Pay Now or Pay Later: Is This Later?

Mary Anne Sutherland (unedited notes for above mentioned article: see the above website for the edited article)

The Impact of Typology on Exceptional Needs: A Gift or Encumbrance

Often in education we lump hundreds of skills together and refer to them as if we were speaking of one component. Learning is one word but it represents thousands of complicated interactions. ‘Trouble learning’ could become an entire section in the library or ‘trouble reading’ might be caused by one or a combination of several hundred small idiosyncrasies of our brain’s development. A poor speller is a complex mix of many,many individual components of the learning process. Memory too falls into this category. It is a complex multi-faceted process that feels like ‘one thing’. When many individual ideas are activated to encourage a memory they are activated in such a way that they “become available to consciousness as a bundle, and thus seem to be a single impression with many facets.” (Wade p88) Memory, good or bad, is often attributed or blamed for an astounding array of qualities and circumstances.

In learning situations as well, we claim, it is often our memory that failed the exam or saved the day. Our thinking skills get ignored. Students who have diagnosed difficulties with learning often claim ‘memory’ to be the culprit and students with attention difficulties will often refer to a medication that ‘fixes’ memory and wish they too could have that ‘memory drug’ in order to miraculously become a better student. Parents and sometimes teachers of ADD/ADHD students will be under the same misconception. Unfortunately our memory, as with most of our other gifts or challenges, exists on a continuum of strengths and weaknesses, however, it is often quite common for people to think of all these aspects of learning as one gift or affliction.

It has been fashionable to profess and even assess individual differences but in the same breath we search for one efficient method to make us better educators, for the most efficient way to test or we pursue that one special program that holds the key to all the ills of a complex educational institution. Unfortunately we have also begun to search for that one special pill to fix our most challenging and enthusiastic students and that one label that will help explain the complexity of the teaching and learning process especially with our most at risk students. We especially fall into this “bundling” mentality when we discuss learning disabilities (hundred’s of possible definitions), ADD, Asperger’s syndrome to name only a few.The extreme complexity is often clouded by the ‘oneness’ of the definition causing us to over simplify the complex continuum of learning difficulties. I believe this often leads to much of the misdiagnosis and misunderstanding that is becoming epidemic when dealing with so many of our students.

To add another layer of complexity we know that temperament is able to provide a wealth of information about the intricacy of individual types and the unique variations each type brings to the teaching/learning situation. When combined with exceptional needs, learning disabilities or other risk factors this mix of characteristics may in fact overwhelm the student or thankfully it could significantly aid the student’s progress. ( Article 1??) Our individual typology may bring tremendous gifts to assist the learner but can also bring characteristics that mirror at risk characteristics thus compounding the diagnostic process and often leading to misdiagnosis. For example the exuberance of an extrovert has often been misinterpreted as hyperactivity and the complexity of an extreme introvert (I) coupled with an consuming passion for studying nothing but tree frogs, for example, could lead some unsuspecting educator to begin a discussion about Asperger’s Syndrome.

Conversely type preference can offer a foil to the factors that make the exceptional need a challenge. For example the diligence and organizational skills of the ISTJ could dramatically assist when attention concerns are in evidence. Recently in one of the linkedin sites “MBTI PRACTITIONERS” a young educator Kevin J. wrote about being the ISTJ in a family of individuals with attention concerns. We were responding to the post entitled ‘ADHD: how to differentiate between function or disorder’. My comments were very much what I have written in this article and Kevin graciously agreed to allow me to quote his response. He explained “To give one example of type and ADD diagnosis. I am diagnosed ADHD Inactive ( ADD) and am an ISTJ. My dad and sister are both ADHD Active (ADHD) and ENFP’s… To clarify with my own condition as a more human example. I have strong rooted rules to help govern and self-manage my ADHD that disguise it to the point I am ADD… there are signs that make me look like an N or a P, but they are not my comfort nor preference. I need order, organization, pattern, structure in my life, being a creature of routine is my preference..”

With beginning readers we know that often Sensing types (S) get behind in school almost instantly because of their natural tendency to be accurate, tackling one word at a time never skimming, often not using context clues or phrasing techniques. Intuitive (N) types get ahead instantly because of their ability to sacrifice accuracy for the sake of getting on with reading. N is associated with comprehension, inferred meaning and abstract concepts rather than the S’s practical, seeing all the facts, never missing a detail approach to reading. When learning to read little S’s remain on word one or two of the story, waiting for the teacher to help with word three, while N’s have read only half the words but understand the story is about a dog, instantly moving to depth of understanding. Without an understanding of typology an unsuspecting educator or parent might misinterpret the S’s need for accuracy as inability to learn to read fluently. These characteristics stay with them through school and post- secondary classes especially when writing exams. When addressing test taking skills or exam preparation with pre-college or college students this is the first place I begin.

