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Pay attention to inattention!

Pay attention to inattention!. SAALED Capetown , 2011. Rosemary Tannock,PhD Canada Research Chair & Professor in Special Education;, OISE/University of Toronto; Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto; Senior Scientist, The Hospital for Sick Children. Recurring themes .

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Pay attention to inattention!

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  1. Pay attention to inattention! SAALED Capetown, 2011 Rosemary Tannock,PhD Canada Research Chair & Professor in Special Education;, OISE/University of Toronto; Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto; Senior Scientist, The Hospital for Sick Children

  2. Recurring themes • Short attention span/ inattention • Poor working memory • Challenges accessing the curriculum • From exclusion, through inclusion, to belonging

  3. Risk Triad for Belonging Poor Working memory Classroom inattention Poor Academic Attainment

  4. http://working-memory-and-education.wikispaces.com/ www.teachadhd.ca http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Vg3fLgrNus&feature=player_embedded

  5. What do we mean by “poor working memory?” • Smaller capacity? • Poorer filtering out irrelevant information, that is…poor selective attention!

  6. Pay attention to Inattention! 387 children followed from Kindergarten - Grade 5 Inattention in kindergarten as reported by teachers Poor reading in Gr. 5 even after controlling for IQ, hyperactivity, emotional problems, & reading ability in Kindergarten/Grade 1

  7. The problem What is attention? • Which of these students is paying attention? • How do you know? Do outward appearances necessarily reflect internal mental state?

  8. Where is the ‘mind’s eye’ ?

  9. Attention Networks Front of brain Back of brain Brain’s neurochemicals Norepinephrine Acetylcholine Dopamine Alerting Focusing Executive Posner & Rothbart (2007). Annual Review of Psychology, 58:1-23

  10. The Brain’s Attention Networks (Posner) • Maintaining alertness • I’m ready! • Focusing visual & auditory stimuli • where you look & what you listen to. Zoom in! • Executive attention • Inhibiting competing thoughts, emotions, stimuli to complete a task. Ignore distractions!

  11. Part II How can we help children pay attention?

  12. Effective instructional practices • Introducing the lesson • Draw schematic on board • Preview previous lesson(s) • Set learning expectations • Set behavioral expectations (remain seated, talk in quiet voice in small group) • State needed material • Simplify instructions & choices 1. Preview 2. New information (T) 3. Individual work 5. Review & close 4. Group work

  13. Effective instructional practices • Conducting the lesson • Be predictable • Support the learner’s active participation • Use audiovisual /different modalities • Ask probing questions – allow time to respond • Check performance & give prompt feedback • Help learner self-correct errors • Help learner focus/refocus • Divide work into smaller units

  14. Effective instructional practices • Concluding the lesson • Give advance warning • Check assigment • Preview next lesson (very briefly)

  15. Problematic Attention Networks:Implications for education… Problem Solutions • Alertness – not ready ! • Focusing – zoomed out / wrong target! • Executive control-acted without thinking! • Actively engage the learner’s attention • Increase saliency of relevant information • Precue/prompt & praise

  16. 1A. Engage ALL learners in active learning • Create learning activities with high response rate • questions for whole class to answer (thumbs up/down)

  17. Think-Pair-Share – 2 minutes • How else can you increase each learner’s active responding in class? • Discuss & identify 3 ways

  18. 1. Engage ALL learners in active learning • Create learning activities with high response rate • questions for whole class to answer written, choral, gestural • active monitoring & marking sheet (click/clunk; know that, don’t understand, new, oops I was wrong) • partner activities (discuss, read, co-write)

  19. 1B. Engage ALL learners in active learning • Break into smaller units / shorter time period • 1 page/column at a time • Use count-down timer • Help get started • check understanding • set timer, then leave! • Take brief (30-60 sec), timed, structured breaks

  20. Everyday life in the classroom from the perspective of a student with inattention or ADHD! INCREASE SALIENCY OF RELEVANT INFORMATION!

  21. Problematic Attention Networks:Implications for education… Problem Solutions • Alertness – not ready ! • Focusing – zoomed out / wrong target! • Executive control-acted without thinking! • Actively engage the learner’s attention • Increase saliency of relevant information • Precue/prompt & praise

  22. 2. Increase saliency… by creating supportive classroom environment • Organize physical environment to reduce distractions • near teacher, between well-focused students, away from distractions • Organize materials so they are easy to identify & store (color coding) • Establish & post routines on one wall

  23. Organizing the physical environment • Special places for all children • A quiet place with minimal distractions • A moving place • A group place • An individual place • Everything in its own place • Desks, Bags, Closets, Binders

  24. 2. Increase saliency of relevant information by Using Effective Instructions & Commands • Teachers were taught how to: • assess a student’s ability to process & remember verbal information • adapt their instructional language • “Speak short & sweet & repeat” • Children showed improvements in: • literacy outcomes • inattentive behavior • Improvements persisted over several years Rowe KJ: 2003 Australian Council for Educational Research Rowe K, Pollard J, Rowe K (2005) [www.acer.edu.au/news/latestnews.html]

