Thompson METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES

This chapter will describe an approach which combines self-regulation training with direct instruction in metacognitive strategies. Self-regulation training includes neuronal regulation (EEG biofeedback) and autonomic nervous system regulation (temperature and skin conduction). Metacognition means thinking about thinking and learning about learning; thus, metacognitive strategies are those executive functions of the brain that go beyond cognition and allow one to be consciously aware of thinking processes. Strategies for listening, reading, organizing and remembering are included in this training. The effective learner is able to select appropriate strategies and monitor their use.

The first section of this chapter describes the principles that underlie the authors’ use of a combination of neurofeedback with training in metacognitive strategies for students who exhibit the symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). It will also outline procedures used at the ADD Centre both for feedback and for combining this feedback with learning strategies. The second section gives specific examples of a few of the metacognitive strategies which are taught in the ADD Centres for listening, reading, remembering, organizing presentations and approaching mathematics problems.

A. NEUROFEEDBACK COMBINED WITH LEARNING STRATEGIES:

Training to decrease slow wave electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and increase fast wave activity is necessary but not sufficient to maximize beneficial behavioural changes in clients who wish to improve their attentional processes. To work efficiently the graduates of a training program should ideally be able, at will, to put themselves into a mental state that is relaxed, alert and focused. In this state they can demonstrate concentration and engage in organized problem solving. In addition, graduates should have techniques - metacognitive strategies - which improve their ability to listen, learn, organize and remember material in a manner that allows them to efficiently and effectively accomplish tasks. This clear thinking can be applied with equal efficacy in academics, work and social situations.

a. The Origin and Some Behavioural Correlates of the EEG:

The source of much of the EEG is in the thalamus. It can influence the production of brain waves of various frequencies; for example, the production of rhythmic 13 to 15 Hz waves when sensorimotor input is reduced, of 9 to 11 Hz synchronous wave activity when cognitive integration is reduced and slower waves 4 to 8 Hz when one is drifting off toward sleep. Sterman has noted that Delta wave activity, 2 -3 Hz, differs from the other band widths which are produced in the thalamus in that it is probably only cortical in origin. If this is so then the thalamic nuclei are secondarily entrained to produce delta wave activity during sleep. In the normal brain Delta is only, therefore, observed in sleep though it may also be seen after brain damage has occurred. What appears to be Delta activity in an awake, alert individual may be movement artifact, e.g., eye blinks. In order to sleep one must stop paying attention both to stimuli in the environment (somato-sensory and visual) and then to cognition. Dr. Sterman’s papers describe these mechanisms in detail. The two ends of the spectrum range from sleep (when only very strong stimuli of touch or sound get through) to extreme arousal and vigilance in the fully awake state. An example of such an extreme in the waking state is a pilot landing a plane. The pilot is hyper-vigilant for particular visual, auditory and kinesthetic stimuli and inhibits other relatively unimportant external stimuli and internal distractions. The production of slow waves in this vigilant brain state will be minimal and relatively more power will be in faster waves (SMR and Beta ). The pilot who feels relief after successfully landing a plane will demonstrate a burst of slower (Alpha) waves. Sterman calls this "post-reinforcement synchronization" (PRS). In earlier research he had identified this PRS pattern in cats after they obtained a food reward for producing at least a half-second of SMR activity. Sterman has noted that the EEG may be understood as a sequence of ERDs (event related desynchronizations), when cognitive processing is occurring, followed by PRSs. Therefore, when we take averages of EEG activity over time, we will virtually always observe some alpha wave activity. Indeed, individuals who perform a task easily and well demonstrate only a brief ERD followed by a PRS while individuals who perform poorly on a specific task actually exhibit a larger ERD with a slower PRS recovery. One could speculate that an individual such as Einstein might have produced considerable Alpha activity!

b. An EEG Marker for ADD:

Several studies have now demonstrated that students who are diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder exhibit more slow wave (Theta) activity than students who do not exhibit any of the symptoms of this disorder. (Mann et al, Janzen et al). In our work with older students, it is frequently found that these persons find it difficult to remain awake during lectures. It is also noted that these students and, indeed, the majority of both children and adults with ADD demonstrate very low EDR (electro-dermal response). They report feeling less alert when their EDR is low during training sessions. Theta activity is associated with " tuning out" external stimuli. Theta microvolt amplitude is highly variable when these students are tuning out. People who are falling asleep or drifting off are increasing their production of slow waves (Alpha and Theta and, eventually, Delta). This can be observed during a training session when a student is overtired! In the classroom the production of slower waves means they are becoming less and less attentive to the external auditory and visual stimuli of teacher, blackboard and textbook. The student who is actively engaged in attending to the teacher, by contrast, is inhibiting slow wave activity and may be increasing desynchronized fast wave activity. We observe during training that, when students are alert, focused and actively learning, the increase in SMR (13 to 15 Hz) and Beta (15 to 18 Hz) activity is associated with a marked decrease in Theta standard deviation and variability. It may be that the student who is creating a piece of work will appear to spend relatively more time in slower, more synchronous, Alpha wave activity when thinking up new ideas. Then when actively listening, organizing, writing, reading, or expressing these ideas, will demonstrate a higher average amplitude of faster, less synchronous Beta activity. For the most part, creative thinking is not usually a difficulty for our ADD students; rather, it is the maintenance of an external focus when listening and reading that is the challenge.

Given the foregoing discussion, training at the ADD Centre emphasizes holding theta variability low while raising SMR and Beta. At the same time, we have those students who demonstrate a low or labile EDR raise their arousal and maintain a steady, high level of alertness while carrying out tasks which require listening, reading and organizing

c. Initial SMR Training - A Rationale:

Sterman has noted that the brain does not do two things simultaneously. For example, if a pilot moves to turn a radio dial (a motor action) he will momentarily turn off visual cognitive processing. The ERD (faster, desynchronized activity, e.g., 16 to 18Hz) is seen in the motor cortex and a PRS (9 -11 Hz synchronous activity) is observed in the visual cortex. He reports that 9 to 11 Hz activity is turned off and event related desynchronization occurs in areas of the cortex where cognitive processing is taking place. In our training we help the students understand that when they are fidgeting and fiddling with something , such as a pencil, they are not, at the same moment in time, reading the text book and learning from it. We teach them to turn off these unwanted fidgeting activities by training them to increase SMR (sensorimotor rhythm, 13 - 15 Hz ).

d. The Need for Including Metacognitive Strategy Training along with Neurofeedback- A Rationale:

As previously noted, Sterman has also taught that an easy task requires only a brief ERD followed by a PRS. This basic research finding is also important to our understanding of what we observe. Our brighter students often appear to demonstrate a predominance of alpha wave activity unless they continually "challenge" themselves with cognitive tasks. When they do this, however, they can train themselves to maintain a predominance of 15 to 18 Hz activity for sustained periods of time. They report major increases in their cognitive abilities including an ability to lay down in memory virtually everything they read when in this state. In addition to the inherent face validity of training students in metacognitive strategies, the observation that continuous self imposed challenges help these students to maintain high beta activity and a high performance level has led to our emphasis on learning and practicing metacognitive strategies. We feel there is better transfer of self-regulation skills to the classroom if they have practiced academic skills while receiving feedback. The strategies provide these students with the "challenge", the kind of cognitive activity that not only, in and of itself, increases their learning efficiency, but also turns on the mental state ( beta activity) where they learn more efficiently.

e. Summary:

For students who exhibit attentional difficulties, the approach of combining Neurofeedback training with increasing EDR and learning metacognitive strategies is based on observed links between brain wave patterns and particular mental states and behaviour. This combined training, teaches the student self-regulation of brain wave activity and performance. For example, students who typically would produce an excessive amount of high amplitude slow waves are trained to decrease and hold steady (decrease the variability) of these waves. At the ADD Centre we use four different types of EEG feedback instruments. Only some instruments (such as, the F1000 from Focused Technology) allow for direct readings of theta variability for whatever time frame the trainer wishes to use. At the ADD Centre we have chosen to look at 20 consecutive overlapping 30 second screens in a five minute time periods. The readings are graphed at a setting which allows for the maximum variability of theta to be observed. The students observe a thermometer-like gauge which is set to show the amplitude of 4 to 7 or 4 to 8 Hz. They observe how it is rapidly fluctuating. They are told to hold it steady and low. When they achieve this the variability automatically calculated by the computer for each 30 second screen, will be maintained at a low level. When this is achieved, the student then attempts to maintain variability and mean amplitudes for theta at a similar low level while reading, writing and listening. Simultaneously, these students increase the production of faster waves. They are assisted in this endeavor by the inclusion of EDR training and learning to use cognitive strategies. When this balance is achieved, students report that they feel focused, attentive and that they organize and recall material better than they have ever done previously. The metacognitive strategies assist the students in applying self-regulation of brain wave activity, help them to further increase their learning effectiveness and efficiency and allows for an immediate transfer of some of the skills learned during training to classroom and study situations.

They can start using the thinking strategies even before the shift in brain-wave activity has occurred, so you see beneficial results sooner.

Client Characteristics.

Clients at the ADD Centre typically present with a desire to improve their ability to regulate their attention and concentration. Some also wish to modify an impulsive style which interferes with effective performance in learning and social situations. Those who show impulsive behaviour (as contrasted to only an impulsive thinking style) are frequently hyperactive. Many of these students are taking stimulant medication when they begin training. The majority do not require medication at the end of training. At the ADD Centres some of the clients, therefore, have had a previous diagnosis of one of the types of Attention Deficit Disorder. Other clients, however, have never had a diagnosis. Many are very bright and academic underachievement is the main concern.

Some unwilling teenage clients are brought by their parents. They need to feel that what they will learn at the ADD Centre may make their lives easier and that they will be in charge of their own behaviour - we are not magically changing their brain! We ask these teenagers a question, "If we help you learn more rapidly and at the same time get much better marks, would that give you more time with your friends and would it also get the teachers and perhaps your parents off your back?" All have agreed that both would be accomplished. To answer their second, not yet verbalized question, we use an analogy. We ask what their favourite sport is. Then we use it in an example such as the following: Before you learn how to hit a forehand tennis shot, you may often miss the ball, slice it over the fence or hit the net. After you learn and practice how to hit a powerful forehand, you have a choice! You can still choose to miss the ball or hit it over the fence. However, you may also now choose to hit it perfectly and win the point! When you choose to play hard and win, the shots you make will become automatic. Similarly, before you train at this centre, you have told us that you have little choice. Your mind wanders, you are not getting the marks you want to get. After you train here, you will have a choice. You can still choose not to listen or study but you may choose to learn efficiently and effectively. You are in full control!

Prognosis for students appears to be almost uniformly positive. Exceptions, however, are those students whose families are having emotional difficulties. Some of these students may stop training abruptly after an argument with their parents. Others improve in the sessions but continue to display passive-aggressive behaviours (skipping school, not doing assignments). If family problems are evident in the initial interview, parents should be warned of these possibilities. We sometimes refer them for therapy to be done either before or concurrently with neurofeedback. Our service is not a panacea and we see it as an educational intervention rather than therapy.

In addition to improving attentional processes and reducing impulsivity, goals for training include reducing anxiety and increasing alertness. The overall objective is to improve mental flexibility so that a person can produce a mental state appropriate to situational requirements.

Those students who present with anxiety and/or tension often demonstrate "demand" anxiety in classroom, athletic and social situations. Demand anxiety refers to feelings associated with fear of failure when performance is demanded; for example, answering a question, reading a passage, speaking in public, or skiing down a steep slope. This type of anxiety markedly inhibits performance. Often the same task could be carried out easily if it were not a demand situation; for example, these children may spontaneously answer a question that is directed to the whole class but they cannot produce that same answer when called upon.

