Could You Have Adult ADD?

by Leigh Erin Connealt
MD
June 15, 20104

Discussions of ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) normally revolve around children with behavioral and/or learning difficulties. But ADHD and its cousin, ADD (attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity, which is more common in grown-ups), can persist into adulthood. In fact, over half of the adults who were diagnosed as children still have the disorder — that’s about 4 percent of all adults in the U.S.

Although people with ADD look the same as everyone else, the disorder manifests itself in behavior, such as forgetfulness, trouble concentrating, and impulsiveness. If you have ever dealt with a person who has ADD, you know how frustrating it can be, as my patient Mark learned. And if you have the condition yourself, you may be all too aware of how disappointing it is to have the best intentions and not be able to fulfill them.

To make matters worse, adult ADD sufferers are rarely able to correct the situation without some sort of intervention, such as medication, nutrients, therapy, or a support group. But instead of getting treatment, they often self-medicate by shopping, drinking, using illegal drugs, or engaging in other potentially risky behavior that can spin out of control.

 

Recognizing the Symptoms of ADD

Individuals with ADD may become depressed and/or anxious over their seeming inability to accomplish things, setting the stage for new symptoms and complications. And many people don’t even realize they have symptoms of ADD.

 

Symptoms of ADHD and ADD

• Trouble concentrating, especially when reading
• Being easily distracted
• Disorganization and procrastination
• Addictive behavior (e.g., drugs, drinking, gambling, overeating, excessive shopping)
• Restlessness
• Anxiety, depression, mood swings
• Impulsive and risky behavior, including reckless driving
• Low self-esteem
• Inability to finish projects, lacking motivation
• Forgetfulness, chronic lateness
• Being short-tempered, inability to tolerate frustration

Developed in conjunction with the World Health Association (WHO), the following link provides a quick adult ADHD screening test.

 

Taking Control Beyond the Prescription Pad

Oftentimes, adults with ADD know they start many more projects than they finish; and they probably realize that forgetfulness, distractions, and failure to follow through are problems for them. But they may mistakenly blame themselves for being lazy, scatterbrained, or weak-willed, since few adults have been formally diagnosed, a process that requires a psychiatrist or psychologist.

The truth is, people with ADD are often very intelligent and highly creative, but their brains just work differently, so certain things are difficult for them — difficult, but not impossible. Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Bill Cosby, Eleanor Roosevelt, and former President Dwight Eisenhower are all thought to have had ADD, and they managed to achieve great things. The question is, what is the best way to manage ADD?

The pharmaceutical industry has cashed in on ADD big time. Today, millions of children are taking medication — mostly amphetamines — to control symptoms of ADD, while the debate over the appropriateness of medicating children rages on. Medication is less likely to be used for treating adults. In part, that’s because conventional medicines, primarily amphetamines like Ritalin, Concerta, and Adderall, don’t have the same effect on grown-ups. In addition, these drugs can raise blood pressure and the heart rate and create psychological dependency; and they are linked to a long list of negative side effects, so they’re just not suitable for many people.

11 Healthy Ways to Ease ADD Symptoms

If you’re considering medication for ADD, let me say this: Medication alone does not make ADD go away. It simply helps some people focus for longer than usual. A psychiatrist must prescribe most ADD medication, so the process is expensive, and the side effects can be serious, including everything from digestive disorders to insomnia and impotence as well as heart palpitations and arrhythmia. Clearly, these are not drugs to be taken lightly.

Meanwhile, you can achieve excellent results with changes to your diet as well as by taking certain nutrients and avoiding some substances, such as sugar and high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Here are my suggestions:

1. Eat real food.

I recommend at least three to five small meals daily to nourish your brain with a steady supply of nutrients. Be sure to include protein at each meal along with complex carbohydrates that break down more slowly than simple carbs, such as sugary snacks or processed food. Individuals with ADD need to maintain healthy insulin levels in the body, so the brain has access to the glucose it needs to function. Insulin plays a major role in brain function, so much so that Alzheimer’s disease is now considered type 3 diabetes or diabetes of the brain.

2. Stay hydrated.

Drink plenty of fresh, clean water to maintain healthy hydration. Your brain, which is about 70 to 80 percent water, needs hydration as much as the rest of your body.

3. Maintain high levels of essential nutrients.

Take a daily multivitamin and a separate multimineral formula containing at least 400 mg of magnesium, 100 mcg of selenium, and 7 to 10 mg of zinc. Several studies show that correcting deficiencies of minerals like magnesium, selenium, and zinc improve ADD symptoms.

4. Get a daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids.

Numerous studies show that these good fats, primarily found in certain types of fish, can enhance brain functions. For best results, look for a product that has roughly twice as much DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) as EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid). I especially like the stable, purified omega-3s found in Calamarine oil.

5. Avoid high-fructose corn syrup and sugar.

HFCS is a cheap sugar substitute with no health benefits and plenty of downsides, including a possible connection to the obesity epidemic. Whenever you see this ingredient on a food or beverage label, consider it a warning and pass on that particular product. HFCS may contain traces of the heavy metal mercury, something that could worsen ADD or cause additional health complications for those with a HFCS intolerance. In addition, HFCS robs the body of the mineral zinc, which plays a role in removing mercury from the body — just what you don’t need!