  25. Rowe & Rowe’s Rules of Thumb for inattention & literacy risk (2006) • Children not at risk • Median/mean number of words accurately recalled = age in years + 4 (up to age 10) • Children in high-risk category for literacy • Cannot recall sentences of word length more than age in years + 3 • Likely to be rated as inattentive, poor academic achievement

  26. Use Effective Instructions & Commands • ATTRACT the student’s attentionMaintain eye contact, proximity • SPEAK clearly, paced Use short sentences (‘chunked’) Use visual/gestural cues & wait for compliance • PAUSE between sentences • MONITOR the student If child has ‘blank look’ stop & repeat instruction • TO REPEAT INSTRUCTION Restate slowly and simply Do not expand

  27. TRY IT OUT! Small Group: label yourselves A, B, C, D etc • Partner A act as fidgety & inattentive • Partner C gives directions; • Write down a 5-step direction for your ‘learners’ (e.g., a list of actions, like Tilly’s) • Give the directions to your learners • Monitor & rate their response 0-3 (3=all correct) • Partners A, B,D: rate your instructor 1-5 (5= very effective)

  28. Problematic Attention Networks:Implications for education… Problem Solutions • Alertness – not ready ! • Focusing – zoomed out / wrong target! • Executive control-acted without thinking! • Actively engage the learner’s attention • Increase saliency of relevant information • Precue/prompt & praise

  29. Poor executive control of attention, poor working memory & slow processing speed pose problems for giving effective feedback WHY?

  30. Intended Target Great job Matt! Keep eyes on your work 1 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 Time Consequential approaches may be limited by poor working memory capacity!

  31. More effective : Antecedent prompt plus reinforcement • Prompt student for desired behavior • Model, verbal prompt • Verbal prompt & student repeats • Gradually fade to non-verbal prompt & student self-talk • Reinforce desired behavior • Initially praise approximations of desired behavior; ignore unwanted behavior • Then hold praise until desired behavior; ignore unwanted behavior • Gradually delay praise to extend duration of desired behavior; ignore unwanted behavior

  32. Prompt for Target Behavior Praise approximations Eyes on work Ignore 1 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 Time Antecedent /at-point-of-performance approaches will be more effective

  33. Prompt for Target Behavior Delay praise of target behavior Eyes on work Ignore 1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 Time (min) Antecedent /at-point-of-performance approaches will be more effective

  34. Classwide Antecedent strategies 1. Clear rules & expectations

  35. Define Class-wide & School-wide Expectations for Attentive Behavior • Identify 1-2 Expectations • Short statements • Positive Statements (what to do) • Memorable • TRY IT – Discuss with partner - how do you develop statements? • Examples: • Be-there-be-ready, Hands and feet to self, (“eyes on the fries”) eyes on the job

  36. Teach Behavioral Expectations • Say, show, practice, review, & reinforce positively stated expectations • Post expectations /rules • Teach in the actual settings where behaviors are to occur • Teach (a) the words, and (b) the actions. • Prompt & pre-correct • Monitor continuously • Acknowledge & reinforce regularly • Build a social culture that is predictable, and focused on student success.

  37. Be a Positive Educator • Give more acknowledgements for appropriate than inappropriate behavior • At least 4 to 1 • At least once every 5-10 minutes • Follow any correction with opportunity for positive behavior and feedback

  38. Basic teaching techniques • Daily review • of relevant past learning & homework • Chunk lesson. • Begin with objectives. Proceed in small steps. Highlight key points. • Procedural learning • teacher modeling, followed by guided practice & immediate feedback until mastery learning occurs. • Independent practice • continue until responses are accurate, quick,automatic. • Weekly reviews • routine and systematically build on previously learned materials.

  39. Who are the team players? • parents, • teachers, teacher-assistants • psychologist, speech-language pathologist • , physicians • & of course the student! Build Home-School Partnership & Teamwork

  40. Basic principles for home-school communication • Communicate frequently & regularly • Phone call, Email, Spontaneous notes, Notebook, Home-School Daily/WeeklyReport Cards, Face-to-face • Increase parents’ comfort at meetings • Provide notice of time and room in advance along with brief list of topics/questions, ask for parent questions; provide written summary of decisions • Highlight student’s strengths (concrete examples) • Communicate about student’s needs (concrete examples) • Work with parents to help create structure & routines & to generate solutions • Communicate respect

  41. www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/specialneeds/resources.asp An excellent resource for educators Daily Report Name:________________ Date:__________ Circle the number that best describes how the student demonstrated the behavior today Students signature______________________ Teacher signature_______________________ Parent signature________________________ In-class performance today: ___Wonderful ___Satisfactory ___Needs improvement

  42. Useful Resources on ADHD www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/osep/products.html http://research.aboutkidshealth.ca/teachadhd www.education.gov.ab.ca/k_12/specialneeds/resource.asp .

  43. A co-ordinated,sustainable, multi-system approach • System : home, school, education, medical, judicial • Transition plans (sector-to-sector, school-to-school, grade-to-grade, class-to-class) • Instructional pathways (credit-recovery, credit-rescue, co-op etc) • Ongoing capacity-building (parent programs, professional development) Student & parents

  44. TIME FOR ME TO STOP! ANY QUESTIONS?

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