Skin temperature is one physiological measure which reflects anxiety and tension. It can be easily monitored using a thermal sensor placed on a finger. The finger-tip skin temperatures may initially be as low as 64 degrees. Most clients quite quickly learn to self-regulate their temperature. They are able eventually to increase hand temperature at will and this correlates with a more relaxed state. One client, for example, now uses hand warming prior to ice-skating performances and her coach remarked on her sudden improvement.

Many candidates for training also demonstrate very low or labile levels of alertness. This is monitored by measuring skin conduction (EDR). Electrodermal response (EDR) is an autonomic nervous system measure which reflects arousal and alertness. Clients learn to recognize and regulate their arousal level. Instead of drifting off towards sleep when they perceive the teacher as boring, they can choose to stay alert. Both the self-regulation of the EDR and the application of metacognitve strategies help in such situations.

Thus by learning how to regulate skin temperature and conduction, students attain a "eustress" (reference: personal communications with Thomas Allen) physiological state wherein they remain relaxed yet highly alert.

Some clients initially have a propensity to slip into daydreaming or drowsiness at inappropriate times. They may tune out in class, when they are doing homework, when the coach is giving instructions or even in everyday conversations. These states are associated with excessively high levels of slow wave activity in the brain. In most children, this slow wave activity is in the theta band width (4 to 8 Hz [cycles per second]). In adolescents and adults it may also be associated with increases in alpha activity (8 to 12 Hz). These time periods appear to correspond to drifting off topic and ceasing to concentrate on the subject matter at hand. Clients learn through the feedback of brain wave activity to self-regulate their attention, increase their concentration and maintain their focus until a task is completed. Self-regulation training allows the students to recognize rapidly when they are beginning to drift off topic. They can recognize that they are no longer tuned into their work and can then refocus on to the primary task.

Many, but by no means all, of the younger clients display one or more specific learning deficiencies relative to their overall intelligence. All of the candidates demonstrate difficulties in working efficiently at academic tasks. In the majority (exceptions often being those with high anxiety) organization and timely completion of work is a major difficulty. All of the candidates benefit from the combined training using feedback and teaching of cognitive strategies.

Client Example:

C. is an 11 -year-old boy with severe learning disabilities and ADHD. His family is extremely supportive and both parents are teachers. In his history it was related that he had been called "the most profound learning disability ever seen" at a major Canadian hospital’s child development clinic. Despite intensive special education his Reading and Arithmetic scores on standardized tests were only at an early grade two level when he started the program on August 8, 1994. Re-testing on November 20, 1994 demonstrated that Reading and Math were both up to a grade five level. His T.O.V.A. (Test of Variables of Attention) profile had also shifted towards a normal pattern. He sits calmly, is no longer restless and fidgety, and can listen attentively. This boy could not multiply even 2x2 and now he takes great pleasure in being able to easily and quickly do all the multiplication tables. He has been learning the 13 times table on his own "just for fun". Most importantly, he no longer says, "I can’t" but eagerly jumps into each new challenge and really enjoys learning.

1. Change the World Around the Child:

The prime method to achieve this goal has been behaviour management - operant conditioning - largely with parents, teachers and the child. Parents and teachers are trained in parenting and in reinforcement techniques. This method using conditioning of the child appears to have varying degrees of success when used in closed environments. Barkley, Dreikers, Patterson and many, many others have made contributions in this arena. Unfortunately much, if not most, of a child's life takes place in open and far less controlled environments. Today, most school environments may be considered to be relatively open environments where strict behavioural controls are relatively difficult to apply.

2. Change the Child's Ability to Inhibit Impulses:

The prime method to effect this change has been stimulant medication. However stimulants only work when they work! For the most commonly used stimulant, Ritalin, the half life is about 3.5 hours. The majority of students do not use these medications in the prime evening study hours due to their effects on sleep. Children may experience side effects both when on the medication and as the blood level of the medication decreases. The latter may include depression and a rebound increase in the symptoms of ADHD. It is now recognized that, although there may be definite short term benefits in the management of behavioural symptoms which results in more positive interaction with teachers and peers, significant long term benefits in academic achievement and social skills have not been demonstrated. (Swanson et al, 1993)

Another approach to decreasing impulsivity has been cognitive-behavioural training. One tries, either individually or with groups, to train children to stop and think before they act. Bloomquist, for one, has developed a step-by-step procedure for such training. It is an appealing approach since children take responsibility for their behavior. It is, however, very hard to do with ADD and ADHD populations and there is the same difficulty with generalization to open environments as was mentioned above for operant conditioning (behavior modification). The child who learns how to stop and think in the supervised play group may not do so on the unsupervised playground.

3. Change the Child's Ability to Cope with the Disorder:

Neurofeedback training is an effective method to assist the child to cope with the disorder, especially when combined with Metacognitive Learning Strategies. Unlike stimulants, neurofeedback training appears to have a direct long term effect on increasing the child's ability to remain focused (decreased Theta activity) and spend extended periods of time concentrating in a problem solving manner (increased SMR (sensorimotor, 13 -15 Hz) and/or Beta (13 - 18 Hz) activity). There is a significant decrease in the phenomenon of tuning out (associated with Alpha and/or Theta activity) when the child is expected to be carrying out an assignment or listening intently in class.

Neurofeedback training allows the child to gain control over their impulsive style of reacting, interacting and learning while they are simultaneously learning how to focus and concentrate. Many children who have ADD are impulsive; the child may know that an action should not be carried out but it is as if the "guard" is asleep. The child acts first and thinks it through later. The brain is normally able to control us and stop us from doing things impulsively. A capacity to inhibit appears to be related to activity in the sensorimotor cortex and is associated with EEG activity in the 13 to 15 Hz range. This activity allows us to selectively over-ride one thing in order to do another. It is this capacity that is markedly deficient in many children who have ADD/ADHD. Neurofeedback appears to have an effect equal to that of stimulants when it comes to increasing the child's "natural guards" (SMR) in inhibiting or avoiding impulsive actions. Stimulants are hypothesized to do this through activation in the reticular activating system which in turn stimulates the cortex of the brain. Neurofeedback accomplishes this directly by training the child to increase the sensorimotor rhythm .

From a client perspective, neurofeedback training is virtually the opposite of treatment by means of medication. In neurofeedback training children quickly recognize that no one is doing "it" to them. They are in control, responsible, empowered and working it out for themselves. The feedback is a useful tool which allows them to learn self-regulation. Metacognitive strategies enable them to apply this self-regulation to academic and organizational tasks. This is a potent combination!

What does it Feel Like to have ADD.

The brain of the child with ADD can be likened to a "flickering light". A sudden burst of slow wave activity - Alpha or Theta - in the middle of a complex task is equivalent to the individual being "functionally blind", tuned out, for that moment in time. Those who have ADD can attest to the frustration of continually finding that, despite the best of intent and even despite major interest in a topic, they find themselves missing key points and even whole sections of a lecture only minutes after it has begun. With ADD one may be thinking very intently and creatively internally while ignoring what is being said by a teacher. Although most people occasionally have the experience of reading a paragraph only to realize that their mind has been somewhere else, persons with ADD who have not developed specific counter strategies do this, not sometimes, but most of the time. In addition, even when the individual has not been thinking about something else internally, the mind has not, so to speak, gone into gear and become actively involved in the passage (a state associated with Beta wave activity). ADD people are often very superficially involved when reading or listening.

What may be very confusing to parents is that often the individual with ADD may exhibit superb concentration and focus in specific situations. They may even, at times, be superior to their peers! Children with ADD may, for example, become totally absorbed in games of Nintendo, certain T.V. programs, and building with materials such as Lego or Playmobile. Only some of these activities are exceptionally fast changing, therefore, this is certainly not the only factor which might account for their intense concentration. In the 1970's, while doing data collection for her thesis on the effects of Ritalin in hyperactive children, Lynda Thompson (Thompson, 1979) noted that a disproportionate number of the ADHD boys who were hockey players played goalie. This is a position which makes the most of inborn characteristics of many ADHD children. Goalies receive individual instructions and do not therefore have to pay attention during strategy sessions in the dressing room. When on the ice, their attention can wander when the puck is at the other end of the arena without adversely affecting their performance. However, when the puck is in play close to them, they appear to become mentally "locked on" to it and virtually nothing distracts them, including screaming fans. The mental state of hyper-focus, which ADD people are capable of, is very adaptive in a goal-tending situation. On the other hand, this state can irritate a parent whose repeated calls are ignored because the child is in hyper-focus in front of the T.V. or Nintendo! Many scholars and senior business persons who have ADD note that they can "lock in" to focus on documents that they are creating, or plans they are developing and virtually nothing can distract them when they are in this type of activity. In the authors’ experience, most of these individuals attribute their success to the development of metacognitive strategies to deal with their difficulties in concentrating. This in turn may have made them better students than persons who had never had to work at learning how to learn! One example of such a person is a brilliant physicist who became an expert in test-taking strategies and has published 18 books on that subject. Ironically he still has trouble sitting through a lecture without impulsively calling out a question or comment!

In programs which combine neurofeedback with learning metacognitive strategies children are empowered by learning self-regulation so that they themselves cope with tasks and maintain an active learning mental state.

Which Children Benefit most from Training:

Parents often ask if intelligence is the key factor involved in successfully dealing with ADD. It is true that, as with other kinds of learning, learning self regulation is generally easier for children who test at a high level on standard intelligence tests. However, I.Q. scores do not reflect other variables that are important in achievement, such as perseverance or creativity. Intelligence tests originated with Simon Binet in Paris simply as a tool to help predict which children would do well in the school system. Intelligence, in the broader sense, is made up of a number of inter-related components which include such factors as the following:

Areas predicting school performance (as tested on standard IQ tests)

Memory (short term, longer term and types of memory such as visual or auditory)

Motivation

Persistence (and the factors which seem to stimulate it for a particular child).

Creativity

Goal Setting ability

Self confidence, "street smarts" and the ability to read social cues

Approaches to learning and remembering

Attention span and ability to concentrate

Given a basic modicum of natural ability in each of the foregoing areas, for effective learning the student also requires the ability to turn on:

a relaxed (not tense) state of mind and approach to learning

a high level of alertness

flexibility and control of mental states (not in a meditative alpha state or a drowsy theta state when attempting to problem solve complex material)

focus and attention with ability to exclude irrelevant material

concentration and a problem solving state of mind (associated with beta wave production)

a thoughtful, reflective, considered style (not impulsive)

It is these latter factors that can be most directly affected by neurofeedback training and these, in turn, affect each of the factors listed under "intelligence" above. Many people doing neurofeedback with children report increases in I.Q. scores (Michael Linden, S. Othmer). The I.Q. gains at the ADD Centre are in the range of 10 to 20 points which is greater than could be explained by any practice effect. ADD Centre retesting on the Wechsler has found the subscales most affected by attentional factors (general information, arithmetic, digit span, coding) consistently demonstrate gains, often 3 to 4 Scaled Score points, to as much as 8 (from a Scale Score of 2 to 10). Since I.Q tests are considered good predictors of academic success and since improved attentional processes go along with improvement in school performance, these gains appear to be valid. These results are not just a measurement artifact. With improved attention, the children are now better able to meet their potential.

The training program at the ADD Centres comprises 5 overlapping stages or steps. Some students have developed habitual counterproductive styles of coping with perceived stress. These coping styles or "bracing" techniques may include becoming very tense and anxious, displaying decreased arousal, opting out, and "distress" autonomic states. These coping patterns are usually learned very early in a child's life and are automatic and usually outside of cognitive awareness. The first two steps in training help counteract these negative coping styles.

