Aromatherapy

AAAARRRRGGGHHH! NO!

I have severe allergies. Many kids with ADHD have allergies and chemical sensitivities. Some have sensory integration issues.

I worked in one place where three of us tutors had severe allergies and one excellent tutor had to quit her job when she had a life-threatening collapse because the cleaning staff just would not quit using more and more scented chemicals, despite repeated requests to stick to soap.

Oils and scents can cause everything from life-threatening asthma attacks to panic attacks to skin outbreaks and violent itching to drowsiness to sinus inflammation leading to infection to nausea and vomiting.

Even if only one or two kids in the class (or a few coworkers) are disturbed by the scents, this is still *not* an enhancement of the classroom, quite the opposite.

There is no reason to use something totally unnecessary to the learning process when the risks are much higher than the benefits.

AAAARRRRGGGHHH! NO!

I have severe allergies. Many kids with ADHD have allergies and chemical sensitivities. Some have sensory integration issues.

I worked in one place where three of us tutors had severe allergies and one excellent tutor had to quit her job when she had a life-threatening collapse because the cleaning staff just would not quit using more and more scented chemicals, despite repeated requests to stick to soap. (we do like cleanliness; dust is bad too; but cleanliness does *not* require fake chemical perfumes.)

Oils and scents can cause everything from life-threatening asthma attacks to panic attacks to skin outbreaks and violent itching to drowsiness to sinus inflammation leading to infection to nausea and vomiting.

Even if only one or two kids in the class (or a few coworkers) are disturbed by the scents, this is still *not* an enhancement of the classroom, quite the opposite.

There is no reason to use something totally unnecessary to the learning process when the risks are much higher than the benefits.

[quote=”Chuck”]I’d like to enhance my classroom to aid my ADHD students. I’ve researched the benefits of music but I’m also interested in aromatherapy. Can anyone tell me about particular oils or scents?

Thanks[/quote]I would check to make sure that no one in the class has alergies, like Victoria said. Aside from that I have found that aromatherapy was very helpful when my son was younger. I used lavender (soothing) scents in his bedroom and it helped him to calm himself enough to sleep. Not ALL people have alergies and scents can be a wonderful way to set the mood of a room.

“Lavender offers a multitude of benefits and uses. It balances the mood, clears the mind, has a long tradition in skin & hair care as well as medicine and is used for many household solutions. One of the unique characteristics of Lavender Essential Oil is that it is not merely energizing or relaxing, but balancing. The scent of Lavender will rejuvenate and inspire a tired person, and relax, soothe and slow down someone who is stressed or tense. Harness the powers of Lavender to add balance and serenity to our increasingly hectic lives. While pharmaceutical drugs are limited to either stimulating or sedating a person, Lavender - like many other remedies offered by nature - is able to re-establish the person’s balanced, harmonious and natural state without the use of synthetic chemicals.”

[quote=”victoria”]There is no reason to use something totally unnecessary to the learning process when the risks are much higher than the benefits.[/quote]jmho but I think you’re beling a little bit of an alarmist here. There are also very positive benefits for some using aromatherapy.

What proportion of the population has asthma these days? I think it’s something like 5% to 10% and growing at epidemic rates. In any group of over twenty people in a class therefore you can *expect* to find a couple of asthmatics. In a group of two hundred to six hundred in an elementary school you will find ten or twenty to sixty asthmatics. And that is not to mention the people like me with other respiratory allergies and problems, ADD and SI kids affected by chemicals, etc.
And please note, as I have been trying to teach some very stupid tenants before having to evict them, air is not divisible. You cannot say I will have my aromas or tobacco or whatever in just this room at these times and you will have your air over there at that time — doesn’t work that way. Chemicals in the air spread everywhere by the nature of things.
I am not being alarmist, I am stating the facts. And on a site like this, it is just as unacceptable to insult allergic people and tell us we are a weird minority who should just go away as it is to say the same thing to dyslexics or ADD or whatever. And no, it is discriminatory and insulting to bring in the smells first and wait for the child to speak up publicly and tell you you’re giving him a headache, just the same as it is discriminatory and insulting to wait for the dyslexic child to come up in front of the class and publicly ask for help. Show a little tolerance and concern for others, please.
I didn’t mention this in my first post, but there are actually schools that ban all perfumes, including both students and staff wearing them, because of the ever-increasing allergy and asthma problem. Again, it is not necessary, of very questionable ecucational benefit, and actively harmful to a large proportion of the population, so please don’t.