Student’s natural learning preferences offer a comprehensive guide to both their gifts and many potential learning challenges but often we choose to ignore those natural tendencies opting for a one size fits all approach.

The World We Live In: A Clue to the Misdiagnosis Epidemic

For all our advances in education, our increased knowledge and our superior educational assessment capabilities something is still going very wrong. Healy explains “Our knowledge about how to teach has actually improved… I have been around university education departments since the fifties; during that time professional training has been considerably upgraded. Thoughtful research on how children learn has paved the way for dissemination of better classroom methods and instructional materials as well as a much clearer understanding of students who have trouble learning in traditional ways. It hardly seems reasonable to believe that the majority of teachers have suddenly become so much worse. In any school visit I find many good, dedicated professionals. They claim tried-and true methods aren’t working anymore. Why?”( Healy p17 )

As educators we read or hear in the media that schools need to reform or that schools are failing but often these judgments are made from a narrow view of the structure and concerns educators face. Most educators say they are not doing what they know is best because of curricular requirements, standardized testing pressure or everyday stresses that overwhelm our schools. Educators, well read and aware of the state of education are also very concerned about making our schools viable communities to engage the young people we are privileged to have in our care but for very different reasons than our critics understand. We don’t need to change because the political party of the day needs more votes or because some world marketing conglomerate needs to have access to our children for more sales or because one group or another needs a scapegoat; we don’t even need to change because our own colleagues suggest we must. We do, however, need to change!!!

We need to change because our student population has changed dramatically. Their actual minds have changed, their abilities and very considerable gifts have altered dramatically. “Environmental events are really causing molecular changes in the brain… It is frightening to think that we may be doing some very dreadful things to our children” (Kotuluk p85). Many brain based theorists, the constructivists, the sociologists, the neurobiologists, the neuropsychologists and a multitude of educational experts continue to warn us that the world we live in is actually biologically altering our children’s minds. They have been telling us for decades that children’s minds are changing as fast as the world they live in. “We are dramatically under realizing the true potential of human beings, so that if you took random selections of one hundred humans at conception and looked at their potential in areas of anxiety regulation, emotional connectivity, and cognition these would be far greater, far higher than the average you see when they grow up. Even in the best settings, in many healthy families in very healthy communities, there are a whole host of unrealized experiences that leave portions of our population underdeveloped in every domain of brain function…Since experience impacts the organization of the brain, we can literally evolve or devolve, depending on how we value and treat the learning and stimulation of children” (Diamond & Hopson p293,4)

“Our technology, economy, and society are transformed at ever greater rates, while our institutions hold ever more tightly to outmoded ideas, perhaps it is time for some really fresh thinking-especially from a quarter where it might have been least expected. The old measurement scales do not quite fit, as many have long known, in spite of what they were told. And many have suffered for no good reason as a consequence. (West preface) Educators and educational institutions have not kept pace with our changing student’s minds. When we consider the issue of changing brains we must acknowledge that not only will students display profound differences in processing information, decreased attention span, an inability to regulate emotional life and a deterioration in non-intellective factors needed for efficient learning.

What we can be sure of is that our students will need to be able to learn independently, think critically, cooperate effectively and solve problems creatively.

Misdiagnosis!! Misunderstanding!! Underachievement!! A Modern Tragedy (Webb)

I receive TED TALKS daily ( a 20 minute talk given by experts at the top of their field…) The TED Talk for Dec. 6/13 was given by educational researcher Sugata Mitra. He suggested that, not only in North America but all over the world there is a growing consensus that our educational systems are broken and that the task of re-imagining school should be a top priority. He gave a history lesson on why schools came into being and explained how our schools today have not moved very far past the original model. He suggests” The Victorians were great engineers. They engineered a ( schooling) system that was so robust that it’s still with us today, continuously producing identical people for a machine that no longer exists” ( Mitra TED TALK) How many times do we need to hear the same message? Is it not possible we have reached the end of the number of generations of students we can lose before we listen???

