9 years – Attention Problems
Tom is placed in a small special class due to his impulsivity. He has the bad habit of shouting out with a loud voice whatever thoughts happen to come to his mind. And when he began talking it was difficult to interrupt him or to make him stop. His manner of communication was disturbing other pupils and lead to numerous arguments or fights with his fellow classmates.
Another problem of Tom’s is that it was very difficult for him to concentrate on listening to the teacher. His own thoughts appeared to race so fast that he often failed to hear what the teacher has just said. If the teacher, or the teacher’s assistant tried to find out from him, whether he has heard the teacher’s instruction, he tended to become irritated and begun to blame the adult for bugging him.
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Tom’s third problem was that he did not tolerate his teacher, or the assistant teacher, helping him with his assignments. When they tried, he began to crank and speak rudely to the teacher or the assistant teacher. Even an adult, who was standing near him observing him working on his task, was enough to irritate him, when he himself felt that he didn’t need any help.
Skill 1
All the pupils in the special class were learning skills in the guidance of the teacher. Tom’s first skill was called “note skill”. The purpose of the skill was to help him overcome his bad habit of calling out his thoughts in a high voice during lessons. This is what he wrote about his note skill to his Kids’ Skills notebook:
*“When during the lesson something important pops into my mind that I would like to say immediately to the teacher, so instead of saying it, I write it on the notepad on my desk. After the lesson I can go to the teacher to tell her what I had in mind. Even if I cannot say it immediately, I don’t become nervous even because the note helps me to remember it. I have been amazed myself about the amount of notes, that I have written. My classmates say, that my skill has had a calming effect on the whole class, because many times the things that I say have to do with microcircuits and electronics rather than with what is being taught during the lesson. I have also concentrated better during the lessons now, as I have been able to put aside the things that pop up in my mind. I have noticed, that I have not needed to go to the teacher after the lesson to tell about the things I have written on my notes. It has been enough for me to scribble my thoughts down for myself. I have also enjoyed reading my notes afterwards.”*
Skill 2
Tom’s second skill was related to his difficulty with concentrating on following the teacher’s instructions. This skill he called ”robot skill”. It meant , that when the teacher had given an instruction to the pupils and then asked Tom, if he had listened and understood the instruction, Tom answered with a voice of a robot: “Instruction copied!” This helped the teacher know whether he had listened to the instruction or not. As you may guess, Tom was particularly interested in robots and he found using the robot voice so much fun, that he almost started to wait for the teacher’s instructions.
Skill 3
Tom’s third skill was called “Help-skill”. It had to do with his difficulty of accepting help from adults. Together with his teacher, he found a way of practicing ‘Help skill”. He laminated a card, which he had coloured orange on one face and green on the other. On the orange face he had written with large text, “Please help!” and on the green face, “No thanks, no help needed right now.”
The colourful card helped the teacher and the assistant teacher to see from distance, when Tom needed help and when he didn’t want help. In this way nobody needed to go next to him to see how he was managing his assignments. With the help of the card Tom learned to ask for help, and to refuse help, appropriately and in an acceptable way.
Follow-up
Tom learned many skills with the help of Kids’ Skills and made so much progress, that after two years he could be removed from the special education class to a regular class.
This article is owned by: Kids’Skills http://www.kidsskillsapp.com/
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