those of us with ‘smell’ allergies suffer enough. Due to my allergy meds, my sense of smell is mostly ‘off line’ — doesn’t work. So I don’t have a sneeze attack like I did before beconase! But that doesn’t help my breathing. One time I wlked into a mall and entered a fast food line with my sister and all of a sudden started to cough…the asthma cough, and HAD to do a puffer right there and then…my sister dragged me out of line as soon as I had done it and told me that the lady ahead of us REEKED of perfume.

I was in the library on Saturday, and it is lucky I only had 4 books…that day I could smell, the lady did not ‘reek’ but was wearing noticable perfume, and I started having trouble right away. Got away fast, no attack but had to ‘puff’ to prevent low-grade problems that can cause trouble if I over-exert.

Sorry, aromatherapy is great — not all scents bother me, and lavendar is one that does not — but it is NOT appropriate in the classroom. Classrooms, like many churches, should be moving to fragrance free, not offering aromatherapy for the masses…

Please understand that allergies are another difference that makes life quite impossible at times — but where the sufferer is usually blamed as ‘the problem’, despite the fact that outside, unmanagable triggers CAUSE many of our problems with the world. Much like ADHD and LD!

Great sentiment, love the music idea — but please re-think the smells. MANY people suffer this way — some get symptoms that are not attributable to scent, but would affect learning — headaches, stuffy feeling, inability to concentrate, nausea…I’ve had them all. You might use this and not even realize it was adversely affecting the odd student, or one or two…sounds like this is NOT your intent!

Best regards, Original Poster — you are the kind of teacher I’d like for my child!

Forgive me for not signing that last post, I’m just getting used to logging in. I had one more thing to add:

[quote]And on a site like this, it is just as unacceptable to insult allergic people and tell us we are a weird minority who should just go away as it is to say the [/quote]

I never said anything of the kind, I defy you to show me where. Like I said, let’s stick with the facts. I’m sorry you’ve had it difficult but please don’t take it out on me.

Can we ban the microwaved popcorn with the nasty phony-butter stench?

I don’t like funny smells at the office. I’d bet you wouldn’t like the one I would pick either - Hoppes #9 Solvent, adored and beloved by generations of outdoorsmen (and their spouses if you believe the stories that are told.)

John…who will never understand why some people think everyone loves the way they smell.

Jumping in late here.

Allergy issues aside, wouldn’t the fragrances in the classroom serve as a further distraction? I mean, if ambient noise interferes with concentration, wouldn’t it stand to reason that the aromatherapy would do the same? I know for a fact that my son notices each and every little new smell; I feel fairly certain that he would be more distracted by this than soothed.

It’s a nice idea and you’re a good teacher to be making the effort to find ways to help your students.

when someone takes exception to the opinion of others, instead of simply stating their opposing viewpoint. So why argue with Victoria’s post, which simply gave her opinion? Why then attack her statistics as if that somehow devalues her very valid opinion about classroom environment, in response to the original poster’s serious request for opinions?

We’d all do well to remember that we have a reputation on the boards based on how we respond to others…

[quote=”Elizabeth TO”]when someone takes exception to the opinion of others, instead of simply stating their opposing viewpoint. So why argue with Victoria’s post, which simply gave her opinion? Why then attack her statistics as if that somehow devalues her very valid opinion about classroom environment, in response to the original poster’s serious request for opinions?

We’d all do well to remember that we have a reputation on the boards based on how we respond to others…[/quote]

She attacked my opinion and that seems to be ok with you. So she’s the only one who can have an opinion? Thou shalt not oppose Victoria?