Many of our students have extraordinary untouched capacities to learn, to be creative, and to be genuinely excited by learning. That is what the mind does. All our young people have exceptional talents that school just does not tap into or use to the best advantage. “With far more comprehensive forms of assessment, educational efforts could be focused on developing areas of unusual strength…avoiding the common practices of either streaming students based on an average across a limited set of conventional indicators or placing them in remedial groups based almost exclusively on areas of unusual weakness…the main emphasis should be on cultivating these individuals for their varied and unusual gifts and abilities rather than mainly remediating them for their special difficulties” (West p41)

In the text Misdiagnosis. etc. by James Webb and six very experienced practitioners explains three scenarios that I believe are significant in many school systems. “ This book describes a modern tragedy. Many of our brightest, most creative, most independent thinking children and adults are being incorrectly diagnosed as having behavioral, emotional, or mental disorders…..The tragedy for these mistakenly diagnosed children and adults is that they receive needless stigmatizing labels that harm their sense of self and result in treatment that is both unnecessary and even harmful to them, their families, and society…Other equally bright children and adults experience another misfortune. their disorders are obscured because, with their intelligence, they are able to cover up or compensate for their problems… And there is another group of intellectually gifted children and adults who suffer from very real disorders, but neither they nor the treating professionals are aware that their disorders are related in any way to their brightness or creativity.” (Preface (xix) Webb and his colleagues continue “Gifted children….certainly can have ADD/ADHD, Asperger’s Disorder etc. We are not attempting to explain away real psychological or medical disorders. However, we do believe that the characteristics of gifted children and adults can sometime imply pathology when here is none.” ( Webb…pg8)

I would venture to stress that the same patterns can be observed in the general population and that preference choices, typology and personality traits are treated in the same way.They either intensify or mitigate the characteristics leading to misdiagnosis. For example.” Children who are particularly bright can, in the earlier grades, pay attention to only a small portion of the class period, yet because of their intellect they can still perform well on the tests or other assignments when compared with age peers” (Webb pg 37) This is particularly true of many, many intuitive students. Their ability to quickly gain meaning without noticing all the facts allows them to progress. Often students are able to juggle their learning concerns while their natural preferences and skills can often mask a learning disability well into their high school years. The tragedy is that they have not been eligible for many accommodations that would have reduced their stress and allowed them to demonstrate their full understanding of topics.

The most interesting but also frustrating part of my career was the assessment and adjustment of programs for thousands of students. I was constantly disappointed when trying to explain results to colleagues, parents and even students themselves. I excitedly would explain all the positive qualities I had discovered, how intelligent they really were or how a very workable accommodation to their program should allow them to easily reach their full potential. Both parents and teachers would look at me in disbelief when I would explain how capable, bright, talented or able their students really was. Often it took a 3 or 4 year relationship with staff and students to finally prove I was right and the initial diagnostic evidence was an underestimate of their considerable abilities !!! Students just thought I was being kind. They took a great deal of convincing. No matter how talented, accomplished or capable the student he or she would invariably point out what they could not do. “ If I am so smart why can’t I spell….or compute…or read quickly….or keep up with my classmates???” Staff, students and parents have a very difficult time understanding “some of the most original thinkers in fields ranging from physical science and mathematics to politics and poetry have relied heavily on visual modes of though. Some of these same thinkers, however, have shown evidence of a striking range of difficulties in their early schooling, including problems with reading, speaking, spelling, calculation, and memory” ( West p. 11)

Having that gift of time with so many students I began to observe so many of their natural style preferences were misinterpreted as more severe cognitive difficulties.

IS THE TRAIT A CHARACTERISTIC OF A PATHOLOGY OR A NATURAL ADAPTIVE STATE?

ADD/ADHD: What Does Attention Look Like?

Of the hundreds and hundreds of ADD/ADHD students I have worked with over the years I don’t think that any one type correlates to the ethical and legitimate diagnosis of ADD/ADHD. I do think that EP & SP are sent more often than other types for assessment of attention concerns. They may also be misdiagnosed more often. I would venture to guess that ADD/ADHD is currently one of the most misdiagnosed exceptional needs of this century. (my opinion only)

Regarding the concept of ‘changing minds’ and the frightening trend we are seeing regarding the misdiagnosis of individuals with learning concerns Dr. Edward Hallawell ( a foremost specialist in ADD/ADHD)adds further evidence. When addressing the misdiagnosis of ADD/ADHD he explains his concept of ‘Pseudo- ADD by saying “Only a professional can make the diagnosis, and even then it is a tricky one to make. Many other conditions can mimic ADD; not the least of those conditions is modern life…In children and adults, modern life induces a syndrome I call pseudo-ADD. This is not true ADD. but looks just like it. There are two main reasons why our world is ‘ADD-ogenic.’ First is the electronic communications network that envelops all of us. The fax machine; the telephone with its cousins, the cell phone and the answering machine; the television and VCR; movies; the radio; the personal computer, with its modem and access to the Internet…the remote control; satellite communications; FedEX; and on and on- all these technical wonders have so connected us that we are constantly reachable…. We have so speeded up our lives, and our children’s lives, that we feel constantly distracted and restless, two of the cardinal symptoms of ADD.

