ADHD temperaments

Kris,

As one who has NLD, I would be careful about assuming anything about people with ADHD.

As we say about NLD which applies to ADHD, AS, and similar conditions, if you have met one NLDer, you have met one NLDer.

PT

[quote=Kris]To begin with, the Kelsey Temperament Sorter diagnosed me as an idealist. Most teachers probably are idealist and see each new day as a chance to change a child’s life.

Most often, ADHD children are Extroverts. This trait is useful when it is in an appropriate setting. A responsive student can begin a class discussion and cause other students to be constrained.

If the student is overly extrovert, he may become a deterrent to class instruction and distract other students. The trait can be a positive if the student learns some self control and participates in a behavior modification program designed to maximize his verbal strengths. The student will need to utilize proper social skills and learn how to respond in an appropriate manner.

Most of my experience has involved with extroverts who act impulsively.
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Kris, I see what you are saying and don’t find it offensive at all that you speak from your experience and observations.

Some people here seem to overgeneralize regularly and get defensive and antagonistic when their point of view isn’t accepted as gospel. I don’t know why Mandi is determined to drive everybody off this site who doesn’t agree with her.

John

Mandi:

Do I understand you correctly that you will not accept the existence of ADHD until you see enough neuropathological studies involving actual physical cytoarchitectonic analysis of ADHD brains (like the analyses done on dyslexic brains by Galabruda, Kemper, Geshwind, Sherman and others).

Since you mentioned that you have read studies that indicate that there are no observable differences between the brains of ADHD and non ADHD individuals, I assume you have read but dismissed the studies that have shown that the caudate nucleus and the global pallidus structures of the basal ganglia, as well as the cerebellum and the frontal cortex have been found to be smaller in individuals with ADHD. Further, the bands of fibers in the corpus callosum was thinner in the posterior frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes of the two hemispheres in children with ADHD than in the hemispheres of the control groups. Also, measurements of the thickness of cortex showed that gray matter was reduced in inferior frontal cortex and anterior temporal lobes, but increased in the posterior temporal cortices and inferior parietal cortex. (The measurement studies were published in the Lancet which, as you know, is a British journal.)

As far as the diagnosis process is concerned, as with dyslexia, without cutting open the skull, we cannot tell with total certainty if a person actually has ADHD.

Like dyslexia, we must rely on a set of established characteristics and symptoms to classify a person as having ADHD. Unfortunately, this is not an in fallible method of determining if a person has ADHD.

(In case you a wondering “what does she I know about dyslexia”, I have been a member of the International Dyslexia Association for 19 years (when it was still the Orton Dyslexia Society), and I have studied dyslexia, and have worked with children who have dyslexia all these years, and I continue to study it. Consequently, I have had many opportunities to hear and talk with experts in the field such as Dr. Gordon Sherman who was Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard, and did brain research with Dr. Geshwind at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, Mass.)

Interesting discussion. I am not sure how that a discussion about temperament traits and educating students with ADHD turned into an essay on the the exitance of God. But, thanks for reminding me how personally offensive lables and categories become to people who believe they have been dealt with inappropriately.

I agree that we are all individuals with our own distinct characteristics and personalities. For an educator, it is sometimes difficult give students the individual respect that they deserve in a classroom full of unique minds, each endowed by God with their own will and capacity to make choices for themselves. I do not intend to continue or foster some sort of depate here, but I am thankful that He sees us as unique individuals not as a herd of mutated beings with no purpose or reason for being.

I hope to learn more about using interventions to help students who have difficulty maintaining and completing classroom work(ADHD or not). This site appears to be a useful resource.

Welcome Ed2010! Happy to have you join the conversation in sharing and learning strategies to help students.