASD brain may grasp the skill or concept.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
What Works? Non-Shaming, Non-Blaming Language
Johnny, I told you that yesterday! Why don't you remember? How many times do I have to tell you? How come you didn't bring your pencil? How many times do I have to tell you? Act your age! How old are you? You are acting like a child! You....you .....you.....
Shaming and Blaming Language
The most effective strategy I have implemented school wide was the development of a common language. I have to credit a strong knowledgeable woman, Vonnie Vader, for introducing me to the theory of behavior management that utilizes a non-shaming, non-blaming common language approach. The more I witnessed this in action, the more I realized it fit what I had been searching for, appropriate strategies for FASD.
The above examples are shaming and blaming. The adult directs the shame or blame onto the student. This type of language immediately puts the student on the defensive. I submit a normal brain can sort out the intent of the language and, though the shame and blame hits home, the normal brain will not react impulsively. FASD exhibits itself in impulsive behaviors. An FASD brain will re-act impulsively with a behavior that will be defensive. This defensive behavior may be seen as aggressive, such as lashing out at the teacher, hitting, or swearing. In this case, the teacher is the anticedent to the behavior. Unfortunately, I have witnessed time and time again the teacher blaming the student for the impulsive behavior and not understanding the brain damage and not being willing to take any responsibility for causing the behavior by his or her shaming and blaming language.
So what is non-shaming, non-blaming language? Vonnie Vader had developed four questions that were asked for any behavior needing change. We implemented the questions in our middle school with almost immediate success. Within 6 weeks, the high school was asking to be trained because of the difference in the middle school. The questions were:
Is that off task?
Is that out of place?
Is that physical contact?
Is that noise?
We defined the terms off task, out of place, physical contact, and noise. The teachers were provided an in-service on the theory behind the concept. Vonnie spent 6 weeks in our school modeling the concept. Within 6 weeks, not only were the teachers using the language, the students were also.
The behavior management theory simply is this. Something triggers a behavior. We don't know what that is many times. There are so many mitigating factors in a student's life that could be the trigger. The only thing.....the only thing we have control over is how we act toward the child. Maybe the single parent did not come home last night and the student had to get himself up, as well as the other sibling, find some cold cereal without milk for breakfast, got into a fight with the younger brother, and was teased on the bus about his clothes he was wearing for the third time this week. We don't know what triggers a student.
So, Johnny is sitting in his seat, figeting, and not paying attention to his assigment. A normal student would have a hard time concentrating with everything that is not going right in this child's life, let alone a student with brain damage from FASD. The teacher looks at Johnny and says,"How many times have I told you to pay attention!" Johnny's brain impulsively reacts, maybe with swearing, something he hears daily, or with a violent reaction. His brain has limited,if no ability to control his initial impulse. Now Johnny is in trouble and the teacher can find fault with him. This has been a pattern for this young man.
Now, let's use the non-shaming, non-blaming approach. Everything being the same, the teacher asks, "Johnny, is that off task?" First, the language does not include the word you. The question asks about the behavior. By asking the question, the teacher is providing Johnny with the opportunity to think about whether he is off task or not. This gives the FASD brain time to think, rather than react defensively. (Now, if Johnny has triggered and is beginning to escalate in behaviors, questions turn to statements and Johnny needs to be removed to a safe location to de-escalate. Schools with a large number of FASD students need to have a safe environment for FASD students to escalate and de-escalate.) So many times, I have seen the student immediately bring himself back to attention with a, "Oh, yea." and try to attend to the assignment. Understanding the impulsivity and inability to sort out the inputs to the FASD brain is important for each teacher to know, so the teacher does not get angry and blame when he or she has to ask the question time and time again. The strategy is to remind the FASD brain, rather than blame the child.
The FASD brain does not think the way you and I think a brain should think. So much of FASD does not exhibit itself in physical characteristics, so educators should always be aware the behaviors they are seeing in normal appearing students may be the result of FASD. The non-shaming, non-blaming language works for all student, regardless of FASD or not.
Shaming and Blaming Language
The most effective strategy I have implemented school wide was the development of a common language. I have to credit a strong knowledgeable woman, Vonnie Vader, for introducing me to the theory of behavior management that utilizes a non-shaming, non-blaming common language approach. The more I witnessed this in action, the more I realized it fit what I had been searching for, appropriate strategies for FASD.