6. Walk it off.

Although most adults outgrow the hyperactivity aspect of ADHD, not all do. If you find that you’re plagued by restlessness, turn that urge to move to your advantage and go for a walk. Even if the weather isn’t cooperating, you canwalk — or even jog or dance — in place. Activity provides the brain with more oxygen than being sedentary does, and that’s a definite bonus since oxygen is an all-important element in brain function.

7. Get sufficient shut-eye.

Too little sleep makes it difficult to think clearly — whether you have ADD or not — so do yourself a favor and follow my advice on getting a good night’s sleep.

8. Get in the habit of doing the most important — not the most interesting — thing first.

Many people with ADD find it easy to become so thoroughly engrossed in something they particularly enjoy that they miss appointments, forget to eat, stay up half the night, or worse.

Claudia, a longtime patient, told me about the day she realized how serious ADD can be. A talented artist, she had just come home from a shopping trip to buy new painting supplies. Unfortunately, Claudia took the shopping bag into the house first and became so involved in working with the new materials that she forgot her two young children were still in the car unattended. Only when the four-year-old finally made his way into the house did she realize what had happened. “Talk about a wake-up call,” she told me. “Every time I remember that day, I shudder at what might have happened. Some days, getting the kids in and out of the car is such an ordeal, but I never — and I do mean never — do anything before getting them safely in the house now.”

9. Rethink your approach to difficult tasks.

If, for example, you struggle with clutter (a common characteristic of ADD sufferers), break the job into small sections and tackle them one at a time. In other words, don’t attempt to reorganize every closet in the house on the same day. Pick one closet to straighten each week to give yourself time to make decisions about what you’ll throw away, give away, and keep. When that closet is completed, move on to the next.

10. Use the 20-minute-timer technique on complex, multistep jobs.

Set a kitchen timer for 20 minutes, and really apply yourself to the task at hand for that time period. When the timer rings, do something rewarding for a few minutes — stand up and walk in place for a couple minutes, make a fresh cup of green tea, take a few minutes to do some stretching, or meditate. Then reset the timer and get back to work. Breaking large jobs into smaller chunks makes them more manageable, and the periodic rewards relieve the stress that comes with any prolonged effort.

11. Detox, detox, detox.

Many people with ADD find that getting heavy metals out of their bodies helps improve symptoms. There are several different ways to do that, detailed in my earlier newsletter on detoxification.

Since ADD can wreak havoc on relationships and jobs, many people with the disorder have found it helpful to participate in a support group, like CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). Sometimes, simply recognizing why you’re having problems completing tasks and getting organized can be a huge relief. It’s also very helpful to have like-minded individuals to talk to and share strategies for overcoming the disorder.

Just remember, ADD is a challenge you can overcome. Start with a nutrition overhaul, make sure you’re getting the right nutrients, and work on developing new habits. It may take some time, but many people have found that making simple changes is all it takes to stay on track and win the battle with ADD.

 

Source: Newport Natural Health

Editor’s Note: We welcome your comments.  Please Login  or Register to post a comment on this article. Thank you and we appreciate your support!

 

 

 

Mother and Daughter Tale

By Aliza Davidovit  
YC/STaff
May 9, 2010

This blog is a personal story and dedicated to my mother for Mother’s Day.

“The foot bone connected to the leg bone, the leg bone connected to the knee bone, the knee bone connected to the” femur bone, the femur bone connected to the pelvic bone.

Let me know when you’ve stopped singing.

The femur bone, also called the thighbone, as you may know, is the longest, largest, and strongest bone in the body.

It’s an unusual thing to think of for a daughter, but my mother reminds me of a femur bone because it’s her strength of character alone and continued support and love that gives everyone close to her a leg to stand on.

 She is like an indomitable scaffold that sustains our courage and our family through the hardest of times.

There is not a thing upon which she lays her hands that she does not transform from average to beautiful–from décor, cooking, fashion, to extracting an individual’s full potential. Even death she made beautiful for my father.

After the doctors told us that he had six more months to live, she didn’t leave him to their care but rather took care of him at home, herself, and decorated the remaining days of his life with music, love, and laughter until the angel of death closed his big blue eyes.

My parents were deeply in love for 38 years, like Romeo and Juliet. My mother would visit his grave every day for five years straight after he passed away. But I will never forget the night my father died in their bed.

Through her sobbing tears, my mother went to blow dry her hair because the funeral was the next day.

She said to us that my father loved seeing her look beautiful and even after having lost her parents, a daughter, a sister, and now her beloved sweetheart, she would not allow death to triumph over life.

We all looked at her in awe. She was our femur that kept it all together just as that durable bone brings the upper and lower half of the body together.

But life’s a bitch and even as you try and put your best femured foot forward it can ravage you. A few years ago, my sprightly, energetic mother got out of bed one morning and five steps later found herself lying on the floor in screaming agony. It took her three hours to reach the phone.

She called my brother, and being the superhuman body builder that he is, he beat the ambulance and broke down her five inch wooden doors with his own hands. I got the phone call in New York.

