A NLP PERSPECTIVE
Imagine you are watching a multiple slide show. The kind where 3 to 5 slide projectors are set up to flash images on a screen while a narrative is being spoken. Now imagine that you are asked to report, either verbally or written, on what you are seeing WHILE you are watching it. Frustrating? That's an understatement. And that's exactly how the "Attention Deficit Disorder" (ADD) student feels. Now, to make it even more challenging, imagine the tempo of the slide presentation begins to quicken, faster and faster. Yet you're still trying to report on what you're seeing. And, for the final blow to your sanity, imagine the slides start to flash simultaneously AND your physical and emotional well being depends upon the accuracy of your report.
What kind of emotions or feelings do you think you might experience? Anger? Overwhelmed? Tense? Uptight? Disoriented? Confused? Well, welcome to the world of the ADD / ADHD child.
The Symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD / ADHD) Attention Deficit Disorder is a condition that some individuals (children and adults) experience which manifest itself through numerous behavioral symptoms. The major behavioral symptoms include one or more of the following:
• Hyperactivity - They can't stay still. They are constantly moving and fidgeting. They are under chairs or tables or climbing over furniture.
• Impulsiveness - They move or change directions too quickly. They will be doing one thing and then suddenly start doing something else. They "act before they think!"
• Distractibility - They can't stay focused on one thought or task. They will be doing a task and the smallest noise or event interrupts them.
• Lack of organization - They cannot do the more complex tasks which requires them to organize the larger task into a series of steps. Somebody has to tell or show them how to do each step.
• Forgetfulness - They forget instructions. They forget to do things or tasks they have been told to do. They will start to do something and forget what they were supposed to do.
• Procrastination - They have trouble starting and completing tasks or assignments. And, they are constantly putting off doing things. They can't seem to "get started."
Often these behaviors surface in school, frustrating both the teachers and the other students. An ADD / ADHD child can be extremely disruptive in a classroom situation. The current widespread, accepted treatment is medication. Although, for some it may be the only treatment, there are those parents and professionals who question the advisability of putting a child on a drug like Ritalin.
Alternative treatments are being researched and one currently being investigated by this author is the use of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). Research using NLP is based on the assumption that it is the individual's internal experience that is causing his or her difficult behaviors. NLP modeling processes have been used to determine the structure of the internal experience. Research is currently underway on ways to alter that internal experience with the use of various NLP techniques and processes, thereby bypassing the need for unwanted drugs. This is a report on that research
The Internal Experience of the ADD / ADHD First, let's look at what we have found as to the ADD's internal experience. Some of the most important internal factors that interact to influence the behavior of the ADD / ADHD are:
• They perceive multiple internal images.
• These images are moving rapidly.
• The images are often occurring simultaneously
• There is a strong kinesthetic (body and/or emotional) response to the images.
• They feel they can't control any of the above factors.
Some of the more common responses of ADDers to this internal experience which they feel is chaotic are:
a. They either try to physically respond to everything in their internal experience (e.g., the tempo of the images) or they get frustrated and simply give up even trying. The final result is a person that is either hyperactive or apathetic and passive.
b. They feel they are out of control and will go to great lengths to manage their internal experience. The result is they spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to slow things down and/or organize their external or internal experience so that life is manageable.
c. They are often terrified at their lack of control and its consequences in their family, school or workplace. Much of the time they have a feeling of being totally overwhelmed.
d. They suffer from fear of rejection and abandonment because they feel and believe they are "different" or "weird." The feedback they receive from peers, parents and teachers often confirms these fears.
e. Their level of hyperactivity and the intensity of their emotional responses seems to be dependent on the early standards their family used to judge and enforce their behavior. In other words, the stricter and more punitive the parents, the more hyperactive the child. Later on, this learned response is transferred to teachers and peers as well.
Why Do They Act That Way?
Why do ADDers have the behavioral symptoms described previously? How can the internal experience just described create these symptoms? Let's consider some of them.
Hyperactivity:
If you had multiple images flashing fast and simultaneously in your head and you had a demand from a parent or teacher to "act right," or "behave", what do you think you would do? Many ADD / ADHD individuals respond by trying to control the internal pictures. And, since ADDers are typically very physical in nature, these fast-moving internal pictures generate an abundance of nervous energy. The ADDer relieves the tension by MOVING.
Impulsiveness:
This goes hand-in-hand with the hyperactive behavior. Because the ADDer is trying to physically react to their internal experience as quickly as possible, they often respond by "doing it" before they consciously realize that the degree of their response isn't necessary. This uncontrollable nature of this phenomena is similar to a compulsive behavior in the rest of us. The ADDer's compulsion simply moves faster and changes quicker.