Step 1. Raise fingertip temperature: This is used with candidates who report performance anxiety and demonstrate low fingertip temperatures.

Step 2. Regulate the EDR: This is emphasized in candidates who are reported to have low arousal (alertness) levels in class or work meetings and who exhibit low or labile EDR. Students report that they feel more relaxed yet alert, awake and energetic when they learn to control these parameters.

These first two steps create a "eustress" state (reference: Thomas Allen) and are relatively quick to learn. They give the children a real sense of empowerment, since self-regulation of temperature and arousal is easier to learn than self-regulation of brain waves. Mastering these first two steps gives the student confidence that they will master the steps involving brain waves too. The third, fourth and fifth steps run concurrently with the first two.

Step 3. Hold the slow wave (usually 4 to 7 Hz but may be 9 to 11 Hz) at a lower microvolt level and decrease variability: To decrease theta (4 to 7 Hz) standard deviation and variability the student must maintain a steady focus on a topic for increasingly longer periods of time. Parents and students often initially ask what they should be doing in order to decrease both the amplitude and the variability of the theta wave. We use the analogy of learning to ride a bicycle to help them understand that just as one cannot explain how to "balance" one cannot put into words how to control brain waves. In the analogy to learning to ride a bicycle it is pointed out that the brain receives direct and immediate feedback from the inner ear concerning going off balance. In training the student is receiving direct and immediate (less than 50 milliseconds delay with some instruments) feedback concerning going off focus. Given this directness and immediacy , the student trains rapidly to self-regulate and, just as in riding a bicycle, the new learned behaviour remains accessible over time. Some students may not demonstrate high theta wave amplitudes but rather show very high amplitude bursts of alpha (9 to 11 Hz). Some of these students we have nick-named, "bright-daydreamers". During these periods of high amplitude alpha they are not paying attention to external input be it verbal or from reading. These students are taught to decrease the number and length of these alpha bursts when they are attempting to tune in to a lecture or a text book.

Step 4. Increase fast wave (12 to 15 Hz and 15 to 18 Hz) activity: The student is encouraged to find the mental state in which they can continue to hold down the slow wave activity and increase the fast wave activity for reasonable periods of time. When in this state, students report that they remain acutely aware of their surroundings but remain totally "absorbed" by a single train of thought and mental activity. We often liken this alertness and focus to the mental state of a very high level expert in the martial arts. The students at the ADD Centres, when highly focused, sometimes report a concurrent sensation in their abdomen and occasionally a mild headache if they come out of this state too rapidly. The fast wave activity which is being trained may be in the SMR range (Sensorimotor Rhythm, usually 13 to 15 Hz) or the Beta (usually 15 to 18 Hz) range depending on both the presenting difficulties of the child and their initial response to training. The more impulsive, fidgety students begin with SMR training. With the younger children, one exercise we may do is to pretend that we are hunters in Africa. We hunt using cameras. We must remain perfectly still, not a single muscle on our fingers or face can show even the slightest movement or the animals that are grazing and moving slowly toward us might see us out of the corner of their eye (just as the student can see even the slightest movement the trainer makes). The animals would run away and we would miss the perfect picture! Older students can be reminded that even a pilot landing a jet plane will turn off cognitive processing waves (16 to 18 Hz) momentarily when reaching forward to turn a switch. We tell them that their conscious brain will only do one main thing at a time; it will either rest (slow waves) or work hard (fast waves).

The electrode placement is referential ("monopolar") and it is usually placed in the C3 position with the reference electrodes being linked ears. C3 appears to be a particularly effective site for nonimpulsive children with specific "left-brain" academic difficulties (particularly in reading, language, or sequencing). Other electrode positions such as C4, or Cz, may be chosen for selected cases but are not as frequently used.

The fifth step is to continue doing the first four steps while reading, listening, and presenting material in a manner that is extremely well organized and which utilizes metacognitive strategies to increase the student's ability to assimilate, organize and recall information.

B. METACOGNITVE STRATEGIES:

The strategies presented here are not always new to the client. Good teachers and parents may have tried to share them previously. But the ability to enter and remain in a mental state wherein these strategies are actively and continuously used over a period of time is almost always an entirely new experience for the students.

The Problem - Discouragement & Lost Hope:

The majority of students are concerned that their memory, at least for subject matter covered at school, is poor. Some of these students have given up trying to remember material and use both conscious and unconscious defenses to excuse themselves from feeling that they are being fairly evaluated by others in academic tasks. One of the more common defenses is an attitude or mindset of; "I don't care; it's all useless anyway. I want to quit school as soon as I'm old enough and earn money." This may be directly and confrontationally or passive aggressively and indirectly expressed. The passive aggressive stance is perhaps the most difficult to deal with. In this stance the student may begrudgingly agree to do the work or even smile and be quite pleasant and agree that the work will be done. Then, despite many reminders, it is not completed, completed far below their ability, or completed but just not handed in on time or at all. The terms "lazy and unmotivated" are often applied to these students.

Getting Started with a Solution - Small Successes:

Over the years these students have become discouraged. Their self confidence in many academic areas is low and many have simply given up. Our initial job is to catch their interest in a non-threatening fashion. During the initial interview they see their own brain waves and find that they have some immediate control over their hand temperature and skin conduction and can even change things happening on the screen by focusing and concentrating. This is extremely helpful in stimulating their interest. Virtually all, even the initially reluctant students, want to come back!

The Training:

Neurofeedback training takes time. Some of the students, though initially fascinated, become quickly discouraged. Metacognitive strategies, apart from being an integral part of the program and essential for maximizing the student’s potential, are also a good means for catching interest and producing immediate changes in their academic endeavors. Taught without the feedback, in our past experience, the majority of students would use only a few strategies and would return rapidly to their old patterns. Taught during neurofeedback, the ADD Centre students appear to apply many of the strategies on an on-going basis. Their initial and continuing interest in working on strategies during sessions is completely different than when strategies were taught without neurofeedback.

We initially train the students in strategies for listening, reading and organizing written work. We train the students to apply seven steps to every listening and reading learning situation. The seven steps are listed below. With many students the trainers may make the 7 steps more visual and palatable by an analogy to target shooting. The trainers pretend they are shooting with a double-barreled pistol. First, from a closed fist position, the thumb is extended vertically. This represents the sights of the pistol. Then the index finger is rapidly extended pointing forward, at an imaginary target. This is the first barrel which represents steps two and three of the seven strategic cognitive steps. Then the middle finger is rapidly extended forward representing the second barrel and stages four and five of the strategies. The student is told firmly that it would only be at this point, stage four, that a book would be opened. Beginning to read the chapter would not begin until stage five. Finally the trainer's little finger moves out at right angles to the two finger barrels of the pistol and it represents the binoculars through which the student looks to see what the score is on the target. This finger represents the last two steps which are methods of review in which the student examines what they have learned. The seven steps are outlined in Figure 1. The teacher introduces the steps using the gun analogy outlined above.

Although outlining the abovementioned seven steps may be helpful with older, more mature students, the trainers more often outline the steps after they have been "experienced" by the student who has been asked to carry out a number of reading and organizing tasks during several neurofeedback training sessions. Examples of these tasks are outlined below. With younger students a simpler method may be used. The student is taught to use the W-W-H-W PARADIGM; that is, "Why am I doing this?/What is it I wish to learn?" "How am I going to approach this task?" "What did I learn?" These questions, explored in a simple, enthusiastic manner, will engage even early primary grade students. All students enjoy the positive reinforcement that follows the final question; "What have I learned in this section?" (At the completion of each step tokens are awarded! Tokens can later be exchanged for prizes, gift certificates, etc.)

The first step towards beginning to teach strategies to students age 12 and over, however, is an exercise which is carried out to stimulate a sense of reality concerning their ability to remember even easy items. This acts as a catalyst to learn techniques which might improve their memory. The teacher uses this opportunity to teach the student time management, study organization and a basic learning-to-remember strategy. This exercise is as follows:

Immediate, Short Term, Intermediate, Long Term memory and A test of Memory:

Students often realize that their memory is less than it should be. Quite early in the training these students are presented with a short challenge in a fun, game-like manner. They are asked if they include regular, daily review of material presented in their classes in a routine study time?" The majority do not. They are then asked if they added this to their routine would such a habit require more or less study time?" These questions usually lead to an interesting interchange.

Students are then challenged. They are asked to examine how well they can recall telephone numbers. Most agree that they do not find it difficult to learn and recall a telephone number. The student is then given a number to remember. It is easily recalled. Then they are given a second phone number but immediately asked to look at a picture on the wall and name 3 colours that are in it. Virtually all the new students cannot then recall either the number they were just given or the number they had recalled correctly just a minute before. This simple procedure engages even the most resistant students. They are then asked how this might relate to listening to a teacher talk and then being asked even five minutes after the beginning of a lecture, what has been said. The analogy is a powerful one and usually evokes a question as to how they can improve their memory.

They are told that they have just shown they have a good immediate memory but they have also just demonstrated to themselves two other facts. First, that their immediate memory will fade almost instantaneously unless they do something else with the information and, second, that any simple quick distraction will interfere with their memory. The trainer, almost in passing, notes that when a person does even a few seconds of work on material, for example, attempting to associate it with something familiar and amusing; they usually will be able to recall it an hour later. The student is then asked to read a few lines of material, make some amusing association and recall it at the end of an hour. They are then left with the thought that they may be able to learn how to recall quite large amounts of material if they first learn ways of organizing it and relating all the facts to one underlying principle which we call the "red-thread". After this exercise, students better understand why they must review new material at least once again the same day it is taught in order to commit it to intermediate memory. We tell them that this may last longer than a minute or two, or even longer than a couple of hours or days, but it will usually fade within the week. More work must be done with the material for it to be "placed" in long term memory.

Moving on to strategies for long term memory, the trainer suggests to the student that they begin by learning something that will make school life a little easier. First we will ask him to do a simple - three key facts - experiment in class this week and report back the results during the next session. Second, during those next few sessions, we will coach him in methods for reading and remembering.

The three-key-facts task requires that the student experiment at school by writing down three "key" facts in each class. All the students are required to have a 9" x 5" 3 or 6 ring day-planning book which we call their ADD-PADD (ADD Centre Planner and Distraction Dissipater). Such planners are available from Day-Timers - their student planner - or other commercial time management systems. The three key facts from each class are written on their daily planning sheet. These should be facts that the student feels are likely to be asked in tests and are facts that should be committed to memory. An example in Math might be the formula for the surface area of a sphere. In History, it might be several dates, names and events. In Biology, it could be the definitions and critical characteristics of DNA, RNA and ribosomes. The facts from each class normally take 3 to 5 lines and the total for the day takes less than a page. The student is asked to do one more step. On the way home or while having a snack on reaching home they must take about 5 minutes to concentrate and transcribe each of the facts that they feel absolutely must be memorized for exams to another section of the ADD-PADD. This section is divided into school subject areas with 3 or 4 pages per subject. When this three-key-fact training is completed, students move on to the full use of the "ADD-PADD" for keeping track of their school and personal dates and deadlines (in different ink colours on the "month-at-a-glance" planning page) and maintaining sections for every major area in their life to record internal ruminations and distractions (hence the name "distraction dissipater").

Concurrent with memory and time management skills using the ADD-PADD, the trainer may introduce learning how to read textbook material. With students at a grade 7 reading level and above this usually occurs in the first or second training session. The following exercise has been found to be a useful starting point.