I was on the next plane to Montreal. My mother’s complete femur bone was broken, eaten up by lymphoma. My beautiful mother, my best friend who I speak to a thousand times a day–I was not ready to say goodbye. I never will be.

I had just signed a deal to ghostwrite a book on Jewish success, but instead of heading to the library I found myself sleeping on a lawn chair in my mother’s hospital room for three weeks and then staying in Montreal for the next five months caring for her and her toy French poodle, Papoush.

It was excruciating for me to see my mother that way. She was always so independent, coming and going, and now she had to go through chemo and learn to walk all over again with titanium filled leg. She was my rock but now I had to become her femur.

Yet even in the hospital, my mother wouldn’t surrender and refused to wear their hospital gowns or use their bed linens.

She may be the only patient in the history of the oncology department who had a chiffon beaded nightgown and 700-thread sheets.

It was the hardest thing that we ever went through. Even the dog fell into a depression during that difficult time. Yet, I found strength in myself that I never knew I had.

That strength was shaped like my mother. I have never met a person whose presence brings such light into any room as does hers.

That light continues to guide my way. As we went through MRIs, surgery, chemotherapy, hair loss and rehabilitation, I was empowered by all the times in life I saw her fight instead of fall. I’d sing to my mother to distract her from her nerves and would make all the technicians and doctors laugh with my terrible voice.

At my mother’s bedside, I wrote a book, nurtured her and her French poodle back to health, found the power of laughter, and realized that I stood in the shadow of the greatest role model a daughter could ever have.

But most of all I learned how deep, special, and strong are the bonds of a mother, a daughter, and a French poodle. The femur bone had nothing on us.

On this Mother’s Day, I just want to thank God for the great blessing of a having a mother like mine, a mother who has taken so many lost souls under her wing and taught them to fly, a mother whose honesty will criticize you into perfection not weakness, a mother who has surely done God’s work, when He was busy elsewhere.

 

Source: The Source Weekly

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@goldcoastchronicle.com

Founder of Mother’s Day

By Mothers Day
May 9, 2010

The story of Mothers Day is the story of firm determination of a daughter, Anna Jarvis who resolved to pay tribute to her mother, Mrs. Anna M Jarvis and all other mothers of the world.

Anna Jarvis dedicated her life to fulfill her mother’s dream of the recognition of day for honoring mothers.

Though never a mother herself, Founder of Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis is today recognized as the ‘Mother of Mothers Day’. An apt title to define the remarkable woman’s ceaseless devotion to her mother and motherhood in general.

Anna Jarvis: Childhood

Anna Jarvis was born in Webster, Taylor County, West Virginia, on May 1, 1864. She was the ninth of eleven children born to Ann Marie and Granville Jarvis. Her family moved to Grafton when Anna was a year old.

It was here that the Anna did her schooling. In 1881, she enrolled at the Augusta Female Academy in Staunton, Virginia, now Mary Baldwin College. After finishing her academics, Anna returned to Grafton and did teaching in a school for seven years.

  

Anna Jarvis: Inspiration for Mothers Day

 
Anna Jarvis got the inspiration of celebrating Mothers Day quite early in life. It so happened that one day when Anna was 12 years old, Anna’s mother Mrs. Jarvis said a class prayer in the presence of her daughter.

To conclude the lesson on ‘Mothers of the Bible’, Mrs. Jarvis said a small prayer,

“I hope that someone sometime will found a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.”

Anna never forgot this prayer. And at her Mothers graveside service, she recalled the prayer and said, “…by the grace of God, you shall have that Mothers Day.” The words were overheard by her brother Claude.

 

Anna Jarvis: The Struggle for Mothers Day

 
After the death of her mother in 1905, Anna Jarvis resolved to honor her mother. She became all the more serious in her resolution when she found that adult children in the US were negligent in their behavior towards their parents.

Besides the desire of her mother that someone would one day pay tribute to all mothers, living and dead and appreciate their contributions made Anna decisions even stronger.

In 1907, Miss Anna began an aggressive campaign to establish a National Mothers Day in US. On the second death anniversary of her mother she led a small tribute to her mother at Andrews Methodist Church.

By the next year, Mother’s Day was also celebrated in her own city of Philadelphia.

To give shape to her resolution, Miss Anna Jarvis along with her supporters began to write hundreds of letters to those holding the positions of power advocate the need for a national Mothers Day.

A fluent speaker, Anna used every platform to promote her cause.

Though the response was cold initially, she achieved a breakthrough by gaining the support of great merchant and philanthropist, John Wanamaker of Philadelphia.

The movement gained a fresh impetus with his support. In 1909, forty-five states including Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Canada and Mexico observed the day by appropriate services.

People also wore white and red Carnations to pay tribute to their mothers, according to the tradition started by Anna Jarvis. Anna chose carnations because they were her mother’s favorite flowers.

White carnation was her most favorite because it represented the purity of a mother’s heart. A white carnation was to be worn to honor deceased mothers, and a red one to honor a living mother.

By 1911, Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state of the Union. And in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson made the official announcement proclaiming Mother’s Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the second Sunday of May.

 

Anna Jarvis: Purpose of Celebrating Mothers Day

An activist to the core, Anna Jarvis stepped outside the four walls of the house. Striking feature of her personality is that she did not frowned on the traditional women who felt complacent staying at home.