The above examples are shaming and blaming. The adult directs the shame or blame onto the student. This type of language immediately puts the student on the defensive. I submit a normal brain can sort out the intent of the language and, though the shame and blame hits home, the normal brain will not react impulsively. FASD exhibits itself in impulsive behaviors. An FASD brain will re-act impulsively with a behavior that will be defensive. This defensive behavior may be seen as aggressive, such as lashing out at the teacher, hitting, or swearing. In this case, the teacher is the anticedent to the behavior. Unfortunately, I have witnessed time and time again the teacher blaming the student for the impulsive behavior and not understanding the brain damage and not being willing to take any responsibility for causing the behavior by his or her shaming and blaming language.
So what is non-shaming, non-blaming language? Vonnie Vader had developed four questions that were asked for any behavior needing change. We implemented the questions in our middle school with almost immediate success. Within 6 weeks, the high school was asking to be trained because of the difference in the middle school. The questions were:
Is that off task?
Is that out of place?
Is that physical contact?
Is that noise?
We defined the terms off task, out of place, physical contact, and noise. The teachers were provided an in-service on the theory behind the concept. Vonnie spent 6 weeks in our school modeling the concept. Within 6 weeks, not only were the teachers using the language, the students were also.
The behavior management theory simply is this. Something triggers a behavior. We don't know what that is many times. There are so many mitigating factors in a student's life that could be the trigger. The only thing.....the only thing we have control over is how we act toward the child. Maybe the single parent did not come home last night and the student had to get himself up, as well as the other sibling, find some cold cereal without milk for breakfast, got into a fight with the younger brother, and was teased on the bus about his clothes he was wearing for the third time this week. We don't know what triggers a student.
So, Johnny is sitting in his seat, figeting, and not paying attention to his assigment. A normal student would have a hard time concentrating with everything that is not going right in this child's life, let alone a student with brain damage from FASD. The teacher looks at Johnny and says,"How many times have I told you to pay attention!" Johnny's brain impulsively reacts, maybe with swearing, something he hears daily, or with a violent reaction. His brain has limited,if no ability to control his initial impulse. Now Johnny is in trouble and the teacher can find fault with him. This has been a pattern for this young man.
Now, let's use the non-shaming, non-blaming approach. Everything being the same, the teacher asks, "Johnny, is that off task?" First, the language does not include the word you. The question asks about the behavior. By asking the question, the teacher is providing Johnny with the opportunity to think about whether he is off task or not. This gives the FASD brain time to think, rather than react defensively. (Now, if Johnny has triggered and is beginning to escalate in behaviors, questions turn to statements and Johnny needs to be removed to a safe location to de-escalate. Schools with a large number of FASD students need to have a safe environment for FASD students to escalate and de-escalate.) So many times, I have seen the student immediately bring himself back to attention with a, "Oh, yea." and try to attend to the assignment. Understanding the impulsivity and inability to sort out the inputs to the FASD brain is important for each teacher to know, so the teacher does not get angry and blame when he or she has to ask the question time and time again. The strategy is to remind the FASD brain, rather than blame the child.
The FASD brain does not think the way you and I think a brain should think. So much of FASD does not exhibit itself in physical characteristics, so educators should always be aware the behaviors they are seeing in normal appearing students may be the result of FASD. The non-shaming, non-blaming language works for all student, regardless of FASD or not.
Monday, May 14, 2007
A Breath of Fresh Air
I met someone this evening who probably does not know how much she impacted me in such a short time. The Principal's Partnership is an organization that supports principals across much of the nation. This evening, I was invited by the Principal's Partnership to participate in a dinner for principals in southeast Idaho. The team leader, Glady Nienstaedt, had asked her friend, Jeanette Phillips, from Polson MT, to come down to our country to speak. Her informal presentation was a delight to listen to and the time went quickly. I had the priviledge to visit with her after the meeting. I was flattered she was interested in the work I do, and our conversation, though brief, had a huge impact on me. The connections one makes are hard to fathom. Words can have such an impact. She left me with a Margaret Mead quote, " Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
I can do this! Thanks Jeanette!
I can do this! Thanks Jeanette!
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