The "Nelson versus Napoleon" Exercise:

This exercise uses a short example to demonstrate reading strategies (scanning, reading for detail and chunking) and memory strategies (associations and visualization). Our favourite material for students at or above a grade 7 reading level is three pages of history taken from a textbook, "The British Epic." The student is told that we are giving them just 2 1/2 pages of reading with large pictures on each page, that it is about a war that took place in the 1790's and that we will ask them, when they complete it, what they have learned. Thus the student has two basic facts to work with, that the chapter is about a war and that this war took place in the 1790’s. A good student would use these two facts and learning strategies to generate questions and predict headings, subheadings and even facts which should be covered in a well written chapter. A student who has ADD will tend to immediately rush into reading the chapter but quickly lose interest because they were no actively engaged in organizing the information.

The first question we will ask after they have read the passage is deliberately open-ended. No instruction is given as to how they should go about organizing their thinking before reading or about how they might scan, read and learn, or how to review at the end of paragraphs, pages, sections and at the end of the passage. This provides a baseline of how well they do using their current approach to a factual reading task.

This initial reading exercise has been used on hundreds of students, many of whom were in the senior years of high school, university or in post graduate studies. All of these students have used basically the same procedure. They opened the text, went directly to the assigned page and began reading starting with the first word of the first paragraph. Only a few of them bothered to look at the titles or the author or observe the bar graph giving dates and events at the top of the first page of the chapter. After reading this way, those with extremely high intelligence remembered a sprinkling of facts and one, a lawyer, recalled the basic strategies of the British and the French. With so little being recalled the trainer must remain very positive. The exercise must be kept within the framework of a game and an enjoyable challenge. The student is told that they will now try a few tricks with the trainer to see if they can increase that which they are able to recall. The trainer tells the student that they are going to do this in stages. In all of the steps, the trainer first models how to do it (usually using a think-aloud technique), then the trainer carries out guided practice in which prompts are used while the student attempts to do the task which was modeled. This is followed by independent practice - the student does it on their own.

To begin, before reopening the book, they are to play a game with the trainer in which they think (the trainer models at first) of all the things they might expect to read about in these pages given that all they knew initially was that passage is about a war in the 1790’s. They are asked, "What would you like to learn?" Then, second, they are given an opportunity to review the passage.

Generate ideas, headings, and questions and organize these into a grid:

In the authors’ "Seven Strategic Step Strategy (SSS)" (Figure 1) this is step #2, - free association - and step #3. - grouping and organizing. In these steps the student pretends that they are the author of the text. Within the framework of generating questions and organizing ideas and unknowns the student is led into forming a simple mental grid. When using the grid technique the rows represent headings for grouping the information that the student wants to learn about each of the areas represented by the columns. In this example there may be just two columns representing the two countries: England and France. The rows would be generated by questions such as:

Why - there should be at least one clear reason for each country that enters a war;

Who - the Generals, Admirals, Prime Ministers, soldiers, sailors, merchants etc.; characteristics or important facts about each ;

When - the dates for events and time frames;

Where - the countries, oceans, cities, battles etc.;

What - the strategies developed by each of the countries;

What - events that occurred such as the battles, voyages, and so on;

How - the types of weapons, ships, other transportation, clothing, foods;

With What Effect?: both on the countries at the time and on future history.

The student and the trainer attempt to predict answers for the questions they have generated. When their ideas are exhausted they then agree to open the book and begin step 4.

Scan the author’s headings:

In step #4, before starting to read, the student scans the table of contents of the text book and notes what seemed to be happening immediately before and after this time in history. They then open to the chapter, read the headings, subheadings, introduction, conclusion of the chapter, review the questions at the end of the chapter, if there are any, and glance at the pictures and their captions. This step takes only a few minutes. During it they enjoy seeing what ideas they had generated that the author had forgotten to mention and what they had missed that the author had included.

Speed-read / review the material:

The next stage is normally step #5 in which the student would carry out a careful reading of the material, organizing it and synthesizing information contained within it. The student in this example has already read the chapter once, therefore the trainer will skip this stage and move on the two review steps. In step #6, the student must do a quick scanning to review the material. (This should also be carried out rapidly at the end of each page during step #5, the initial reading.) It is done again when the student reaches the end of the chapter. To help with this, the trainer models on the first two paragraphs a speed reading technique which the student then applies for their second reading of the assigned pages. In this the trainer uses "chunking"; that is, grouping important words and phrases together and scanning through unimportant details to find the key words and phrases. The trainer begins at this stage to teach techniques for memorizing the important facts. Some of these techniques are described below. The trainer then lets the student read the remaining pages. When the student completes this task, the trainer begins step #7 by asking that the text be closed and requesting the student to give an organized executive summary of the material.

When the student is asked what has been learned after this instruction they are usually surprised at themselves. They not only recall more detail but they also do it in a more organized fashion.

At this stage, the trainer will ask for more detail. For example, "What did Nelson look like?" If they know then they are asked, "Where did he lose his eye and his arm?" It is at this juncture that the trainer may demonstrate or model or develop through Socratic questioning, methods for laying material down in memory using associations and visualization. Socratic questioning is a technique used by Socrates. In this technique the trainer asks short leading questions which walk the student in an orderly manner through a logical development and understanding of the material which is to be learned.

Pictures help recall of characters. The trainer may develop a picture such as the following: A map of Great Britain, Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa with the West Indies in the distance on the left and India on the right. England has a large hole in it's centre representing the Prime Minister "Pitt", Europe has dollar signs (or English Pound signs) in each of the countries surrounding France, and ships surrounding France in the Channel, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Seas. This represents the British strategy. The French have guns pointing at Belgium and Holland and India representing both the reason for the English becoming involved in a war and the French strategy.

Associate names with known people, places, things, or amusing pictures:

Horatio Nelson is represented in a Nelson's chocolate bar wrapper standing on deck looking at a book (battle at Aboukir Bay) with a sphinx in the background (Egypt), Santa Claus on a skate-board (or on a cruise ship) by one empty sleeve (lost an arm at Santa Cruz) and an apple core (or small car) on his eye patch (lost an eye at Corsica). Napoleon Bonaparte is depicted as rowing away in a small rowboat with his ships being "blown-a-part" in the background.

Students find this exercise amusing and informative. They are amazed when they come into their next session and are asked to do a quick review of the chapter they read in their last session at the immense amount of detail that they effortlessly recall in an organized fashion. Although these memory strategies may be extremely effective for the majority of students, individual differences may be observed.

Working through these initial discussions and practical experiments allows the students to discover for themselves that learning strategies really do work to make their academic lives easier. The initial three facts and memory exercise leads to the students understanding why they should quickly review last week's material in order to commit it to long term memory. The reading of three relatively simple pages of history gives them basic methods for learning that don’t take a lot of extra time! The seed is sown and to date all of the students at the ADD Centre have become willing to try learning how to learn during the first couple of training sessions. The trainer is able to point out to them that these methods, if faithfully carried out, make studying for final exams a faster and more enjoyable process. The student’s initial success in recalling material more easily makes this statement believable. These initial steps also lead into further discussion of memory strategies. Memory strategies include all of the seven strategic steps and a number of specific strategies for learning names and groups of facts.

The Basic Principles which Underlie the Seven Strategic Steps:

As sessions proceed, the students are challenged with further listening, reading, and presentation-preparation tasks. The tasks are at appropriate levels for their intellectual and academic abilities (Psychoeducational testing is carried out prior to beginning training at the ADD Centre to determine the correct levels). These tasks allow the trainers to expand on the strategies and the principles that underlie them. Students are always encouraged to use the neurofeedback in the first half of the session to help them achieve a highly focused, relaxed, alert state before they are challenged with an academic task. The auditory feedback is continued while the student works on the tasks and learns the strategies.

1. Generating alertness and motivation - forming a personal challenge at the outset of each lecture or assignment.

Students must be attempting to "figure out" something which is important or interesting to them in order to maintain an optimal level of alertness, focus and concentration. This is the first of the seven-strategic-steps. The fact that the teacher or the student’s parents will invoke a consequence if they don’t do the work is sufficient motivation to sit in a seat, face the front and pretend, or even fall asleep. It is a good reason for falling asleep because, if a student is forced by someone else to do something , they may unconsciously sabotage the activity and sleepiness is a classic method of so doing. To be motivated to learn, the student must formulate a personally meaningful reason to pay attention and concentrate. This is particularly essential for students who have ADD. This is relatively simple if some aspect of the subject matter is interesting for the student or if the subject itself is important for a secondary reason. An example of the latter is learning the cardio-pulmonary system for a student who is advancing in the Red Cross and Life Saving levels in swimming. Older students may generate a determined stance that, "By the end of this lecture I will have produced a superior and more organized lecture than the presenter is about to give". This stance requires that students become exceptionally alert and form their own personal organization and grid of the material as it is being presented.

2. The Generator Principle:

In the "Nelson vs. Napoleon" example the students are encouraged to generate questions and predict answers to their own questions concerning the material to be learned. The trainer then helps the student reorganize and redesign the scaffolding (organization) that the student has made in order to logically order the information. Initially, the student "free associates". The student does this by scribbling down in point form every idea and thought that comes to mind about the topic area. Generating ideas also identifies large areas where the student has only questions. This increases the effectiveness of reading and listening. Students are taught to continue the process of generating questions and predicting answers throughout the scanning, reading and reviewing stages.

3. The Organized Mind:

a. The Garbage Bag Mind vs. The Filing Cabinet Mind:

b. The Grid Technique

c. The Red Thread and other "Linkage Principles"

We state clearly to students that our basic assumption is: recall is dependent on continuously organizing and reorganizing data.

a. The Garbage Bag Mind vs. The Filing Cabinet Mind:

In order to emphasize the need for organization in one’s life we try to begin with a dramatic example. Each student is challenged to visualize a possible scenario in their social life such as: their alarm didn’t go off, they awake to find that two friends just telephoned saying their father is already in the car, ready to take them to the charter bus going to the ski hill. They say there is just barely enough time to catch the bus but, if you can be ready in 5 minutes, you can join them for the day.

The student is then asked how long it will take to find all their ski clothes and gloves if all their clothes are contained in a single huge garbage bag which stands upright (cannot just be dumped out) in the middle of their room. They usually agree it would take much longer than the required 5 minutes. They are then asked for a solution. They normally suggest labeled, organized drawers with gloves in one , socks in another and so on.

A comparison is then drawn between entering a classroom or opening a text book without a minute or two's mental preparation and with the "garbage bag " - disorganized - mind. Information is easier to recall if it is logically organized. Even the initially most unmotivated students agree they would like to make their study time more efficient and spend less time for better marks. They acknowledge that they have to sit through the class anyway and they might just as well learn the material there as have the hassle of trying to retrieve it and work on it later when they would rather be doing something else. They also enjoy the idea of being able to "stump" the teacher with a few accurate and penetrating questions!

b. The Grid Technique:

In the "Nelson vs. Napoleon" example, after generating as many ideas and questions as possible, the trainer helped the student to organize the data into headings and a grid. Gridding is only one of several organizing methods. Some students like to take the central idea -the topic heading - and draw highways or branches coming out from it and place the most important headings on different branches and closer to the centre. Other students will make a list and gradually add new headings. In the "Nelson vs. Napoleon" example the student was encouraged to use the journalist’s headings: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How and with What Effect, to get ideas flowing. More advanced students prefer to immediately make a grid with columns and rows. One of the journalist headings may form the columns and the others the rows.

In the "Nelson vs. Napoleon" example the student created a simple grid. In later sessions more complex examples are used. However, regardless of age and past education the first time most students are given such a task they become anxious and freeze and begin their habitual mental turn-off as a part of their dysfunctional "bracing" when put under perceived academic stress.