Instead she strived to bestow honor and dignity on women who were homemakers. This was one of her main purpose of celebrating Mothers Day.

Mothers Day is meant to give due honor to the woman who gave us birth and life. Though we often have the feeling of gratitude towards our mothers we do not confess it often.

Mothers Day is celebrated to share those feeling with our mothers. To spend some time with her and make her feel special. Those staying away from mothers must express their feelings of love and gratitude by writing to them or talking over phone.

 

Anna Jarvis: Her Disappointment with Mothers Day Commercialization

It is poignant to note that though Miss Anna Jarvis devoted her life for the establishment of national Mothers Day but in the end she was disappointed at the way thing turned out.

She was concerned with reform, not revenue. She hated the commercialization of the day, so much so that she felt sorry for ever starting the tradition of celebrating Mothers Day.

Anna died at the age of 84 on November 24, 1948. She is interred beside her mother in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. On the day of her burial, bell on the Andrews Church in Grafton was tolled eighty-four times in her honor. The Anna Jarvis Birthplace Museum is located four miles south of Grafton on U.S. Route 119/250.

 

Anna Jarvis: Her Mother, Mrs. Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis

Mrs. Anna M. Jarvis gave birth to 11 children but only four lived to adulthood. Inspire of the large family, Mrs. Jarvis maintained an active life. She regularly participated in activities of the church and civic affairs.

Her remarkable contribution to the society in which she lived was the formation of Mothers Day Work Clubs in the local churches.

Mrs. Anna Jarvis called on the women of Webster, Philippi, Pruntytown, Fetterman and Grafton to join the club and combat poor health and sanitation conditions that existed in that time in their neighborhood and attributed to the high mortality rate of children.

The clubs were highly successful and their role in tackling the local community problem was honored by all.

During the Civil Wars, Mrs. Anna Jarvis urged the members of Mothers’ Day Work Clubs to take a neutral stand and nurse both Union and Confederate soldiers. Near the end of the war, the Jarvis family moved to the larger town of Grafton, West Virginia.

In 1865, after the Civil War, Anna Jarvis organized a Mothers’ Friendship Day at Pruntytown Courthouse. This was done to bring together soldiers and neighbors of all political beliefs.

The event was a big success and came to be organized annually for several years to promote peace and friendship.

Mrs. Anna Jarvis was also an active member of the church. She took charge of the primary department of the Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church School when the church was completed in 1873.

For more than two decades, she taught the students of the school. Mrs. Jarvis was also a renowned speaker of her times. Her lectures were quite popular in the church

after the death of her husband, Granville E. Jarvis, in 1902, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis moved with her daughters, Anna and Lillie, to Philadelphia to live with her son, Claude. Mrs. Jarvis died at the age of 72 on May 9, 1905.

She was interred in the West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. On the day she was laid to rest, the bell of Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton was tolled seventy-two times in her honor.

 

 

Source: Mothers Day Celebration

 

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@goldcoastchronicle.com

Boys Dress like Girls

By Fox Nation
Apr. 14, 2010

A school superintendent in New Jersey says a “misunderstanding” led an elementary school teacher to mandate that all students — including young boys — dress as women in a now-canceled fashion show to honor Women’s History Month.
 
Maple Shade Township School Superintendent Michael Liven good said the show, which had been scheduled for Friday at Maude Wilkins Elementary School, has been canceled.
 
“I wish the letter had been clearer and had been worded differently,” Livengood told FoxNews.com, referring to a letter sent home to the children’s parents last week informing them of the assignment.

“But it was a misunderstanding. It was meant to demonstrate students’ awareness in women’s roles, and along with that, their changes in fashion over time.”
 
In a 16-page packet sent home with students, teacher Tonya Uibel alerted parents that all students in her third grade class would have to participate in the activity, since it would be graded as an “end of unit” assignment.

The packet also included suggestions of how students may dress, including fashions from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s like bellbottoms, poodle skirts and cheerleader outfits. Photographs of fashion icons like Twiggy and Madonna are also included.
 
“If your child is a young man, he does not have to wear a dress or skirt, as there are many time periods where women wore jeans, pants and trousers. However, each child must be able to express what time period their outfit is from.

Most of all, your child should have fun creating their outfit and learning about how women’s clothing has changed!”
 
Livengood said students will now be asked to a draw a picture of a person dressed in clothing from a specific time period as the lesson plan’s culminating project.
 
He said the school’s principal, Beth Narcia, had not received “one single” complaint pertaining to the event from parents. But one parent told FoxNews.com she contacted Uibel directly after her 9-year-old son came home “in tears” after getting the assignment.
 
“My son was very upset,” said Janine Giandomenico. “He said, ‘Mommy, please don’t make me do this.'”
 
ALSO:
 
READ THE LETTER SENT HOME TO PARENTS ABOUT THE ‘FASHION SHOW ‘ (PDF FORM)

Fox Radio’s Todd Starnes’s Report

Read the Full Article

 

 

Source: Fox Nation 

 

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Talking While Cooking

By Time to Talk
Apr. 1, 2010

Baking provides a unique opportunity to connect with your kids, learn more about them and have open, honest conversations about different things, while engaging in fun baking activities.