The second factor that contributes to creating pseudo-ADD in modern life is the reverse of the first. As hyperconnected as we are electronically, we are disconnected socially… All this disconnectedness, created distraction, insecurity, and displacement, all typical feelings in ADD.

We therefore see two powerful factors, electronic connectedness on the one hand and social disconnectedness on the other, combining to create a modern landscape that induces the symptoms of ADD. While only 5 percent of the population had true ADD, I’d guess about 50 percent has pseudo- ADD.” (Hallowell WYWACYL p 102,103)

Classroom design and built-in flexibility also play key roles in attention deficit disorders. A great dilemma for the students who live with attention concerns is that they are expected to look like they are focusing, which takes them away from the many strategies they have devised to remain on task. These students must do something other than just listen or focus solely on the teacher, parent, or even a good friend when being spoken to at length. The very nature of attention deficit disorders causes them to do amazing things while forcing themselves to listen to what the instructor is saying, and the antics they use to stay focused often are perceived as an insult to the speaker. Then the student’s strategy becomes the problem to be addressed, and addressing it escalates the disorder. The book, Rethinking Attention Deficit Disorders, makes a valid point: “Teachers expect students to ‘look’ like they are paying attention. This includes looking at the teacher during lessons, especially when she is speaking or demonstrating something. Students are also expected to listen when others are speaking . The assumption that one must both look and listen is rather silly, but is often accepted as axiomatic. The fact is that listening can sometimes be facilitated when one does not look at the speaker (especially if the speaker is exhibiting distracting stimuli), and not looking is absolutely required if one is trying to take notes. Still, it is remarkable how often we hear ‘look at me’ as a demand for proof of attending. … Students are often expected to listen carefully and quietly, even if they can’t understand the content. This presents a double bind to many who cope with attention disorders. Asking too many questions tends to get you into trouble, at best: at worst it will lower your position in the knowledge hierarchy of the classroom and maybe even in the social hierarchy. Yet asking too few questions will impede your ability to follow the lesson and to complete the usual follow-up assignment” (p. 130).

The attached visuals are taken from the notes of two male grade 11 students, one ESTP and one ESTJ student, both diagnosed with ADHD. Although very different in personality and in severity of disorder, they had identical ways to cope with their attention concerns. Both students were considered bright and capable and both apparently wanted to do well in the classes they were attending. Each had a way of doodling and note taking that was necessary to maintain attention, but their teachers considered their notebooks an insult because they did not understand that doodling was the method by which the student controlled his attention. If the students had been forced to stop doodling they also would have been severely hampered in their ability to attend to the task at hand. Each had hundreds of pages of doodles.

A CASE STUDY FOR MISDIAGNOSIS AND UNDERACHIEVEMENT AT IT’S MOST EXTREME

One of the most frustrating situations I experienced as an educator was to watch very bright young people lose confidence in their own abilities. So many of our troubled or at risk students give up and then we end up labeling them incapable of learning, slow learners, behavior problems and a multitude of other quick labels.

I encountered a young man (ENFP) who had been placed in a Vocational Training School (25%ile or below/ WISC-R) as it was believed his ability to handle any regular subjects would be totally beyond his capability. His father thankfully refused to send him and registered him in our regular high school.

This diagnosis had been reinforced for so long (5 or 6 years) that he began to act like a mentally challenged individual. His walk, his speech patterns and his mannerisms suggested someone who was mentally incapable of interacting with his surroundings . His bow tie, hat pulled over his ears and raging attention problems certainly didn’t help.

This was the most alarming case I had ever encountered. When we spoke to him in front of other students we received a Forest Gump type response ( a movie he refused to go and see) but when I spoke to him privately it was like speaking to one of my colleagues ( only a more articulate,verbally eloquent version). This was almost too much to comprehend when it happened within the span of five minutes. The two images were extremely diverse. When this young man was re-assessed it was astounding. He was exceptionally gifted with a combination of visual and auditory processing difficulties complicated by very profound attention concerns. To further complicate matters his natural style preferences were actually causing the most difficulty.