Designing a school is a good non - threatening introduction to this technique. The trainer begins by asking, "What does a school have to do?" If the student "freezes" the trainer jokes with them and makes fun, ridiculous suggestions such as, "I guess the best thing would be to put the 1500 students in one big room with wire mesh for a roof and scatter a few teachers and black boards through the area." This is usually sufficient to provoke even the most reticent participant into suggesting that that would not be appropriate. The trainer then rapidly changes vocal tones and challenges the student saying this is a perfectly sensible idea and would save lots of money and why shouldn't we design our school this way. The challenge becomes a game with the trainer playing the "dumb straight-man". Soon the student has outlined functions that must be carried out by a school which are incompatible with all ages being grouped in a single room with no effective roof. Soon the structures in the design are being dictated by the needs or functions of each part. Even the younger students come up with excellent needs including the need for small classes to decrease distractions and grouping students of equal competence together for more interesting discussions, the need for books and therefore for a library, the need for healthy exercise and learning teamwork and therefore for a gym, and so on.

In this process the light soon flashes on and the student suggests the equivalent of form-follows-function or, needs dictate structure. This kind of quick exercise gives an enjoyable introduction to the idea of generating ideas and organizing them into meaningful groups. At this juncture the trainer may follow up with a question such as: "You must give an introductory lecture to your class tomorrow on the cardio-pulmonary system." We have had students as young as grades 6 and 7 really get interested in this challenge. Having done the first few examples they know to first ask (and we look up with them) the meaning of each of the words: cardio, pulmonary and system. They then apply the same procedures used to design a school. They form three columns labeled:

Essential Needs for Living: (then listing the needs such as: take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide - or blow up like a balloon! - supply all organs in the body with oxygen and so on.

Basic Structural Needs: the basic structures essential to these processes including: tubes for transport of gas, tubes and a medium (blood) for transport through the body, a means for moving (exchanging) the gas from the lung to the blood, pumps for the respiratory process and for pumping blood and so on.

The System Structure - an outline drawing; at this juncture even students who have never taken this subject in school draw an amazingly accurate diagram of both systems without significant prompting!

In a history assignment another student used a GRID and the 5 W's to organize information about the great depression. This student developed a grid where the column headings went under the general heading of "WHEN", i.e., a time frame: before, during & after. To help generate questions and organize information for these three time periods, the rows were labeled:

WHERE (countries, urban vs. rural etc.); WHAT ( the economics, production, consumption etc. )

WHO (the social classes and how they were differentially affected, etc.)

This student then used the questions of WHY and HOW to help expand information and discussion for every row in every column.

A more senior student was asked to pretend that she would have to give a lecture for 30 minutes to her class the day after tomorrow. She was told to imagine that the earth's atmosphere was deteriorating and that she had unlimited funds and one year to create something to sustain life for herself and a few chosen others for the rest of time. Her topic, therefore, was "Ecology and the Biosphere". She had never heard of a Biosphere but guessed it must be some sort of container which sustained life. She was shown the cover of a book on Biosphere2 and told she could use this and the encyclopedia. She was then asked how she would like to proceed.

She had previously learned how to formulate grids, the importance of having an organizing principle or "red thread" and had practiced the three step procedure for giving a speech: Say what you are going to say - say it - say what you have said. (This is simpler and more fun than Introduction, Main Body, Conclusion.) With guidance and encouragement, after her first exclamation that that was an impossible assignment, she was able to help herself go from utter confusion and a helpless giving up attitude to using the seven strategic steps and a methodical step by step approach to the problem. She checked the meaning of ecology and biosphere, then began a free association and grouping procedure. This led to her asking herself what she and a couple of friends would require if they were to have to begin living one year from now in a completely enclosed container with nothing being allowed out and only sunlight being allowed in. She quickly grouped together essential elements such as, air, food, water, energy, waste recycling systems, and so on. This led her to defining an underlying general principle which she would use to tie together the entire talk, "Functions dictate Structure". This led to exploration of "How" to build the enclosure and the components of it. With each step she was asking herself, "Where " component parts should be and "Why" and "When" each part should be introduced into the system. As she thought this through - without ever opening a book - she was generating question after question and predicting a few answers and some ideas as to where she might be able to find the information. She decided that she would use the Principle, functions (needs) dictate structure in her introductory "Thesis" in which she would demonstrate to the class that if one followed this principle and fulfilled all the basic needs of the humans in this closed system that one could create a system with multiple subsystems that would constantly regenerate it's own equilibrium and sustain life.

As she thought about it she drew small rectangles in the top left and the bottom right corners of a page to represent her introduction and thesis and her summary and conclusion (proof of thesis) respectively. In the remainder of the page she drew a rough grid and as she free associated she first created rows -which were areas that she would need to discuss for each of her columns- and filled in major areas mainly under What - Needs. She also had rows for Where and When but these were not developed initially. Beside each of the subheadings under What (the needs of the humans who were to live in the biosphere) she filled in ideas in her second column titled, "Supporting Ecological Systems and their interconnections". Her third column was, "How - Structures". Her fourth column was initially titled, 'Why and With What Effect" She explained to the trainer that she had been overinclusive only as a starting point. She said that she would first give a general overview of the topic. Then she would tell the class that, for ease of understanding and time constraints, she would take one need, such as the need for fresh water, and expand the biological cycle related to it. She would follow this with a description of some of the structures that would be necessary in order to create this cycle within a closed environment. She felt that this procedure would demonstrate to her class how the conceptual thinking behind creating a biosphere could evolve.

All of the above was developed over a 20 minute period and she correctly observed that, even without opening a textbook, she had enough in the way of ideas to deliver a very well organized and interesting introduction to this topic without any further study. However, she also noted that she had gone from virtually no interest and some negative feelings about this assignment to wanting to continue it on her own just for her own interest. She had established her own personal motivation for completing an assignment. Sometimes a student must begin on steps 2 and 3 of the seven strategic steps in order to accomplish for themselves step 1 - a personal reason for carrying out the assignment!

This student created a mental image to which she continually added new information and made modifications. This is a general procedure and is carried out when reading by quickly scanning and chunking key information as a review at the end of paragraphs, pages, chapters and so on. This "reviewing" technique is taught and emphasized from the earliest sessions with all students.

At times the trainer will just go through the second and third strategies as outlined above. When the student is very interested in a topic and/or has that topic as a project in school, then the trainer may go to strategy #4 and begin reading a textbook chapter. With older students the trainer may elect to assign step five (first reading) to be done at home if the student is comfortable with that. When this is done the trainer will be looking at the exact time(s) the student will do this reading and make sure the student puts down realistic times and goals for this activity in their day planner. In the following session the trainer will then work through the reviewing strategies, #6 and #7. Reviewing strategy #6 refers to both an on-going review of key facts at the end of each paragraph and each page and a review when the chapter is completed. When reviewing at the end of paragraphs and pages, the student uses memory strategies to insure that the facts will be easy to recall later. The student also continually questions, "What should the author tell me about next?" The verb "should" is used to emphasize that the student is the "critic" and in control. At the end of the chapter the student carries out a rapid scanning of the headings, the questions to be answered and then a "speed-read" of the entire chapter, chunking together key words and phrases and assuring that the main facts, characters and events have been assimilated into a logical sequence or organizing grid. In strategy #7 the student closes the books and mentally reviews what they have learned. Just before an exam, strategy #7 is the key to success.

As the students proceed with training they begin to bring in their own textbooks and projects. In the first stage of looking at this material we emphasize that the students always pretend that they are the "Author" of that text. The students are then asked to begin by imagining that their assignment is to give a lecture on that topic the next day and that they have therefore far too little time to prepare or even to begin at the first line and read the full text of the material. With this thought in mind the students work through the first 3 strategies and then compare their ideas and organization with that of the author whose work they must read for school.

c. The Red Thread and Other "Linkage Strategies":

The concept of the "red thread" is often elucidated while working on the aforementioned gridding exercises. Older students quickly carry out the entire process on their own. Before the lecture begins or before opening a book, they generate questions, predict answers, mentally register unknown areas/definitions to look up, decide on an overriding question -usually a "why?" question or an underlying principle around which the entire area can be organized, the "red thread" which will tie all the factual information together into a logical sequence and Gestalt. In the previously mentioned examples of designing a school, figuring out the cardiopulmonary system and creating a biosphere, function (needs) dictates structure was the universal principle. In reading short stories and novels, the author's purpose in writing the story (usually a universal and timeless message for mankind) may be a thread which ties otherwise seemingly unrelated sections of the story together. The students learn that when they present material this linking "thread" must be very clear to whoever is reading their work or listening to them.

The Single Picture Technique.

The Roman Room and The Mapping Technique.

The Cartoon Technique.

These related techniques were briefly discussed in the original example above where the student was asked to read two and one half pages of British History concerning a naval battle between Admiral Nelson and Napoleon Boneparte. They will be expanded below.

The Single Picture Technique -The "Titanic" Exercise -:

Like the British History example, this exercise also emphasizes the inclusion of as many essential facts in a single picture as possible. This picture is built as the story unfolds about the sinking of the Titanic. For example, one student imagined the name of the Titanic's shipping line's President: "Ismay" as being similar to "is May" then thought of adding a "D" to make it read "dismay" because the Titanic sank. This student made a picture in order to remember the names of the shipping line -White Star - the ship building firm - Harland & Wolf - and the place where it was built -Belfast. He imagined a scene with a wolf sitting on a hard piece of land, a rock, in the middle of the night surrounded by white stars while a bell rang quickly in the wolf's ear. He had added a "D" not only to Ismay to make it dismay but also to Harland to make it "hard land". As he read he added to the picture and retained the new information despite that fact that new facts usually rapidly replace previously read or listened to facts. His retention and ease of recall was due to the use of an active process in which all of the material was altered slightly and placed into a single mental image; He was reducing the material from multiple units of data to a single unit of related material.

The Roman Room Technique

The name of this technique derives from the original use of a classic Roman room, complete with statues which you could hang things on. The student, however, can imagine any familiar room. This technique requires that the student visualize a room with items placed in a logically organized fashion within it. Using the Roman Room technique, for example, the student could memorize a list of groceries. To do this the student might group the groceries into fruits, vegetables, meats and so on and place the groups of items in different sections of a familiar room. The individual items in each group might be arranged in their area of the room in the form of statues and paintings.

The "Mapping Technique" and the Roman Room technique are similar. On the map the student may "picture" all of the facts that need to be remembered in a manner that shows the relationships between them. In the original British History example, the student imagined or sketched a map. On the map ships blocked the French ports, ships in battle were placed near the West Indies and Egypt and dollar (or English pound) signs were placed over each of the countries England attempted to use to surround and fight France as part of her strategy in the war.

The Cartoon Technique:

This technique is a sequential extension of the above single picture, mapping and roman room techniques into a series of related pictures that allow a time sequence of changes in the data to take place. In the British History example above, the next "Map" or picture in the sequence would include all the data around the battle at Trafalgar where Nelson died and the next picture might include events leading up to and including the battle at Waterloo.

Use of Mnemonics:

Visual imaging is the first memory strategy practiced because many of the students who have ADD find this particularly easy and fun to do. Some students, however, find it easier to make rhymes or words/phrases out of the initial letters of words they wish to recall later while others invent sentences out of the first letters of words or phrases adding words whenever needed in order to help them later recall the information or names they wish to remember. Examples in music include the acronyms "FACE" and "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" for the musical notes on the treble clef staff. . Some acronyms are in such common usage that they have virtually replaced the original words. One example is the "word" "SCUBA", which is an acronym that most of the students have heard but few know that it stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.