Not only is baking an enjoyable family activity, but it helps kids learn patience, precision, math and organizational skills and how to follow directions, while piquing their curiosity.

Parents can take the time to talk with their kids about many topics to help keep them safe, healthy and happy!

 

Source: Time to Talk

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Standardized Testing

By Emily Arms, Ph.D
Mar. 29, 2010

Thirty years ago, American school children spent two or three days a year bubbling in answers on standardized tests.

Today, children in some school districts spend as much as 18 days per 180-day school year on standardized testing.

And that’s not counting teacher-developed spelling quizzes, book reports, and unit tests.

In short, US public school children are tested more than ever, and at younger and younger ages.

This testing is, in part, fueled by the accountability measures built into the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation of 2003.

And the testing mania shows no signs of abating, despite the fact that most measurement experts would agree that testing very young children — kindergarteners, for example — rarely yields valid or reliable data.

What is a parent to do? The first step is to become informed and know your rights.

 

Find out what type of test your child’s school is giving and what it measures.

 
There are basically two types of standardized tests: norm referenced and criterion referenced. They each yield different information.

The test score your child earns on a norm-referenced test like the California Achievement Test (CAT) or the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) tells you how your child compares to the other children who took the test that year.

For example, if your child scores in the 50th percentile, half the children who took the test that year scored above your child and half scored below.

It does not tell you if your child has achieved certain benchmark levels of proficiency.

That is reserved for criterion-referenced examinations that do tell if your child, for example, has achieved proficiency in multiplying numbers up to nine.

 

Find out how your child’s school uses the test data.

Are your child’s test scores used to determine his or her placement in certain classes such as gifted or resources classes?

Are they used to determine whether she or he will advance to the next grade level at the end of the year?

It is important to find out how your child’s test score data will be used. Critics have pointed out that many of the most popular standardized tests are now being used in ways that their developers never intended.

 

Find out which grade levels get tested.

NCLB mandates that students in grades 3 to 8 be tested every year. In many districts, however, children are tested every year beginning in second grade.

A few districts even test kindergartners and first-graders, though critics point out that this is waste of time as most 5- or 6-year-olds can barely hold the pencil to properly bubble in the Scantron sheet.

 

Find out how much classroom time is spent preparing for the tests.

These are important things to know, as researchers have found that teachers now

spend more time than ever on what is basically a “test-preparation” curriculum. This results in an overemphasis on basic reading and math skills, and short-changes subjects like science, history, and music.

For example, some schools spend over three hours a day on reading, but only do science experiments once a month.

Middle school science teachers often get sixth graders who have never done any science because of the overemphasis on English and Math.

When you, as a parent, talk to teachers or principals, use their language. Ask how many “instructional minutes” a day are spent on each subject, for example.

 

Understand that you, as a parent, have the right to request your child opt out of the tests.

This is a little known, but very important, fact. School districts are required by law to inform parents of this right, but it’s not widely advertised.

There have even been cases where principals have pressured parents to not opt out because their child’s score is needed to bring up the school’s overall ranking.

 

Source: Family

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

You Were Warned

By Lynn Stuter
Mar. 1, 2010

There has been a growing controversy — in Rhode Island and across the nation — about the firing of the teachers at Central Falls High School.

Teachers are in an uproar, the union is “outraged,” the parents are “outraged,” the students are surely “going to be traumatized” (But then, that seems easy to accomplish these days.

To listen to the talking heads, one definitely comes to the conclusion that children are just not as resilient as they used to be when adults had common sense.)

To understand why these teachers were fired, one needs to understand the system.

Back in 1994, Goals 2000, the educate America Act was passed by Congress. This was under the Clinton Administration but Goals 2000 was the end product of America 2000 which went back to the George Herbert Walker Bush Administration.

Prior to America 2000, there were all the meetings of head honchos across the country, like the National Governors’ Association (NGA) meeting, called by Bush in September 1989 that brought about America 2000.

The meeting occurred at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and resulted in the establishment of the Governors’ Task Force on Education with Governor Booth Gardner of Washington state, head of the NGA, appointing himself, Governor Roy Romer of Colorado (appointed chair of the Task Force), Governor Carroll Campbell of South Carolina, Governor Evan Bayh of Indiana, Governor Terry Branstead of Iowa, and Governor John Ashcroft of Missouri to the committee.

And before that, there were the Schools for the 21st Century pilot project in states across the nation, including Washington State that commenced ca 1988-1989.

These schools were the precursor to education transformation nation-wide; they were the foundation of Goals 2000.

The pilot project in Washington State never met the requirements of the laws governing it, yet it was heralded as a roaring success by those running the program, not based on quantifiable evidence but rather on anecdotal “evidence.”

The whole sham that was the Schools for the 21st Century pilot project in Washington State was finally brought before the Senate Education Committee, through the hard work of many people, me included, in February 1998.

One would think that the Washington State Legislature would not want to subject children to a failed education system. One would think that the Washington State Legislature would not want to waste taxpayer dollars on a colossal failure.

The reaction of the Washington State Legislature? For the most part, legislators boycotted the hearing.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction tried to disrupt the hearing.

The Democrat co-chair of the Senate Education Committee tried to disrupt and sidetrack the hearing.