Originally he had been assessed in elementary school just after an incident in art class when he totally stopped participating in any school related activity. He was identified at a very young age as a gifted artist unbeknownst to his task oriented grade school art teacher. He was asked to do a picture of a mountain and he produced a picture with varying shades of black and charcoal. His teacher reminded him of the ‘mountain assignment’ and he explained to his teacher that this was the night time view of the mountain. She was not amused and expressed her frustration and he refused to do much in school after that until reaching high school and a new assessment of his considerable skills.

His learning concerns put him at risk, his superior intellectual ability kept him afloat but his ENFP preferences compounded his sensitivity to his learning concerns, his ADHD and a grumpy art teacher. As a shield (Fi) he had created a persona (Ne) for his friends and classmates that was light years away from who he really was. He was extremely protective of his ART (his passion area) and pursued it very privately. His withdrawal from school for so many years had left him skill deficient and misdiagnosed as incapable of learning beyond a rudimentary level. As he entered high school he was in danger of losing himself to the Forest Gump persona he had created for himself.

“Sometimes the visual thinkers and “dyslexic visionaries” may see things that others do not see…as individuals and as institutions, we need to be open to the idea that sometimes, to find a way in time of crisis, we will have to turn to someone who was at the bottom of the class” ( West p. 278)

In ( Article 1) a reader commented on the number of ENFP students who were at risk of dropping out or who had dropped out of the program mentioned. Most of those students were very similar to the young man just mentioned, in varying degrees. They (Fi) had reacted very strongly to a situation, usually with their instructor or instructors.They each allowed the sensitive nature of the situation to rule resulting in the potential loss of a class or entire year.
Responsiveness of NVLD and Asperger’s Syndrome Students to Learning About Type
“Introversion and an avid, consuming interest in activities, such as mathematics and computers, for example, could prompt an uninformed clinician to misdiagnose a gifted child or adult as having Asperger’s Disorder. Both have an inward focus, but a child who is merely an introvert will be aware of, and capable of, changing his focus. (Webb pg 101)

The students diagnosed with non-verbal learning disorders (NVLD) or Asperger’s Syndrome exhibited the most astounding reaction to learning about personality type of all our exceptional needs students. I would never make or recommend any adjustments to a program based on their type preferences, but there was a spectacular side effect to instruction on type theory: The NVLD and Asperger’s students could synthesize all the details immediately. In fact, type theory gave them a framework for observing the actions of others without initially requiring them to actually get involved with people. They could sit back, observe groups in action for long periods of time, and use their type information materials to match actions to the definitions. This gave these students an orderly, theoretical road map which opened up for them a way to view other individuals and the seemingly mysterious choices they make.

For example, one young man observed a group of students learning basic sign language for almost seven months before he felt comfortable approaching. For two more months he sat with t the group like a stone figure, though in his own eyes he was participating with enthusiasm—which, I suppose, he was. He and I used type language to talk about how others like to be approached and to help him feel more at ease with people. It gave him a roadmap to help understand people. It was like having organized notes for approaching life.

These students desperately need to have a classroom that honors their need to sit where they are comfortable and to engage with others in their own way but it is also very essential that they receive guidance with their discomfort in social situations or support when in social situations. Typology provides these individuals with a safe, orderly framework to begin to understand personal preferences other than their own.

We Must Begin to Assess Rather Than Test:  Diversify Rather Than Standardize

As an ISFP my initial exposure to the MBTI peeked my interest immediately but I was also very concerned at the portrayal of the SP and their uneasy relationship with the traditional school system. Initially I found it difficult to accept that 4 of the 16 types could have such a challenging relationship with the school system, however, I could not deny the hundreds of SP’s I had encountered with less than positive experiences via their school history.

SP’s are often the victims of a mismatch between the structure of an educational institution and their own personality preferences. So many of our Drop Outs or potential drop outs had the SP profile ( see table 2) Often this group of students are also misdiagnosed or misplaced in special programs for students with cognitive processing concerns ( IQ testing). The narrow assessment practices in many school systems continue to label many students incapable of learning ( unintelligent) “ A Yale study, based on the premise that intelligence has analytical, creative and practical aspects, shows that if schools start valuing all three, they may find that thousands of kids are smarter than they think. (Sternberg p20)

In her book ‘Endangered Minds’ Dr. Jane Healy offers an opinion about ‘competency ‘ testing after observing thousands of school systems. She suggests that “test scores go up as charts replacing student artwork on the walls of the superintendent’s office… Attention to ‘standards’ must be a national imperative, but a ‘quick-fix’ mentality militates against meaningful and lasting learning…Scores on higher-order tests have been falling precisely because we have been overreaching for (standardized achievement) tests at the expense of the other skills” (Healy ) In an atmosphere where the cry from both within and outside the educational system is to train our students to think, it is frustrating that everything researchers tell us about training critical thinkers is diametrically opposed to this type of standardized achievement exam.