Another very old example has been used for many years to help children learn French. This is the phrase "Dr. (&) Mrs. Vandertamp", This acronym is used to remind the student of the French verbs conjugated with "etre": Devenir, Revenir, Mourir, Rendre, Sortir, Venir, Aller, Naitre, Descendre, Entre, Retourner, Tenir, Arriver, Montre, Partir.

Seeing words and images within an unfamiliar name may help later recall. A student who had to learn the names of persons who developed Kung Fu had no linkages or associations to his everyday life for these names. For a Monk called Bohidarama, he committed to memory Bo-hid-a-ram and visualized his friend "Bo" hiding an old goat.

6. Reading Comprehension Exercises:

To continue this work in a different type of exercise, analyzing stories, the trainer has the student read increasingly complex short stories. This may begin with students who are at or above a grade 2 level using the Barnell Loft Multiple Skills Series or a similar series of graded texts. These texts require the student to read a short passage then answer a question which covers the main idea of the passage. The student is next required to answer two questions concerning specific facts mentioned in the passage, one question in which they must show inferential comprehension and a question on the meaning of a word in context. These exercises are a useful beginning to encourage students to read passages carefully and to be able to handle both literal and inferential comprehension questions. These exercises do not require, however, that the student learn to use some of the most essential and important components of learning how to learn. Three of these essentials that have been made points of emphasis at the ADD Centres are: (1.) self stimulated recall (as opposed to mere recognition of facts - the emphasis of the popular multiple choice format), (2.) organization of ideas and material, and (3.) synthesis of data into a logical, meaningful Gestalt. The trainers will therefore rapidly move from using the questions given at the end of passages in these types of learning materials to a different type of exercise where the student reads the first sentence of the story and then is required to carry out the seven strategies outlined above. Even the younger children quickly catch on to generating questions that they think the story should answer. The trainer initially asks the student to summarize the data in an organized fashion. In short order, all of our students are able to give far more data in a succinct fashion than even the most difficult text questions ask. This is pointed out to the students who find this very gratifying! For people who previously had little academic success, this can be a real turning point in their self esteem.

Special Techniques for Short Stories and Novels:

The first of these techniques is labeled the billiard game technique. Most of the students have played pool and have heard of the game of billiards. It is quite simple to explain briefly how billiards is played on the same kind of table but that it only uses three balls. The student is asked to imagine that the pool or billiard table has many sides instead of just four sides. Each of these sides represents a "flat" character or a setting. A flat character is one who is unidimensional and never seems to change from one situation to another. It could be, for example, a man who is always angry, boasting or anxious. A setting might be a school or a frozen lake and so on. These are likened to the flat sides of the table. In a story there are usually only two or three "round" characters. These are likened to the three balls in the game of billiards. These characters have many sides. The student is told to imagine that each time one of the balls (round characters) bounces off the side of the table (a flat character or setting) or caroms off another round ball (which is rewarded with points in Billiards) that something important is learned , by that interaction, about an aspect of one of the round characters. (In the game of Billiards the player would learn something about angle and spin.) For ease of portraying and understanding the round characters the student is asked to only consider two important sides of each of the main characters and develop how the character’s thinking and feeling govern their behaviour for each of these sides.

The trainer may use a short story similar to "A Kind of Murder" by Hugh Pentecost. In this story a new teacher is initially supported by a pupil who later bows to peer pressure and lets him flounder. One student, for example, when reading this story imagined Pentecost (also the principle character in the story) waving a fist at fellow students and defending Mr. Warren, (very nervous and rather helpless new teacher at Morgan Military Academy, a boy’s private school) while at the same time anxiously turning away from him towards the jeering students. In this manner a student begins to develop a mental image that portrays the double bind or catch twenty-two that Pentecost found himself in and the opposing, internally conflicting sides of his character.

Teaching The Elementary School Students:

Most techniques are equally effective for all ages of students. However, students must be taught in a complexity and language that suits their mental age. Young children love to read about animals, birds and insects. The Nature’s Children series is excellent. Before reading about an animal / insect etc. the trainer may ask "Why is this animal able to survive?" Then the trainer, through Socratic questioning, helps the child to organize headings they think the author should include and questions they will be trying to answer as they read. For example, the more advanced students may organize their thinking about an animal, bird, fish or insect into: What = structure (intelligence, 5 senses, locomotion, eating/elimination, reproduction, special capabilities (e.g., venom, web making). They must then discuss how this structure now "dictates" functions such as escaping enemies and finding or capturing food. The student then considers further questions including: Who (i.e., social & family) and When (i.e., life span) and Where (i.e., countries & terrain).

An organized approach to reading complex scientific material - the Boxing Technique:

Students in computer sciences, chemistry, physics and other complex areas may use some of the techniques described in the foregoing. Another technique called, the "blocking or boxing" technique is also useful to maintain concentration and remember material. In this technique the student groups together sections of scientific material into "blocks" which appear to contain one connecting principle or unit of study. In a calculus, physics or chemistry text each section must, or at least should, relate to the previous section. In calculus, for example, the "box" the student makes might contain only half a page of material. For the student to define it as a "box" it must contain all (most) of the data necessary to derive the equation or the principle being taught and to understand it. The student then endeavors to be clear concerning the linkages of the "box" under study to "boxes" previously studied and areas which come after it. The student may use the seven strategic steps in shortened form on the material in the "box" and then take a break. Before beginning the next "box" the student should always do a quick review of the area previously studied.

MATHEMATICS

In this section only a few very basic examples are used. The idea that math concepts proceed from concrete, through pictorial, to abstract, is kept in mind. Most of the following strategies were developed spontaneously while working with ADD clients. There shall be much overlap with techniques that good teachers have always used. The purpose is to illustrate some of the most common difficulties experienced by students who have ADD. The mathematically gifted students usually do not have these difficulties. Those who are not gifted, however, will often have tuned out in class in former years when some of the rudimentary concepts and principles were being taught. Now they are well beyond these levels and their teachers expect the basics of math to have been mastered previously. Rote mastery of number facts and multiplication facts frequently have not reached a stage of automaticity. In this regard it is a fascinating fact that it takes about 800 trials for a number fact to be learned to the point of automatic recall. (Dr. Cecil Mercer established this through research. His book is an excellent resource for teaching basic operations in math.)

Many of the teenagers who come to the ADD Centre are very bright intellectually (I.Q. above 120) and yet they have never learned simple basic approaches to written math problems or to handling fractions and equations. In the ADD Centres a few very simple basic concepts, rules and examples are taught. The purpose again is not to teach the child math for that is the job of the school, but rather to stop the giving-up, "Oh, I can't do that," all or nothing approach. These children must get themselves into a relaxed alert state and focus on each small section of the problem and ask themselves, "What am I being asked? What facts have they given me" and draw a diagram of the information whenever possible. It is the approach to the question which can be the key to success. We attempt to help create a positive attitude towards this subject by increasing the student’s self confidence through training them in learning how to learn and how to think about problems in mathematics in order to genuinely understand them.

In grade school the student must understand simple addition and subtraction. We see students as old as 12 years of age, with learning disabilities, who have never grasped what it means to be adding 9 + 8 and 8 + 8 is completely out of their range. A few of these students have learned to add numbers by rote or by using paper and pencil but still do not appear to know what they are doing. They seem unable to relate the addition to a concrete example. To teach the concept we have them use their own fingers and the examiners and fully understand 10 +. When this is achieved through "understanding" and not rote memory then we have them remove one thumb after doing 10 + so that the same question becomes 9 +. Then they remove 2 thumbs and work on 8 +. In training our trainers we emphasize that they must never assume a child has grasped a concept just because they give a rote memory correct answer! These students require a familiar concrete representation of number facts. Initially fingers, either yours or theirs, work best. You can check that they are understanding what they are doing by first asking them to tell you if the answer is going to be "more or less" than what they had. Then they must tell you what they have done. This is followed by making it a little bit more challenging by having them use your fingers and theirs. When they are adept at using concrete representation and explaining what they are doing, then you can move to using math manipulatives where numbers are represented by coloured plastic counters.

For those who have grasped the foregoing then the concepts of grouping into ones, tens and hundreds, borrowing and carrying are rapidly taught where necessary.

Once this is mastered, the trainer will check that the concept of multiplication has been grasped. Talk shifts to groups of Ninjas in Dojos (or horses in stalls, boys with pogs, people in houses) emphasizing that the number in each group is multiplied times the number of groups. Division follows using the same grid diagrams. This basic understanding of multiplication is necessary in order to begin fractions and algebra and it is frequently deficient even in high school students. Therefore, examples are provided that expand instruction in these basic skills.

Grade School Math Tips:

These tips and tricks are generally only needed for those students who have a specific difficulty with math. The child who can generate excitement at the challenge of solving the problem just because it feels so good to figure it out for oneself, is the child who will progress. What follows is a sampling of the kinds of tips that the ADD Centre gives to its grade school students while working on having the student feel competent, interested and then fascinated by the challenges that math offers.

Analog Time, Simple Fractions:

Many children have never learned to tell the time from an analog clock (though most are familiar with digital time pieces). The trainer and the child begin by discussing how to divide a blueberry pie into 4 equal pieces. The concept of quarters and a half comes rapidly and the analogy drawn to saying quarter and half past and a quarter to the hour is easily drawn. Many of our trainers have diver’s watches. Stories about SCUBA diving and how important it is to know how many minutes you have been underwater naturally follow a study of the clock face and hands. All students enjoy the "real thing". Playing down to them with large school supply cardboard clock faces is not only boring but is actually irritating to some of these children! They can see the dial on a real diving watch very well and they love turning the bezel! The bezel gives them the chance to mark how far 15, 30 and 45 minutes are around the face of the clock. They then rapidly grasp the relationships among 1/4, 1/2 =2/4, 3/4 and minutes in an hour. This leads, often within only one or 2 sessions, to addition of fractions and simplifying the answers (e.g., 5/4 = 4/4+1/4 = 1 1/4).

It is a reasonably easy jump to recognizing that if they had 2 chocolate bars or pies (we always have them draw the bars or the pies under each of the fractions!) and one had been divided into 2/3 with only 2 pieces remaining and the other into 3/4 with only 3 pieces remaining, that their team-mates who received the pieces from the "3/4" chocolate bar or pie would be angry because the student and I want the 2 remaining bigger pieces from the bar or the pie that had been divided into 3 not 4. The problem becomes twofold. The team and the coaches mean that there are between 15 and 17 people and we have only 5 pieces. We need more (and therefore smaller) pieces and it is essential that everyone be happy. Therefore the pieces must all be the same size. It is at this juncture that we momentarily leave the pie example and look only at how we would divide a chocolate bar (Figure 2). The chocolate bar, or a rectangular cake, that had originally been divided into 3 sections horizontally is then divided it into 4 sections vertically. Now each of us who had 1 section of the bar that was cut into three, would have our slice divided into 4. The whole chocolate bar would have how many pieces now? - 12! We then take the second chocolate bar which had originally been divided into 4 vertical slices and slice it horizontally into three. Then each of the people who formerly had one slice of the bar cut in 4 now has their piece cut into three (times 3). The total number of pieces is 12, the same as our other chocolate bar! Everybody gets the same size piece no matter which chocolate bar or cake they choose from!

There are a total of 17 equal pieces of chocolate left over in the two chocolate bars. It is as if the original two chocolate bars or cakes had been divided into 12 equal pieces each for a total of 24 pieces.