TVW, the organization that videos hearings held by Senate and House committees, suddenly decided they couldn’t video the hearing. Although slated to do so, they cancelled at the last minute, obviously the game plan being that the last-minute cancellation would ensure that there would not be enough time to bring in and set up video equipment of the type needed to provide quality video of the hearing.

TVW’s excuse for canceling was that the Superintendent of Public Instruction wasn’t invited to be center stage at the hearing.

For his role in setting up the hearing, the Republican co-chair of the Senate Education Committee was castigated by his own party. When he ran for Governor, his own party undermined his campaign.

The message was clear: the Washington State Legislature, Democrats and Republicans alike, did not want hear that the program they had implemented in the schools in the state, under Goals 2000, was a colossal failure if educating children for intelligence was the goal.

Systems education, what was implemented in every school nation-wide under Goals 2000, is a system intended specifically to coalesce the sustainable global environment agenda.

Under systems education, “education” becomes life-role or life-related with knowledge only incorporated as it is used and applied in teaching unit themes or thematic units centered around four main issues: world economy, world ecology, world security, and world population growth, in no particular order.

This is why parents are finding their children exposed, in schools, to the rabid, extremist environmental propaganda intended to end private ownership of land “in the interests of saving mother earth.” This is why parents are finding their children exposed, in schools, to “life-role” situations far beyond their ability, experience-wise and maturity-wise, to comprehend the ramifications of.

This is why parents are finding that their children have been exposed, in schools, to books like The Giver and asked to decide who should be thrown out of the overloaded lifeboat of passengers from a sinking ship. More recently, parents in California discovered their children had been given a survey, in schools, asking them to disclose when they lost their virginity.

And parents in Pennsylvania discovered their children had been given laptops with cameras that could be used by school administrators to watch children on and off school campus; the continual assessment of the child by observation being a focus of systems education which depends on the accumulation and analysis of information obtained from behavioral assessment.

While school administrators denied such was their purpose, how the cameras were discovered was when school administrators decided that the conduct of a student, while off campus, needed addressed.

The dearth of knowledge, imparted to students under systems education, insures that which is stated in a well-known publication entitled America’s Choice: high skills or low wages! put out in June 1990 by the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) subcommittee, Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce (CSAW),

“But in a broad survey of employment needs across America, we found little evidence of a far-reaching desire for a more educated workforce.” (Page 25)

In other documents, it is made very clear that America is to become a “service economy.” With manufacturing jobs being outsourced to foreign countries left and right, the majority of the jobs remaining would be in the service sector, such as cleaning toilets, scrubbing floors, changing beds, washing laundry, flipping burgers, repairing cars, stocking shelves, running a cash register, repairing appliances and equipment.

Under such a system, innovation is not an imperative, nor is the goal of education, in public schools, to discipline the mind of the child such that the child has a vast knowledge base on which to draw in articulating a reasoned conclusion as an individual (classical education).

Under systems education, it is no longer important that children be able to think and reason; only that they respond appropriately to the given behaviorally oriented prompt or trigger—the Skinnerian operant conditioning technique of punishment and reward used to train animals.

Children are expected to demonstrate mastery of behaviorally-oriented exit outcomes (known in some states as essential academic learning requirements), established at the state level, that coalesce, and are benchmarked to, the eight goals of Goals 2000.

Goals 2000, in turn, directly reflects the National Skills Standards Board competencies as written by the Secretaries Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) established under Elizabeth Dole, Secretary of Labor under GHW Bush.

The SCANS competencies, in turn, were the direct result of the work of the NCEE CSAW publication America’s Choice: high skills or low wages!; many of the people sitting on CSAW also sitting on the SCANS commission.

As made very clear by the Schools for the 21st Century pilot program in Washington Stated, under systems education …

• content is defined as excellence in terms of the change agenda;
• process is the product; the destination; what learning is about;
• emotionality and affectivity are the means by which content and process will be achieved;
• feelings are paramount (Washington State Board of Education, 1995).

The measure of whether the child is demonstrating mastery of the behaviorally-oriented exit outcomes is the assessment. An assessment is not an objective measure of knowledge, it is not a test, nor is it a standardized test; an assessment is a subjective measure of behavior based on a rubric that gives points depending on the level of behavior demonstrated.

Usually using a scale of four points possible, the more points given, the more closely the child is said to demonstrate the wanted behavior. This is why getting the right answer on an assessment is not a priority. The assessment is looking to see if the child is demonstrating the wanted behaviors.

Points are then added together and a pass/fail line is determined. The pass/fail line can be changed, year to year, to augment a political agenda or political climate.

For instance, if the legislature says “no more money until results are shown”, the pass/fail bar can be lowered so more children are considered to pass. Beyond the behavioral aspect, this is why assessments are not considered to be a reliable instrument or valid measurement.

What happens if the child doesn’t demonstrate the wanted behaviors? In all cases, the child is remediating. If enough children in a classroom are not demonstrating the wanted behaviors, benchmarked to grade level, the teacher is also remediate.

This can come in several forms, including mentoring, further education, decrease in salary, and probation. If enough children in the school are not demonstrating the wanted behaviors, the teachers and/or administrators are also remediate or fired.

