Smart Learning Newsletter

Helping You Help Your Kids Grow from Smart Potential to Smarter Kids

Dr. MaryJo Wagner, Editor and Publisher
Vol 1. No. 2, January, 2010

Contents

1. Note from MaryJo
2. Feature Article: Three Common Conditions that look like ADHD (but aren't)
3. What's Happening at Smart Kids Smart Parents
4. Brain Gym® Tip: How to Help Kids Set a New Year's Goal
5. Smart Quiz: You Could Win!
6. Just for Smart Teachers

Note from MaryJo

Happy New Year and welcome to the first issue of the "Smart Learning Newsletter" for 2010. Remember that it's replacing the "Brain Boosters for Your Kids Newsletter." New look, new location, and shorter. But I've still got a feature article for you, a contest, and a place just for teachers.

Speaking of the New Year, you'll discover how to help your kids set New Year's goals with Brain Gym. Keep reading.

Enjoy. Let me know what you think. What you'd like to see. Just use the contact form. And tell your friends to subscribe. Other parents. Your child's teacher.

MaryJo

P.S. And while you're at it, check out the new site Smart Kids Smart Parents. Read the blog. Add your comments. You'll find the Smart Parents Club and the new Smart Parents mini-Guide: "Why Smart Kids Don't Learn and Other Mysteries: Seven Strategies for helping Kids Learn."

Three Common Conditions that Look Like ADHD but aren't

2.4 million kids have been diagnosed with ADHD. 1,839,000 people searched the term "ADHD" on Google in one month alone. These are staggering figures.

Do this many children really have ADHD?

Probably not. Take a look at 43 factors that can contribute to a mis-diagnosis of ADHD. (You can print the Inventory to use with your kids.)

The three most common conditions that mimic ADHD include

1. Chronic lack of sleep.
   Numerous studies have shown that kids from kindergarten through high school are getting at least an hour less sleep than 30 years ago. High school kids are reported 6.5 hours of sleep or less. Lack of sleep has been reported as a factor in causing ADHD. Sleep deprivation impacts learning, ability to do school work, temper tantrums, and mood swings.

   Kids need cool bedrooms with no TV, dark rooms, and regular, routine bedtimes.

2. Skipping breakfast or having a breakfast overloaded with sugar and little protein on a consistent basis. And too much junk food in general every day.What if you kids don't like breakfast food except for sugary cereal? Try last night's leftover tuna casserole or the lunch time stand-by, a PB and J sandwich. Start moving them over to whole wheat bread. (Sandwiches are great for breakfast since you can eat them in the car.)
3. Too much TV.
   Even if children watch nothing but educational programming for kids, vegging out in front of the TV for hours every day can cause ADHD-like symptoms. (Register for the FREE TeleSeminar on January 7 to discover why TV is bad for kids' brains. Comes with handouts and audio replay if you can't make the date.)

   Get kids up and moving, outdoors playing (even in the winter). Include regular sports programs in their weekly activities--just avoid over-scheduling.

   Many children go to school day after day with all three conditions! And they act just like they have ADHD--hyperactive or zoned out. Either way, they can't focus and pay attention to what's going on in the classroom. As their grades go down and their disruptive behavior goes up, eventually they may get a diagnosis of ADHD and prescription for Ritalin.

Making changes in breakfast, getting enough sleep, and turning off the TV can change that diagnosis and improve learning.

Discover more conditions that mimic ADHD in a FREE sixty-minute audio replay from the ADHD: Disorder or Just Different TeleClass.

And be sure to check out the "ADHD: Strategies for Parents and Teachers" 7-CD Audio Seminar.

What's Happening at Smart Kids Smart Parents

Smart Kids Smart Parents Calendar for January 2010

* January 7, 8pm Eastern, FREE teleclass, "Why TV is Bad for the Brain (and It's Not What You Think)." With handouts and audio replay. Sign up today.

