Government & Education TUTORIAL FOR NON-READERS

I recently went to SUMC to see a doctor for various conditions (Simon Flores) good doctor highly recommend him (ENT) Anyway back on topic. I had to contact his secretary to make an appointment, I managed to speak to her, she replied I will get back to you, after 2 hours waiting for the reply I sent a text message,
Her reply. HUW DIS. I thought a 5 year old had sent that.

 

Almost correct Philpots...it’s more a neurodevelopmental disorder. More correctly known as a Specific Reading Disorder the suggestion is that this can ‘mature’ out or at least improve under training approaches/tech aids. It’s a spectrum disorder so you can have anything from a little to a lot. Generally the definition of severe disability begins on the 5th centile and below. Like many of the developmental disorders (think ADHD/Autism/Dyspraxia etc) it can persist across the lifespan.

Assessment should consist of psychometric profiling via the Wechsler or for the younger the WIPSY - subscales should pinpoint the specific problem - but necessarily this should be undertaken by a properly qualified Educational Psychologist.

I liked the bit about language. Schools are language based competency environments and so for those with severe language based skills deficits in their makeup schools sometimes become incredibly stressful for kids. The trick here is to spot it early, not fall into the trap of calling kids lazy or unmotivated, provide adequate support and if the disorder is particularly severe not get hung up on performance/achievement. People generally compensate with another skill instead - usually something practical and not language based. Praise ‘em up there n things should go swimmingly.

 

Great to have an expert's knowledge.

 

LOL--I think hers is a case of amnesia.

In texting, Filipinos are fond of using shortcuts or codes that are often hard to decipher---WHO becomes HU ---so WHO ARE YOU? would read HU U? in the text and this is not helping our students at all because everything is misspelled for the sake of shortening messages. One time in a composition class a student was actually texting or using text codes in her composition so I had to call her attention and made her rewrite everything using words properly and spelled out correctly.

 

Disorders like ADHD or autism are relatively new. In the olden times (at least in the Philippines), kids who could not stay put and are noisy and movable were considered just" plain naughty" while those who sit quietly and seldom talk were called "shy". Today however, branding or giving labels to kids who show some sort of uncommon behavior have become the norm. One time a mother was advised by the teacher to bring her son to Cebu for some kind of psychological testing. The son was rowdy in the class and exhibited strange behavior. So the worried mother brought her son to a specialist in developmental psychology and they came home with a label-----he was said to be ADHD and was advised to go to Cebu weekly for checkup and to buy his medicines there.

 

Yes, so great that the kids can now get properly labeled so they can have an excuse for their rowdy behavior and carry with them the self image of having some psychiatric illness (and the excuses) for life, I guess. Also great for the medical industry whose specialists can enrich themselves with a new source of clients and pharmaceutical companies can sell Class 2 stimulant narcotics (yes they use stimulants for alleged ADHD "hyperactive" kids, not tranquilizers because they seem to have a reverse calming effect...supposedly). I'm not sure how we made it through life without those labels.

 

Like it or not it exists. It’s not a label, it’s a neurodevelopmental brain dysfunction that has been treated since the 1960s. At least. Think about it, our brains haven’t developed much over the last 100,000 years or so. Back in those days you would have chosen a mate that was always on the go, it would have been useful...the fire’s nearly gone out, fetch wood, the kids haven’t got any mammoth to chew, go slay one, that tribe over there wants to take me into servitude go defend me. Evolutionary, adaptable, perfectly functional. The problem is we don’t have many sabre toothed tigers to contend with or marauding tribes to worry about. Unless you count that lot from Bacong.

Now the real issue here is how low/high you set the bar for diagnosis. That’s another kettle of fish.

 

Loads to pick apart the friend. We are different, we are unique and in an increasingly complex world our unique brains are uniquely at increasing disadvantage. Uniquely. For some kids asking them to perform at a reading age of 8 (hey, that’s enough to get by in life) just isn’t possible.

True, longitudinal studies have yet to demonstrate the adverse effects of methylamphetamine’s paradoxical effects on cognitive function and imho it should be used as a last, sparing resort. But I’ve seen kids lives transformed by such decisions. And yes, the drug reps gleefully smack their lips. Small price.

I used to knock about with a nameless resort owner on Siquijor. An absolute victim of an educational process that didn’t understand specific learning problems in the 50s n 60s. Fundamentally, this guy hated any teacher or shrink. Labelled as retarded, lazy and maladjusted the poor fellow was in n out of reform schools, punished and beaten. Nightmare of a story. An incredibly sad tale. It just wasnt understood in his neck of the woods. Credit to him that he managed to achieve. All the cards were stacked against him. But a nicer, successful chap you could not meet. Let’s not go down that unhappy road again huh?

 

They have a name then for those types of personalities. I think doctors pharma companies also benefit from this as they keep the diagnosed patient coming back regularly for check up and medications.

 

Juvenile delinquency had always been here and has gotten worse I think---with killings and shootings in US schools---not in the Philippine schools though, heavens forbid.These character glitches are now attributed to some brain malfunctions or lack of something. What happens to genetics or heredity? Of children inheriting their behaviors and intellectual capability from those who begot them? What happens to environment? What happens to nutrition? Don't these factors affect a child's performance and mental functioning?What could have caused a child's brain to go awry to make him act differently? I am conservative when it comes to this. I go for natural intervention---teaching, training, coaching, nutrition, love, and care versus medications.