And her “statistics” were not wholly accurate. Any opinion based on untrue facts should be invalid, no? Or at least enlightened? Or else we can just go around making up any old thing and telling people they should believe it because it’s been posted?

The OP got serious opinions to his serious post. Just because I don’t agree with her is no reason to invalidate MY opinion. Right?

Darn, forgot to log in again. I just posted the previous message.

[quote=”Elizabeth TO”]I read you as attacking Victoria’s opinion. I read Victoria as rebutting your attack…perhaps, due to her considerable reputation around here, I have given her more consideration than I should have. Thus, my somewhat (sorry!) preachy comment about reputations — it DOES affect how your posts are read, and if you are new, that might be some good advice. However:

Would you REALLY advocate something be done in the classroom that is ok for your kid but hurts mine? Perhaps in ways that are less than obvious? Ways that might adversely affect his learning, but be imperceptible and therefore impossible to avoid? (maybe I’d not even KNOW about the aromatherapy, and just decide my child’s difficulties were getting worse instead of better — possibly leading to inappropriate changes in treatment…see why we get incensed here?)

Your opinion, as I read it, seems to be that ‘if it’s OK for me and most people, you and those like you don’t count (especially since there aren’t very many of you as a percentage of the world’s population)’. Is that REALLY what you meant to say? — because that’s obviously how both Victoria and I read it. And probably, many lurkers, who are not likely to join in but will be influenced by your comments, especially if they have no personal experience of allergies.

I guess I generally react with strong emotion to the ‘I’m all right, Jack, so too bad for you’ type of sentiment — this is quite honestly what I perceived in your post…[/quote]

My very first post clearly stated “I would check to make sure that no one in the class has alergies, like Victoria said.”
suezqz_64

…sorry if I was not clear.

The idea is that this may have adverse affects to those NOT officially dx’d — does NOT belong in a classroom. SURE, check for allergies…but what about the person who mentioned general tendency in the ADHD population to have a very keen sense of smell — which may be distracted by aromatherapy, not soothed. And what about someone with a very mild allergic condition that has never required a doctor’s intervention — but is quite marked, symptom-wise? The symptoms might be attributed to other things, and again, adversely affect treatment or progress at school.

Again: NO TO ANY KIND OF AROMATHERAPY — this should not, on principle, be used in any classroom, reqardless. And thanks for the lively discussion — just wait til Victoria and I lock horns next time someone asks about Davis methods — do jump in, I’ll be interested in your opinion!

Wow- I’d been ignoring this thread until I saw how long it’d gotten, and had to check it out. When I do Functional Behavior Assessments, one of the options is looking at the classroom environment- physical arrangement, teaching style, light and noise levels. I will definitely think about odors now too. I am one of those who gets headaches from certain aromas. Many classrooms I walk into lately have one of those scented oil air fresheners, or a potpourri simmering some concoction. If you’ve ever had to call 911 and watch a child struggle to breathe while you are frantically calling everyone on that child’s emergency contact list, you would think twice about using chemicals or oils.

Rover — please do talk to the teachers with the scented oil things (no, they don’t freshen the air, just hide other odours under much stronger ones) and the potpourri bubbling — I’m surprised you haven’t had complaints aready, although perhaps little kids may not realize exactly what is making them sneeze or rub their noses or get dizzy and headachy.
This scented oil plugins are so bad that when one of my tenants used one when I was away for a long weekend, he made the room uninhabitable for four months. I literally could not enter it without having dizzy spells and nausea. I had to wait until summer when I could open the window and put a fan on, and still every time I worked in it the next day was a sick day. I washed the walls, ceiling, and floor three times and still couldn’t use the room; finally had to repaint it entirely. The plug-ins are not only strong smells, but terribly persistent.

probably you already know this…but watch those portables too! I am like a ‘coalmine canary’ for mold in those things — this is more likely to cause headache and nausea than sneezing, and is therefore less noticeable, unless child complains — but then, many of their complaints of head and tummy trouble might be attributed to meds or to avoidance…

A lot of this discussion seems quite silly to me. I don’t understand why someone(s) would argue with people who say that odors bother them. I know my son is like that about certain things—his sister lit incense and flicked it all over the house, including his room. I would not describe him however as an allergy kid.

