JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY FOR CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Volume 4, No. 6, 1984, 8
The Learning Problems and Attention Deficits
Robert J. Doman Jr.
"Your child cannot sit still."
"Your child is not progressing in math." "Your
child doesn't pay attention." "Your child cannot
enunciate sounds properly." Ever read any of those statements
in your child's school report? Every year more and more children
are "identified" as having a "problem"
that affects their ability to learn and pay attention. A child's
grades might suggest a problem, but that is not necessarily
the case. Nevertheless, school reports are often parents'
first phase of exposure to learning problems and attention
deficits.
Phase two is the school evaluation
of a child who has been identified. Following an evaluation,
the child is often labeled and classified. Labels range from
simple learning disabilities to dyslexia, hyperactivity, attention-deficit
disorders, minimal brain dysfunction, perceptual impairment,
and a long list of other labels depicting problems, deficits,
and diseases.
Classification is an administrative
process by which the child is placed into a category; consequently,
the school receives state funding, and the child is placed
in an "appropriate" program or class. The process
often leaves parents confused and frustrated, wondering what
happened to the child they thought was "normal,"
if not bright.
Problems associated with learning and
attention are often cloaked in mystery. Parents have difficulty
discovering where the problem came from, what it really is,
what specifically is going to be done to eliminate the problem
(if anything), and what the future holds for their child.
Parents and children are rarely told something that they need
to know: Learning problems and attention deficits can be understood,
treated, and eliminated.
The first step in understanding these
problems is to look at them in proper perspective. Such problems
are the reflection of neurological inefficiencies. Virtually
every child who is evaluated is found to have some sort of
inefficiency, simply because humans are in continual development.
Neurological Inefficiencies
What are the inefficiencies? Neurological
inefficiencies affect how our brains receive, process, store,
and utilize information. A specific inefficiency affects one
or more of these processes. Identification of the specific
inefficiency affecting the child begins with looking at what
the child's brain is receiving. Are the eyes and ears communicating
the proper information to the brain? Often, the major problems
affecting vision include myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia
(far-sightedness), convergence problems (cross-eyed, amblyopia,
lazy eye, wall eyes), and astigmatism. These problems can
usually be addressed and treated or remedied.
Major problems affecting hearing include
hypersensitivity to sound, hearing losses, frequency losses,
or inconsistent hearing resulting from fluid or pressure within
the ears. As with visual problems, problems with hearing are
treatable—if identified. One of the great breakthroughs
for auditory problems has been the development of the Listening
Program. The National Association for Child Development and
Advanced Brain Technologies created the Listening Program
to promote development through active and passive listening.
Short-Term Memory
If the child does not have a problem
receiving information (the eyes and ears work properly), the
next step is to evaluate how the child processes information.
We relate processing to short-term memory as reflected in
visual and auditory digit spans. To be processing appropriately,
a three-year-old should have a visual and auditory digit span
of three, a four-year-old should have a visual and auditory
digit span of four, a five-year-old a span of five, a six-year-old
a span of six, and a seven-year-old a span of seven. Seven
digits are considered normal beyond age seven through adulthood.
Processing issues can be addressed by providing the child
with quality auditory and/or visual input or, more specifically,
with software made to improve sequential processing, such
as Brain Builder and Project + 2.
Long-Term Memory
Following the identification and treatment
of problems associated with receiving and processing information,
the child's storage of information needs to be looked at.
We relate storage to long-term memory. Storage problems are
reflections of neurological dysorganization—specifically,
dysorganization of the cortex. Cortical dysorganization creates,
or is a reflection of, a laterality problem. Failure to organize
the cortex and establish laterality can result in storage
problems, language issues, and emotionality problems.
Remediation of laterality problems
requires identification of any dysorganization, which may
exist at any level of the brain. The application of the appropriate
input so as to organize the brain is required for proper development.
The process of organization culminates with the establishment
of laterality and brain specificity, which provides for the
necessary storage, long-term memory, and retrieval, as well
as the necessary emotional controls needed for function within
the classroom and in testing situations.
Utilization
The final piece of this almost completed
puzzle involves utilization of information, the ability to
retrieve information at will. Utilization is dependent on
how efficiently one receives, processes, and stores the information,
as well as the physical environment of the brain and the psychological
environment of the individual.
The child's general health, allergies,
nutrition, and respiration influence the physical environment
of the brain. Modification of diet can often improve the environment
and function of the brain, as can improved breathing. The
psychological environment can greatly affect the child's performance.
The learning environment needs to be positive and reinforcing
for the child's function to truly reflect the ability to learn
and perform.
Inefficiencies associated with learning
and attending are universal. Such inefficiencies can also
be universally eliminated if approached specifically in terms
of the child's ability to receive, process, store, and utilize
information. When dealing with learning problems and attention
deficits, parents need to be aware of all possible factors—physical,
environmental, and psychological—that can affect these
conditions so that the problem is effectively understood,
treated, and eliminated.
Reprinted from the Journal
of the National
Academy for Child Development
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