Distractibility:
Often the impulsive child described above is also labeled as distractible because he or she can't stay focused on one task. Their mind is often pulled off the task at hand by an idea that carries more kinesthetic weight to them. A prime example of this might be when they hear an unexpected noise in the classroom. They will immediately make a internal image of the possible cause and HAVE to check it out by looking. Depending upon the nature of the distraction and the importance it carries internally for them, it may be extremely difficult for them to get re-focused.
Keep in mind that the ADDer is experiencing a multitude of pictures moving quickly through their head. Trying to keep up with 10 to 15 different images and trying to select appropriate responses to each would make most of us oversensitive to extra stimuli.
Lack of Organization:
To be organized a person must be able to visualize a total project and prioritize the specific steps needed to accomplish the finished project. This requires an ability to stabilize several internal pictures simultaneously. The ADDer has trouble doing this because the pictures are moving too rapidly.
Most ADDers have not yet learned how to take a general idea and break it down into its component parts while still retaining the general idea. Nor do they take many specific points and generalize the pattern they are observing. In a given moment, they seem to be either general or specific. For example, if a typical student (non ADD) has a science project, he or she knows the overall purpose of the project, and the steps it will take to accomplish the project. They will be able to sequence the steps in order to efficiently accomplish the task. They will also be able to track the steps and the amount of time it will take to accomplish all of this. An ADDer experiences great difficulty in doing this.
Forgetfulness:
Remembering requires a clean, neurological connection between the external cue which tells you when it is time to do something and the internal experience which tells you what to do. With all of the internal images the ADDer is experiencing, it is difficult for them to establish that clean connection. Also, the thing to be remembered must carry significant kinesthetic weight for the ADDer or it will be overwhelmed by all the other images and forgotten.
Procrastination:
Often what is labeled procrastination is often inaction. The inaction results from an inability to make a definite and final decision that the ADDer can act on comfortably. This inaction is a natural result of being unable to process the rapidly changing, excess of information in their mind.
Some Tips for Parents and Teachers
Research using NLP is still ongoing regarding precise ways to teach the ADDer how to manage his or her mind or internal experience. The NLP interventions which have been attempted show great promise. A greater base of research needs to be done before that report can be made. There are, however, some simple things the parent or teacher can do to help alleviate the situation or at least not make it worse.
1. Look for the positive intention in the ADDer. They are doing the very best they know how to do. Accept and appreciate them as a very unique person who is just a simple step or two away from being a genius. They are just having a hard time fitting in with the system--both educational and family. The biggest obstacle to overcome for an ADDer is that they are labeled "stupid, weird, or different" as though something is wrong with them.
2. Being verbal or auditory is the least important communication channel to the ADDer. They live in the world of fast moving internal images and the emotional and physical response to those images. Words are very slow and difficult to process for the them and cannot possibly stay up with the images. If you have to give instructions to an ADD, have them overlap the words into internal action pictures and have them FEEL their body doing it. For example, if you want them to carry out the trash and then do their homework, have them SEE and FEEL themselves taking out the trash and then sitting down and opening their school book.
3. In school, make sure they visually learn. They need to make pictures of such academic tasks as learning spelling words, the meaning of vocabulary words, and their math facts. In fact, make sure they visualize any data they are required to memorize. One of the ways to make sure they are visualizing is to have them recite the material backwards (from right to left) or out of the natural order off of their internal image. They can smoothly do this only if they have a good internal picture. Also, when they read they should overlap the words into internal images of the meaning of the reading material.
4. The lesson to be learned or the task to be done MUST have strong kinesthetic importance to the ADDer. They can do this sometimes by getting their physical body involved. For tasks that are more "academic" such as lectures, math facts, spelling words, etc, they can do this by attaching the task or lesson to their own highly valued criteria. In other words, the lesson must connect to something VERY IMPORTANT TO THEM. Then and only then will they be able to stay focused.
Summary
Most ADDers are very intelligent. In fact, the very qualities of their internal experiences that are causing them the most trouble are qualities often found in creative problem-solvers. Most non-ADD children and adults who experience these same multiple pictures in their minds, have an ability to control their internal experience. By contrast, the ADD / ADHD child or adult is controlled by their internal experience.
The obvious solution is to teach the ADDer how to control their internal experience so they can be more effective. There are ways to do this utilizing various interventions and processes of NLP. These processes include teaching the ADD / ADHD child how to control the number and speed of the internal images.
This approach seems to work quite easily and quickly. Most of the general population, as well as the ADDer, never think of doing things differently with their mind because most of the internal processing is out of conscious awareness. They don't realize there may be a better way, so they keep doing what they know to do. In most cases, all that is needed is some guidance in how to do it differently AND in a way that works really well. The beauty of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) is that it offers the very set of skills which will allow us to interface with the ADD at that level.
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