The analogy to the multiplication tables is drawn and is immediately obvious. The student is then challenged. If we fed each person an equal sized piece using one chocolate bar that had been divided in 3 and the other one which had been divided in 4 couldn’t they do exactly the same thing with the 2 pies? We then take the two drawn pies, one below the fraction 3/4 and the other below the fraction 2/3 and shade in the pieces that are left in each, 3 and 2. Applying the same principles the student divides the pieces of the first pie into thirds and of the second, into quarters. The student discovers that each pie is divided now into 12 equal pieces. The shaded portions add to 17 (9/12 + 8/12). It is a simple matter for them to repeat the exercise for themselves a couple of times and derive basic rules for working with fractions for themselves.

The denominator represents the total number of pieces the object is divided into.

The numerator represents the number of pieces you have left.

You must make sure the objects are divided into the same number of pieces before you add or subtract to find out how many pieces there are in total.(lowest common denominator )

Whatever you do to the bottom (denominator) of the fraction (e.g., multiply it by a number such as 3 or 4 in the above example), you must do to the top (numerator). The logic of this is quickly apparent to the student when they look at each of their pies. They multiply the 4 pieces, in the pie that is divided into quarters, by 3 to get 12 and they multiply the 3 pieces they have shaded, by 3 and get 9.

It’s not that these very simple examples aren’t worked through in the classroom. We certainly believe that they are. The children we are working with, however, weren’t mentally there; most of them were tuned out much of the time when the concepts were being taught and the rest of the class has long since gone on to higher levels of math. Higher math levels unfortunately assume that the basic principles are second nature to all of the children. The most common weakness in students having trouble with Algebra is lack of understanding of fractions. Once children with ADD get behind, the degree to which they tune out rises exponentially! These children could do very well in picking up some of the math facts and skills which they missed by attending an excellent supplementary learning centre such as is provided by the Sylvan Learning Centres. (We often recommend that the children whom we see for assessment who do not show an ADD pattern do just that.) Many of the children with ADD, however, have had tutoring yet the problem remains. The reason that they continue to fall behind, is that they have never learned how to deal with ADD in terms of increasing their attention span and concentration and, in addition, they have never learned how to learn. The neurofeedback trains them in how to pay attention, focus, concentrate and act in a reflective and less impulsive fashion. When in this state the children learn remarkably quickly. The children can "feel" this and a brief amount of experiencing this during their neurofeedback sessions leads to a positive attitude towards learning in their classrooms.

Multiplication:

As noted previously, children who have difficulty in paying attention very often miss the teaching of math concepts when they are taught in the classroom. Rote memory of things like timetables may be weak. Unfortunately, we find one teenager after another who, even when he has memorized the multiplication tables, has no clear understanding of what is meant when they multiply one number times another. The older students should, for example, be able to rapidly multiply virtually any number in their heads. Often with the teenagers we ask them to multiply such numbers as 17 times 13 or 376 times 75 and 2/3 times 3/4. To the reader it will be clear that these examples are deliberately simple but they are used in order to emphasize the concept of multiplying and some simple tricks for visualizing figures and fractions. With the younger children we use a simple grid with houses for the columns and people for the rows.

The "Houses (groups) times the number of people in each house" Rule and "Reciprocal Rule:

For many math concepts we first instruct using manipulatives, an abacus, concrete objects for counting, fraction pies, etc. Although we have many different brightly coloured modern Math Manipulatives we sometimes find that the concepts are often more easily, thoroughly and lastingly assimilated using the time honoured and quite old fashioned basic rules and hand drawn diagrams. With the younger children we start by drawing two (then three and four and so on) little houses which are attached to each other like row houses. Each house is at the top of a column and they are labeled 1, 2, 3 and so on. We then draw a row below the houses and put a little person or happy face into each of the resulting squares and ask how many people there are. We note that this is the same as saying the number of houses times the number of people in each house. We then draw a second row, a third and so on in each case noting the same general rule. When the child clearly understands the rule we introduce the question as to whether, for example, 3 houses times four people in each house is the same as 4 times 3. For children with a specific difficulty in math this is a very difficult question but using the grid they catch on to it quite rapidly noting that the number of people in the squares is the same. Then they are helped to discover that there are not only, 3 groups of 4 and 4 groups of 3, but that there are 6 groups of 2 and 2 groups of 6 and one group of 12. Some of the children catch on very quickly if we use the columns as teams (e.g., hockey teams) coming out and lining up on the field or ice for the opening ceremonies before a tournament. As each team comes out we figure out how many players are now lined up on the field. (The trainer may decide to introduce the term "factors" at this juncture.)

Some simple tricks are used to help accelerate remembering tables and thus increase the child’s self confidence. We start with the 7 and 9 times tables. First we teach the counting trick, 7 x 8 = 56 is learned by simply counting 5 6 7 8; 5 6 = 7x8. Then we teach 3 times 7 as three sevens and we hold up 3 fingers, (the trainer uses 2 in the right hand and one on the left and the student mimics it. Then we do the same using 6 fingers 4 on one hand and two on the other to make 42 for 6 sevens. We call these the finger tricks. Seven sevens is one less than 50, i.e., 49 (the 49ers football team!). 4 sevens is taught as 3 sevens using their finger trick plus an extra seven making 28. The latter emphasizes the concept of one extra seven is just seven more.

For the nine times table they "discover" that the tens column is always one less than the number which they are multiplying times 9 which is logical (makes sense) because they know that if they had, for example, 10 sevens it would be 70 thus 9 sevens has to be less. They then notice that the two digits in the answer always add up to 9 (e.g., 6+3). Then we decide that maybe we might have discovered a new rule. Have one less than the number we are multiplying by to get the first digit and then the second digit plus the first will always equal nine. We try it out and find that 9 x 9 = 81 and 8 + 1 = 9, 9 x 8 = 72 and 7 + 2 = 9 and so on. by this time most children discover for themselves that the numbers which we have conveniently placed in a column go from 9 down to 1 and from 1 up to 9 in sequence. We also show them the two-hands-on-the-table- minus-one-finger trick for the nine times table. For those who don’t know this little maneuver, try putting both hands on the table, palms down, label the fingers one to ten starting at the far left with the little finger of the left hand, fold down one finger, say the fourth finger which would be the index finger of the left hand. Then the fourth finger stands for the number of nines, the nine fingers left on the table represents the fact you are in the nine times table and the answer to 4 x 9 is represented by the three fingers to the left of the one folded down finger and the 6 fingers to the right of it; i.e., 36. Younger children really enjoy this maneuver. Quite rapidly one teaches that 0 times anything is zero, 1 times anything is that number, two times is just two of them added together (double the number), the 10 times table just requires one to add a zero and the 11 times table merely requires one to place the numbers side by side, e.g., 6 x 11 = 66. Whenever we get to 5 times a number they reverse it and tell us it is easier to do that question using their fingers to count the number of five’s as they say the series: 5, 10, 15 etc., to themselves. Very soon the children have mastered the 11, 10, 9 and 7 times tables. 8 x 8 = the number of squares on a chess board. The series: six 4s is 24, six 6s is 36, and six 8s are 48, has a rhythm to it and it kind of sounds right! At this juncture they are surprised to discover that there is very little they haven’t learned. Most of this work is done while they practice getting themselves into a focused and concentrating state while we put the electrodes on their head and hand. They are rewarded with lots of up-beat praise and sometimes extra tokens for buying prizes. Parents are told what they have accomplished at the end of the session and the child often will demonstrate it!

In this manner one continues to have them play with numbers in order to really be able to manipulate them and understand them. No amount of repetition of tables will do this. Also, the beautiful pictures in most school texts which are meant to teach these concepts turn out not to really be very interesting once they have been seen once by these children. We do use repetition, however, in that for a number of sessions we will go through exactly the same sequence of "discovering" all of the foregoing tricks and logic. In our experience students who learn their tables in this manner really become very confident about their mastery and understanding of multiplication. Older students are then willing to be challenged with seemingly impossible questions such as 13 times 17 done in their head.

To do this the trainer takes them through a logical sequence. 13 is just (10 + 3), 13 x 17 is the same as writing (13)(17) or (10 + 3)(10 + 7). The trainer asks the student to draw the houses and people grid (or soldiers with rocket launchers and rockets grid for some of the boys!). There are 13 houses or columns and 17 people in each house. The trainer then suggests that since it is so simple to multiply 10 x 10 why not just do that and take a red pen to outline the 10 x 10 box and write 100 in it. This is followed by multiplying 10 x 7 and draw the box on the grid in green ink and put 70 in it (at the bottom of the grid). Then on the right hand side of the grid the student draws a blue box around the squares representing 3 (columns) x 10 (rows) and puts 30 on the page. The only squares on the grid not enclosed in the red, green and blue boxes are in the lower right hand corner and represent 3 columns times 7 rows and the student encloses this area with a pencil and writes 21 in it. The student then sees simply that the answer to the problem is 100 + 100 (70 + 30) + 21 = 221. It is not much of a step then to see that they could have done this in their head using the bracketed figures (10 + 3)(10 + 7). The student is then encouraged to relate this method to the grid. (Mathematicians reading this will realize that they have also derived the FOIL technique for multiplying factors in Algebra.)

For long division in written form memorizing one of these simple mnemonics can be very useful for remembering the steps: Divide then Multiply, Subtract and Bring down (Repeat). Children attain a real pride in keeping their work in neat columns so that they do not become confused. This is particularly important when working with children who have ADD. Children with ADD may be wonderfully artistic, may do script incredibly artistically and may have excellent fine motor coordination. At the same time, however, they may have a very specific hand-writing difficulty. As they attempt to put down a great deal of material the letters begin to change in size shape and spacing making their work appear messy and even illegible. The same difficulty may be seen when they are doing a full page or more of math. It may also be due to an impulsive carelessness. If uncorrected, this leads to negative feedback and a downward cycle with respect to motivation and effort.

Division - the concept:

Many of the children have memorized how to carry out simple division but have never thought about what it was that they were doing. We use the same grid that they used for multiplication to help them. They can quickly understand that if they have a total of 12 people in 4 houses that there will be 3 people in each house. They are then asked what if there were only 19 people and they were asked to divide by 5. The student by this time should be easily led to the correct answer with questions. The student can see that there are 4 groups of 4 giving 16 of the students. In the last row there are only 3 students (a remainder).

The "Do the Same Thing to" Rule for Fractions & Equations:

With selected students the trainer then helps the student discover that the problem of multiplying 376 x 75 in your head is nothing more than a very simple example of the general rule: "You can always do the same thing to the top of a fraction as to the bottom" without changing its value. In this case many if the children can see that since it is easy to multiply times 100 they could multiply the 376 by 100 as long as they divided the 75 by 100. But 75 /100 is 3/4 therefore they could just divide the 37,600 by 4 and multiply by 3 to obtain 28,200. Manipulations like these with the older students are used to decrease their resistance to "thinking" and "puzzling" over math problems and engender a feeling that there really can be a very pleasant sense of accomplishment when they take up these challenges.

Multiplication of Fractions - the "Of" Rule:

Many of our high school students have been taking fractions for a number of years. However they often do not really understand what they are doing when they are multiplying or dividing fractions. To grasp what is meant by multiplying fractions the trainer asks the student to multiply 2/3 x 3/4 and then to explain in words, or by a diagram, what they have done. The trainer has the student fold a piece of paper into four quarters and then refold in order to take 2/3 of just 3 of those quarters. They find that they have 6 of 12 sections or 1/2 . Many students are quite intrigued by the fact that they are really taking 2/3 of 3/4 . They remember forever that "of" means "times".