In Rhode Island, it was the teachers. In Longview, Washington, it was the principal.

When parents in Washington State tried to tell teachers and administrators this would happen, parents were scoffed at, ridiculed, called names, made the subject of derision — the teacher unions would never allow that to happen!

But it was very apparent that the teacher unions were very much involved in promoting systems education, nation-wide. Maybe the teachers didn’t know what was coming, but can the same be said for teacher unions?

Teachers were warned but they were so enamored with systems education holding children accountable for the demonstration of the wanted subjective behaviors that they refused to listen. So, is it really anyone’s fault but their own when children fail to demonstrate the wanted behaviors?

Is it anyone’s fault but their own that they jumped on the education transformation (a.k.a., systems education) band-wagon when they had no clue what it was really all about beyond what they were told to believe, and did believe?

When people ask me about sending their children to public (i.e., government) schools, I tell them two things,

1. do not put your child in harm’s way; no child is capable of withstanding the brainwashing going on in government schools under systems education; either home school your child or put your child in a private school that does not accept public money;

2. Get involved because all really does mean all, and the government fully intends that all children be subjected to systems education; thus the advent of charter schools and public schools in homes (like K-12™) to suck parents into the system.

Systems education has cost the taxpayers billions (if not trillions) of dollars to implement and sustain. In the top-heavy school administrations, full of counselors, psychologists, play-ground monitors, and aides, all seeking to pry into the minds of children, billions more are being wasted.

States are now in financial trouble. When Washington State legislators were asked what they intended to do when systems education became a financial burden on the taxpayers, as it was bound to do, not one legislator had an answer.

And not one of them, beyond the Republican Senator who was castigated by his own party for letting the truth be told, has had the courage to do anything to avoid the inevitable.

Parents who tried to tell teachers, administrators and legislators certainly have the right to say “we told you so” but that does not change the bottom-line fact that children are paying the ultimate price, as is our nation and our society as a whole, for the failure to properly educate children for intelligence.

Editor’s Note: Activist and researcher, Stuter has spent the last fifteen years researching systems theory and systems philosophy with a particular emphasis on education as it pertains to achieving the sustainable global environment.

She home schooled two daughters. She has worked with legislators, both state and federal, on issues pertaining to systems governance, the sustainable global environment and education reform.

She networks nationwide with other researchers and a growing body of citizens concerned about the transformation of our nation from a Constitutional Republic to a participatory democracy. She has traveled the United States and lived overseas. You can contact her at lmstuter@learn-usa.com

We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Source: Learn USA      RJ

Six Year Old to Jail

By Dr. Laura
Feb. 22,  2010

In Port St. Lucie, Florida recently, a six year old was handcuffed (actually, one handcuff was put over both hands – she was a little girl), and hauled off to a mental facility. 

The parents were all hysterical and angry that their “little baby” was treated this way.

The mother, who works in day care, said “There is absolutely nothing wrong with my child.”  Her father said that what happened to his daughter was “just wrong.”
 
The school contacted this little girl’s parents several times about setting up a meeting to discuss her violent behavior in the classroom, but they never showed up.  Hmmmm.
 
Here’s what happened on that particular day:
 
The kid had yet another tantrum in the classroom after the teacher simply asked her to do something, and the girl was taken to the principal’s office. 

The principal, 8 months pregnant, endured the kid yelling, throwing things, kicking the wall, throwing a calculator, electric pencil sharpener, telephone, container of writing utensils and everything else on the desk. 

The kid then physically attacked the pregnant principal, who called the police.
 
In my opinion, the police and the principal did exactly the right thing.  Leave it up to the medical authorities to determine whether this girl is being extremely poorly parented or in need of mental health treatment.
 
There are those who cry over how little this girl is and wring their hands and say that there must have been some other way. 

No, there wasn’t.  The parents did not take responsibility, and their shame was delivered as arrogance as they sought sympathy (and probably a lawsuit).
 
The school is supposed to be a safe place.  This girl was, and is, a threat to other students, the faculty, and herself.  I stand behind the school, the teacher, and the principal. 

I wish we could arrest the parents for negligence in letting their daughter’s behavior get this far.

 

Source: Dr. Laura

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com

Sign Language

by Lexi Walters
Feb. 8, 2010

Why teach children sign language? It helps babies learn to communicate before they can talk, and teaches kids to appreciate a language used by some of the deaf community. Start with these easy signs for words about food and eating.

 

 

 

Drink

1. Hold your hand up to your mouth as if you were drinking from a glass.

2. Tilt head back, as if taking a sip.

carolinaemay says:

what happens when babies get so used to signs that they don’t want to talk?

 

 

 

Eat

1. Squeeze the tips of your fingers together to form a point, and place that hand in front of pursed lips.

2. Bring your hand away from your mouth, then back to it.

 

 

 

 

Cheese

1. Place your hands, palms touching, in front of you.

2. With heels of palms touching, rotate your hands back and forth.

 

 

 

 

Cookie

1. Put one hand in front of you, palm facing up.

2. Cup your other hand and place your fingertips on top of the other palm.

3. Rotate your hand back and forth.

 

 

 

 

Spoon

1. Cup one hand, palm facing up, in front of you.

2. Using the pointer and middle fingers of your other hand, pretend to scoop out of your cupped hand.

 

 

 

 

Apple

1. Make your hand into a fist, keeping the knuckle of your pointer finger extended a little farther than the other fingers.