* January 14, 8pm Eastern, FREE Teleclass for Smart Club Members Only (Join the Smart Parent's Club today. Only $10). "Effects of Sleep Deprivation and What to do about it." With handouts and audio replay.

* January 5, 8 pm Eastern, Brain Gym Basics TeleClass. Continues Jan. 6, 12, & 13. With handouts, audio replay and certificate of completion. Can't make the dates? The classes are always recorded so you can listen at your convenience.

Plus My New Years Special: Register for Brain Gym Basics. It's more than six hours of information and strategies to help hyperactive and inattentive kids.

January 22-24, Brain Gym 101 in Aurora, Colorado. Learn how to set and accomplish your goals with Brain Gym. Help your kids do the same. Counts toward Brain Gym certification and as the prerequisite for advanced classes. Credit available for teachers.

Brain Gym Tip: Settings Goals

It's the New Year, a time when many of us make resolutions or set goals. (Setting goals is usually more effective than vague resolutions.) And it's not too soon to show your children how to set goals they can accomplish. Brain Gym helps with accomplishing the goal. Just remember that you can't set goals for your child. The goal must be their goal--something they want to accomplish.

1. Goals must be specific. "I will improve my math grade from a C- to a B+" rather than "I will get good grades in school."
2. Goals must have a when. "I will improve my math grade from a C- to a B+ this grading period" (A full year is too long for most kids.)
3. Goals must be realistic. Can he raise his grade from a C- to an A in one grading period? Maybe if not turning in homework was the major factor in the C-. If test scores and other factors affected the grade, than an A might not be realistic.
4. Goals must be stated in positive terms. "I will improve my math grade" rather than "I won't get any more bad grades in math."
5. Goals must be something your child really wants and can feel. Help him visualize the goal. Help him describe how he'll feel when he gets that B+. What will he do when he sees the B+ on his report card.
6. Helps if the goal has a "how" in it. "I will improve my math grade from a C- to a B+ this grading period by doing and turning in all my math homework."

Brain Gym calls this process PACE--positive, active, clear, and energetic.

Now while she thinks about her goal, have her take a sip of water, do belly breathing (as described in the November newsletter), or just take several very deep breaths. Finish with Brain Gym's Cross Crawl.

Cross-crawling is like marching in place with opposite hand to opposite knee. Right hand to left knee. Left hand to right knee. Be sure to life your leg as you move your hand across to your knee.

Helps if once a day for a week or so, your child thinks about their goal and repeats the Brain Gym activities: sipping water, belly breathing, and cross crawl.

To learn more about setting goals (for yourself and for your kids) with Brain Gym, register for the next Brain Gym Basics TeleClass which begins Jan. 5, and continues Jan 6, 12, and 13. Learn how to do all 26 Brain Gym movements, when and why. Discover how Brain Gym makes learning anything quick and easy.

Smart Quiz

Congratulations to Magi Evans and Tom Teofilo who won the Quiz last time. The answer was "During Dreaming, the brain rehearses learning."

The first two people with the right answer to this month's quiz, win the online audio class "ADHD: Disorder or Just Different." Is the answer a, b, or c? Contact me with your answer right away to win the mini-guide. Now here's the Quiz.

Who uses the most whole-brain activity, including equal right-brain and left-brain activity?

a) Computer programmers
b) Opera conductors
c) Kindergarteners

Just for Smart Teachers

(Smart Parents you can read this too.)

Eric Jensen's book "Brain-based Learning," his workshops and other resources are the standard for practical classroom strategies to improve learning with whole-brain activities. Take a look at Jensen's website and be sure to pick up his free report "10 Most Highly Effective Brain-Based Strategies for Student Achievement."

Amanda Post, a kindergarten teacher, used Jensen's book "Teaching with the Brain in Mind" to construct a successful research project. Scroll down to find out the successful strategies she used in her classroom. You can easily adapt them to your room.

* * * * * *

Watch for the February Smart Learning Newsletter. I'll have the quiz winners and a feature article where you'll discover why music is important to math.