Division of Fractions - the "How many "....sies" are there in "..." Rule:

Some of the students have actually been told that there is no way to understand division of fractions. They are quite confused by the fact that, when working with fractions, multiplication results in a smaller number and division a larger number in the answer. We ask the student to take a simple example, such as dividing 3/4 by 2/3. They are told to draw two chocolate bars or pies and make the pieces equal by changing it to 9/12 divided by 8/12. It is immediately clear both with the visual demonstration using the chocolate bars or pies and by looking at the fractions that there is one whole 8/12 group of sections. Each slice in this group is 1/8th of the total group. We write 1/8 th on each piece and name each piece a "one-eigthsey." The slice that still remains outside this group is equal to each of the 8 slices within it, i.e., it is 1/8. When they use the inversion rule they learned in school they find the answer is 9/8 = 1 1/8. It is merely the number of "2/3 sies" that exist in 3/4. Here again, the objective is to have the student begin playing with math in order to "understand" it!

Word Problems:

A logical stepwise strategy takes extreme focus and concentration and is crucial to solving most math problems! For children with ADD the first rule is read carefully - then read it again putting lines into the problem to divide it into sections. Use a logical seven-step approach. Not all the steps are necessary in every question. We may draw an analogy to being a detective, listing the facts and finding a statement of truth, then solving the mystery.

After reading the question slowly and carefully, and sectioning the question into separate statements using slashes (/), then the student should take the following 7 steps:.

"What are the facts?" - Underline and number them or list them!

"Can I draw the facts?" - Draw them!

"What is the question being asked?" (define it carefully)

Label the unknowns with a letter such as "x" or "y".

If there are two unknowns, put the second in terms of the first.

Put the facts into "truth statements" or equations. (Think of the word "equation" as meaning, " this = that") Translate words into mathematical signs; e.g., "is" is an equal (=) sign, more than is a + sign, a difference means - , ‘of’ means multiply, and so on. There are two types of truth statements:

6.1. What "truths" can I derive from the facts? (sometimes this is done in step 5 above.)

6.2. What "truth(s)" does the question give me which relates some or all of the facts to each other. This usually written mathematically as: something = something else; i.e., an equation.)

Solve it. (derive basic rules with students first, e.g., whatever you do to one side of an equation (or numerator of a fraction) you must do the same thing to the other side of the equation (or denominator of a fraction). To simplify this principle the trainer uses a concrete object such as a simple weighing scale: 2 pans on a rod balanced on a simple stand. This allows the student to visualize that in order for the pans to stay at the same height, whatever one takes off one side, one must take off exactly the same amount on the other side.

- Then check your answer!

Most high school problems can be thought through logically. With the student who has ADD one uses math problems to reinforce a non-impulsive, thoughtful, reflective approach. The following problems may be solved by formulas or "short-cuts" but many students do not know that and to them some of these challenges may at first appear insurmountable. But they can do them using the logical 7 step approach. Following a defined sequence of steps provides an opportunity to overcome negative "bracing". (Bracing refers to some student’s habitual - and unhelpful - response to a stimulus, e.g., tension and fear and "I can’t" messages when they look at a word problem.)

Example 1:

The question is sectioned into separate statements using slashes (/).

A piece of string is cut \ into two pieces.\ The second piece is 5 cm more than twice the length of the first piece. \ If the original string is 245 cm long,\ how long is the longer piece when cut?

The student then carries out seven steps. ADD students initially usually try, impatiently to skip steps. No step may be skipped!

"What are the facts?" - List them!

Fact #1: A piece of string is cut \ into two pieces.\

Fact #2: The second piece is 5 cm more than twice the length of the first piece.

Fact #3: The original string is 245 cm long

"Can I draw the facts?" - Draw them!

I <---------------------------------- 245 cm. -----------------------------------> I

_______________ _______________________________________

"What is the question being asked?"

How long is the longer piece when cut?

Label the unknowns with a letter such as x or y.

Let the first piece be x and the second piece be y.

If there are two unknowns, put the second in terms of the first.

y is 5 cm. longer than two times x (longer than is the same as a + sign)

Therefore: y = 5 + 2x

Put the facts into "truth statements" or equations. Translate words into signs.

6.1. What "truths" can I derive from the facts? (In this question the student has already completed this step in # 5 above.)

6.2. What "truth(s)" does the question give me which relate some or all of the facts to each other.

x + y = the whole string = 245 cm.

Therefore when you substitute for y: x + (5 + 2x) =245 cm.

Solve it for one unknown at a time. (Do the same thing to both sides of the equation)

3x + 5 (-5) = 245 (-5) cm. then divide both sides by 3 and get x = 80 cm. etc.

It is crucial that the trainer always use the same 7 step approach and that the trainer not assume the student has the basic concepts that would allow steps to be skipped.

Example 2:

Section the question into separate statements using slashes (/).

What / three consecutive / odd numbers / have a sum of 87.

"What are the facts?" - List them!

odd numbers

consecutive numbers

the three numbers have a sum of 87

"Can I draw the facts?" - Draw them!

one could just draw three spaces, the second slightly larger than the first and the third slightly larger than the second, with plus signs between them equaling 87 (or one could draw a number line).

________ + ___________ + _______________ = 87

"What is the question being asked?"

find the three consecutive odd numbers having a sum of 87

Label the unknowns with a letter such as x or y.

Let the first number be x.

If there are two unknowns, put the second in terms of the first. In this case there are 3 unknowns but the second and third can be put in terms of the first by deriving a simple relationship between any odd number and the next consecutive odd number. This can be done here or in 6.1 (see below).

Put the facts into "truth statements" or equations. Find any special relationships.

6.1. What "truths" can I derive from the facts?

By writing out any consecutive series of odd numbers, develop the rule: given any odd number, to find the next number add 2.

Therefore the numbers are: x, (x + 2), (x + 2) + 2.

6.2. What "truth(s)" does the question give me which relate some or all of the facts to each other

x + (x + 2) + {(x + 2) + 2} = 87 (The sum of the three numbers is 87)

Solve it.

Take all the steps necessary for the particular student to find: 27, 28, 29

Always have the student check the answer. In this case, add the numbers.

This question could also have been done rapidly by "estimating" (e.g., 90/3 = 30; but 87 is less than 90, therefore the three numbers are: 27, 28, 29. This is another valid strategy but we prefer initially to emphasize doing the 7 steps and not taking short cuts. Students with ADD have great difficulty following a precise sequence of steps and they all too often try to find short cuts even when they don’t really understand what they are doing.

Example 3:

Often the wording of a problem confuses the student. Some students give-up rather than try to logically think through the problem. The following is an example that the reader can try.

A chord is drawn between two points, A & B, on the circumference of a circle. The radius of the circle is 3 cm. The angle formed when two lines are drawn from the centre of the circle to points A & B on the circumference, is 90 degrees. What is the area of the segment between chord AB and the shortest arc of the circle between A and B?

This is a very easy problem providing the student doesn’t panic, thinks through the seven steps, draws it clearly and then thinks logically about subtracting knowns (area of the triangle from the area of 1/4 of the circle) to find an unknown (the area of the segment).

Other Math Strategies:

Many other math strategies are used in the ADD Centres. There are good texts and courses that cover this material in detail. An excellent course is the SAT (Scholastic Achievement Test) preparation courses given by Sylvan Learning Centres based on the work of Dr. Gary Gruber. These materials are not available for sale but Gruber has also published other books on test-taking strategies for both Math and verbal questions. (Analogies are among our favorite exercises for verbal strategies.) The key phrase is, "When the question looks too complicated, find a way to simplify it".

In Summary:

The importance of the foregoing processes to help children with basic math concepts does not lie in learning how to read a clock, add and subtract fractions, multiply large numbers, solve word problems and so on. Though helpful, these skills should be taught in school. The value of the foregoing processes is to train the child to go into a high state of focused concentration and recognize that they have, within themselves, the capability to figure out things from first principles. Our objective is to have the students change their outlook. We don’t want them to grudgingly memorize formulae for exams. We want then to feel that they can take abstract academic subject matter and make it an interesting and exciting part of everyday life.

STUDY HALL:

The student must have a concrete method of entering every period of study and never deviate from the basic dictum that every unit of work or of time must produce a "product". The trainer likens study hall time at home or in the library to the production of "widgets" in a factory. The student must decide before beginning on an evening of study, for example, exactly what the product must be for each unit of study. This may be a unit of time but preferably it would be a unit of work to be accomplished.

With a young child the parent asks "Socratic" questions to help the child develop these goals.

To help with this the parent may use a 3 step study hall procedure: First; the parent will ask, "What would you like to learn about the ...... (three questions); second ask, "Where can we find this information (e.g., the encyclopedia, the dictionary, a magazine or book etc.) and finally the parent will find and read with the child the material creating excitement about finding the answers, and about generating new interesting questions as they read. Third, the parent may give points for achievement and bonus points for new questions generated during the reading process. The points gradually accumulate towards earning something.

With older students, the parent will demonstrate very genuine interest in the student teaching them how to organize the material for study and reporting to them the essence of the units studied at the completion of each time period. It is crucial, however, that the student develop the schedule, the units to be studied, and the time frames. The parent is only a useful tool in the process. The moment when the parent begins to dictate the "what, why, when, where and how" of study hall is the moment when passive aggressive non-compliance most often begins.

CONCLUSION:

Students with ADD are not usually very reflective or efficient learners. Neurofeedback training improves their concentration and, coupled with the learning of metacognitive strategies, these clients can actually become more effective students than the majority of their peers. Acquiring these skills for self-regulation and strategic thinking empowers people to achieve things that would otherwise have remained only dreams.

Readings / References / Sources:

Allen, Thomas, personal communication concerning "eustress" physiological states

Barnell Loft Ltd., Multiple Skills Series; 958 Church Street, Baldwin, New York 11510

Cheng, Pui-wan, (1993) Metacognition and Giftedness: The state of the relationship. Gifted Child Quarterly V. 37:3 Sum.

Freedman, J., Failing Grades, (1993) Society for Advancing educational Research, Full Court Press Inc

Gruber, Gary; (1986) Dr. Grubers Essential Guide to Test Taking For Kids, Quill William Morrow, New York

Gruber, Gary; SAT / PSAT Strategies Course, Sylvan Learning Systems

Janzen, Troy et al: (1995) Differences in Baseline EEG Measures for ADD and Normally Achieving Preadolescent Males, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, Volume 20, Number 1

Linden, Michael, (1995) A Controlled Study of the Effects of EEG Biofeedback on Cognition and Behaviour of Children with Attention Deficit Disorder and Learning Disabilities. In Press.

Love, A.J., Thompson, M.G.G.,(1988) Language Disorders and Attention Deficit Disorders in a Child Psychiatric Outpatient Population, The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 58(1), January, (1988).

Lubar, J.F.; (1991) EEG Diagnostics and Biofeedback for AD/HD. Biofeedback and self Regulation, 16, (31), 201 225.

Lubar, J.F. et al; (1995) Evaluation of the Effectiveness of EEG Neurofeedback Training for ADHD in a Clinical Setting as Measured by Changes in T.O.V.A. Scores, Behavioral Ratings, and WISC-R Performance, Biofeedback and Self-Regulation, Volume 20, Number 1

Mann, C.A. et al (1992) Quantitative Analysis of EEG in Boys with AD/HD. Pediatric Neurology 8, (1), 30 - 36.

Mercer, Cecil & Mercer, Ann; (1989) Teaching Children with Learning Problems, Merrill, Macmillan Publishing Co., 866 Third Ave. New York, N.Y.,10022

Othmer, S.F. & Othmer, S., (1991) EEG Biofeedback Training for ADD, Specific Learning Disabilities and Associated Conduct Problems. EEG Spectrum, Inc. Encino CA.

Natures Children; (1985) Publisher: J. R. DeVarennes, Grolier Limited,