It does seem like a classroom is not the right place to use such therapy for all the reasons cited. But maybe a parent at home would find it useful.

But regardless of what people think about the issue supposedly being discussed, the increasingly personal attacks really have no place on this forum.

Beth

To our readers,

We were alerted to this thread by one of our members. After reviewing this thread, we decided to limit the posts to those that discuss the topic originally introduced.

Learning disabilities and ADHD can be very emotional subjects, and it is understandable that our users will respond passionately to each other — particularly when the welfare of children is at stake. We appreciate that spirited discussions will take place. However, if an issue arises where we hear that any user does not feel they are being treated with respect and care, we will take the time to investigate and make a judgment on posts.

We have a really great community here, and we appreciate that we rarely need to set limits on posts. Let’s keep our positive spirit of community, support, and exchange of information going.

Thanks,
LD OnLine Staff

Elizabeth — funny, we had the opposite experience with portables. My daughter’s high school was built for 2500 students and peaked at 3400, with a waiting list to get in (then the new superintendent “solved” the problems by cutting back the desirable programs and getting rid of staff that made it a school of excellence, but I digress). They had 18 portables on the parking lot. Well, the school had been designed in the 1970’s with the wonderful wacky idea that kids shouldn’t be distracted by anything natural, no windows at all, like a very overcrowded prison. The portables were the only places with fresh air, sunshine, and a view of the real world even if it was a parking lot, and they were in hot demand by both students and teachers! My daughter did get more headaches inside the stuffy closed classrooms. We don’t get along well with molds either, but fresh air is a great thing.

our board has done a (huge) great job of cleaning up the portables in the last few years — at great expense, but necessary! Many were scrapped, and now they are building additions to certain schools, since they had to revise ideas about the useful life of portables — they are not as cost-effective as they seemed at one time.

AND…my son’s best year so far has been in Gr. 5 — IN A PORTABLE — why? Well, he DID have an A+++ teacher who suited him to a ‘T’ — but he came home at the end of the first week and said, MOM…I LOVE the portable — it is so QUIET! This had been a big problem for him — the school was NOISY, and although they had great window access they seemed to always have doors open, maybe for air circulation.

I know that ‘group discovery’ work is a big thing for elementary education but it sure makes for NOISE…

We must have different kinds of portables here. MY nonLD daughter was in one in fourth grade. I thought it was awful…the air conditioning was unbelievably noisy. I specifically asked that my LD son not be placed in one..ever. I don’t think he could have tuned out the noise.

We have had mold problems here too, as you might imagine. One whole set of portables had to be destroyed. I don’t see any reluctance though to use them. Our local high school has the entire 9th grade in portables. The building here can’t keep up with the population growth, although four hurricanes in one season might help with that!!

Beth

our portables don’t have air conditioning! (Ontario, Canada) This (mould in portables) has been a HUGE issue up here, so the boards got extra govt. cash a few years back to clean up, and I think they got extra for new buildings vs. portables also.

But for LD/ADHD kids, these issues — smells, noise — can be HUGE…can ‘make or break’ the learning experience. Thus, the emotional reactions in this thread — this issue could have as great an effect on learning as meds, for some kids — therefore, not a small issue…

Pretty funny how what you are used to becomes “normal”. I moved five years ago to Florida from Buffalo, NY. There was no airconditioning there either. But you have to have it here….

And you are right, it is the little things that make a big difference with LD/ADHD kids. They operate so close to the edge that they can’t tolerate less than optimal conditions. My youngest had a teacher last year that while hardly ideal would have created a living hell for his brother. The youngest only comment at the end of the year was “I wish I had had a nicer teacher.”

Beth