Educators all over the world agree we don’t see, as often as we should, passionate learners forgetting to move on to the next class because they were so engaged in what they were doing. Instead we observe many more fragile learners, we notice bright students giving up and sometimes choosing to leave school before graduation. We also notice a large number of bright capable students who do not seem to be succeeding even though we know they are extremely talented. We are losing too many excellent minds and finding too many turned off students not to mention the fact that many students with exceptional needs are being relegated to special classes when they could easily be succeeding within the regular structure of any classroom. We know that so many more students are being properly diagnosed because of the explosion of diagnostic information available to educational organizations, more comprehensive assessment tools and trained assessment specialists BUT sadly we also notice too many students misdiagnosed for a multitude of learning concerns.

We must guard against being ruled by standardized competency exams and yet we must train our students to approach them without allowing these exams to rule our classrooms“…The simple cry ‘Make them learn’ soon runs afoul of the developmental reality that brains learn in different ways and on different schedules…we must accept the need to diversify instruction for learners with different styles and timetables for mastery. Such sensitivity does not imply that some are ‘inferior’ or that they cannot learn; it simply acknowledges that just as all adults should not be expected to enjoy and master sculpture, journalism, baseball, or eye surgery with equal facility, all children will not learn math or rope-climbing with comparable ease.” (Healy)

References:
Carter Rita & Frith Christopher Scientific Advisor (1998) Mapping the Mind University of California Press, Berkeley, London

Cherkes-Julkowski, M., Sharp, S., & Stolzenberg, J. (1997). Rethinking attention deficit disorders. Northampton, MA: Brookline Books Inc.

Csikszentmihalyi,Mihaly (1996) Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention Harper Collins Publishers.

Conlan, Roberta, Editor (1999) States of Mind: New Discoveries About How Our Brains Make Us Who We Are The Dana Press, John Wiley & sons, Inc. New York

Darling-Hammond, Linda (1997) The Right to Learn:A Blueprint for Creating Schools That Work Josey-Bass Inc. Publishers, SanFrancisco, CA.

Davis, John (1996) Educating Students in a Media Saturated Culture Technomic Publishing Co. Inc.

Diamond, Marian & Hopson, Janet (1998) Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nurture Your Child’s Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth through Adolescence Penguin Putnam Inc. NewYork, New York.

Gleick, James (1999) Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything Pantheon Books, Random House, Inc, New York / Toronto.

Greenspan, Stanley (1997) The Growth of the Mind:The Endangered Origin of Intelligence. Perseus Books, Reading Massachusetts. ISBN 0-732-0026-3

Hallowell, Edward D. & Ratey, John J. (1994 ) Driven to Distraction New York: Pantheon

Hallowell, Edward D. & Ratey, John J. (1994) Answers to Distraction NewYork : Pantheon

Hallowell, Edward D. (1996) When You Worry About The Child You Love: Emotional and Learning Problems in Children Simon & Schuster New York.
Healy, Jane M. (1990) Endangered Minds: Why Our Children Don’t Think. Simon and Schuster, New York

Healy, Jane M. (1992) How to Hold Intelligent Conversations With Your Child. Doubleday, New York.

Kotulak, R. (1997) Inside the brain: Revolutionary discoveries of how the mind works. Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel Publishing.
Sternberg, R. (March, 1997). What does it mean to be smart? Educational Leadership, 54, 6, 20-24.

Wade, Nicholas Editor (1999) The Science Times Book of the Brain: The New York Times The New York TImes.
Webb, J. T. [et.al]. (2005). Misdiagnosis and dual diagnosis of gifted children and adults: ADHD, bipolar, OCD, Asperger’s, depression and other disorders. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.

Workshops, and Training Sessions

Topic: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Diagnosis and Treatment give by Dr. Russell A. Barkley ( 1992 Calgary)

Topic: Coping With Attentions Deficit Disorder given by Edward Hallowell ( 1997,2006 Calgary)