2. Place that hand on your cheek near your mouth and rotate that hand back and forth.

 

 

 

Source: Parents

 

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchronicle.com.  Photos by Dean Schoeppner

One in Five at Risk

by Dr. Mercola
Feb.10, 2010     

A study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that over 20 percent of teenagers in the U.S. have elevated cholesterol levels.

The national study covered more than 3,000 teens whose blood test results were collected by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

High levels of LDL or triglycerides, and low HDL levels were associated with weight, and the heavier the teenagers were, the more likely they were to have abnormal levels (nearly 43% if they were obese), but even among those with normal body weight over 14% had unhealthy levels.

High cholesterol levels were at first associated with the middle-aged and elderly, but are increasingly beginning to appear in late childhood and the teenage years.

This finding already has researchers urging cholesterol screening for about one-third of teens who are overweight or obese, which will put many of these kids right in the line of fire to be prescribed a dangerous statin drug.

In 2007, the American Heart Association first recommended the use of statin drugs for children with high cholesteron.

Then in 2008 the American Academy of Pediatrics followed suit, recommending cholesterol-lowering drugs for children as young as 8!

There is such overwhelming evidence — nearly 900 studies compiled in this link — showing the damage statins inflict, that this recommendation should qualify as criminal malpractice.

Some of the possible consequences of taking statins for a lengthy period of time, which many of these kids undoubtedly would do, include:

 

Cognitive lose

Neuropathy

Anemia

Acidosis

Frequent fever

 Cataracts

Sexual dysfunction

 

Then there is the serious risk of potentially permanent muscle damage, and the depletion of Co-Q10, which can harm your heart and muscles alike.

Statin drugs used to lower cholesterol are the best-selling drugs in the United States. In 2008 alone they brought in $14.5 billion in sales!

The odds are very high, greater than 100 to 1, that anyone taking statin drugs does not need them. 

The ONLY subgroup that MAY benefit are those born with a genetic defect called familial hypercholesterolemia, as this makes them resistant to traditional measures to normalize cholesterol.

And the first step to understanding why lies in understanding the role of cholesterol in your health, not in disease.

 

Why Cholesterol is Not “Evil”

 Cholesterol has been traditionally vilified, when in reality it is essential and crucial for a wide variety of vital functions in your body.

It’s an integral part of your cell membranes, and it’s also the precursor (the raw material) your body uses to make your steroid hormones – one of which is vitamin D.

Your skin contains cholesterol, and when UVB rays from the sun hit your skin, it converts that form of cholesterol to vitamin D3, which is then transported to your blood.

Your body then further converts it into the active form of vitamin D.

It’s important to realize that there’s a big difference between “average” and “healthy” cholesterol levels. It’s very similar to what we’re now seeing with vitamin D levels. 

Please understand that you have not been told the whole truth about cholesterol. Rather, what you’re getting from most conventional health practitioners is little more than cleverly distorted marketing.

Before 2004, a 130 LDL cholesterol level was considered healthy. The updated guidelines, however, recommended levels of less than 100, or even less than 70 for patients at very high risk.

In order to achieve these outrageous and dangerously low targets, you typically need to take multiple cholesterol-lowering drugs.

So the guidelines instantly increased the market for these dangerous drugs. Now, with testing children’s cholesterol levels, they’re increasing their market even more.

Total Cholesterol Level is a Virtually Useless Test

 If your doctor is urging your child to get a total cholesterol level check, you should know that this test will tell you virtually nothing about his or her risk of heart disease — unless it is 330 or higher.

And, perhaps more importantly, you need to be aware that cholesterol is not the CAUSE of heart disease. 

If you become overly concerned with trying to lower your child’s cholesterol level to some set number, you will be completely missing the real problem.

In fact, I have seen a number of people with levels over 250 who actually were at low heart disease risk due to their elevated HDL levels.

Conversely, I have seen even more who had cholesterol levels under 200 that were at a very high risk of heart disease based on the following additional tests:

 

Your HDL/Cholesterol ratio

Your Triglyceride/HDL ratios

HDL percentage is a very potent heart disease risk factor. Just divide your HDL level by your cholesterol.

That percentage should ideally be above 24 percent. Below 10 percent, it’s a significant indicator of risk for heart disease.

You can also do the same thing with your triglycerides and HDL ratio. That percentage should be below 2.

 

Finally, please do make sure your, and your child’s, vitamin D levels are where they need to be. Vitamin D is not “just a vitamin,” but rather the only known substrate for a potent, pleiotropic (meaning it produces multiple effects), repair and maintenance seco-steroid hormone that serves multiple gene-regulatory functions in your body.

Low levels of vitamin D are associated with an increased risk of heart disease, which is what parents of teens with “high” cholesterol are most concerned about.

About 70 percent of U.S. children have low levels of vitamin D, so this should be one of the first issues you address to keep your teen’s heart healthy.

 

 

 

 

 Source: Dr. Mercola

 

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think. dan@youngchrobnicle.com

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