Heads Up Helping: Teaching Tips and Techniques for Working With ADD, ADHD, and Other Children With Challenges [Paperback]

Melinda Boring (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006

Heads Up Helping is packed with proven techniques and practical teaching tips for parenting and educating children with ADD/ADHD and other challenges. Melinda Boring writes from the unique perspective of an experienced homeschooler, professional speech/language pathologist, and mother of three children - two with ADHD.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

    Melinda L. Boring was born and raised in Ohio. She received her undergraduate degree in Education from Miami University and her Masters degree from The Ohio State University. Melinda has seventeen years experience as a Speech Language Therapist, working primarily with children. She has also been homeschooling her children for nine years. For the past three years she has presented workshops at Homeschooling conferences and various groups in Ohio.

    In 2001, Melinda founded Heads Up!, a company designed to provide expert information and products for parents, teachers and therapists who work with children with hyperactivity, distractibility and sensory issues.

    Melinda lives in Grandview Heights, Ohio with her husband, three children, a large dog and two cats.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I remained convinced that my son was bright in some ways, and I also knew that this was not readily apparent to others. This was especially true when Josh was seen in a group setting. I did not want Josh growing up believing he was inherently inferior to others. I did not want him negatively mislabeled because he was different than most his age. I wasn't sure exactly what was causing the differences with Josh, but I was committed to helping him succeed in every way he could. (p. 18)

* Often I would be in the midst of teaching when Josh would suddenly ask, "What was that?". Josh had a need to identify every sound he heard - and he seemed to hear sounds that most people were unaware of unless they were concentrating intently on hearing them. Not only did Josh hear the sounds, he felt the need to identify their source immediately and often imitated the sounds he heard. I had to laugh one day when I heard a vaguely familiar noise and realized Josh was imitating the sounds of our neighbor's leaf blower! He could also make a close approximation of a vacuum cleaner noise, although such loud noises bothered him and he often covered his ears in the presence of loud sounds. By imitating noises and drawing my attention to even the softest of sounds, Josh demonstrated that he was highly attuned to some auditory stimuli even from a young age. (pp. 40-1)

* When Beckie was three years old, I took her to a craft show with me. I knew that there would be many items at her eye level, so before we entered the room with the craft booths I instructed Beckie to "Look with your eyes, but do not touch anything." Beckie looked up at me with a combination of sadness and bewilderment as she said, "But Mommy, to touch IS to look." Finally, I made the connection and realized that Beckie was a strongly tactile learner. She had been giving me cues all along. (p. 58)

* Beckie's fidgeting took the form of continuous movement. Even while sitting in a chair, she was continually changing positions. She rarely sat with good posture, feet flat on the floor. She shifted from side to side, sat on one foot or both feet, and squirmed. Sometimes I would catch her sitting on the arm or even the back of the chair, which was especially disruptive during mealtimes. She constantly fidgeted even while sitting on my lap, although she frequently sought out the opportunity to sit with me. Her relentless wiggling and writhing made it increasingly uncomfortable to hold her. (p. 73)

* I have found two general approaches to working with my hyperactive children, and tend to alternate between them as I see what works on a given day. The approaches can be categorized as those that attempt to direct or subdue actions, and those that attempt to provide a release or outlet for the bursts of high energy that occur. (p. 86)

* There are times when my children are giving indications that they need to be in motion, and I am reluctant to stop the educational flow for another break. I have a number of activities that allow for movement to be incorporated while still working on an academic task. This accommodates my goal of accomplishing a set amount of work while also accommodating their need to move around. (p. 90)

* Even though Josh could tell time, he didn't have a good internal sense of time passing. When he was engaged in a highly interesting activity, time seemed to speed by. Likewise, a low interest activity felt like hours to him when in reality only minutes had passed. The timer with the visual display helped him see for himself the passage of time. It was also an objective source difficult for Josh to argue with, unlike his responses when others tried to persuade him regarding the passage of time. (p. 99)

* I wouldn't say that Josh completely lacked social skills as a youngster. It was more a matter of his responding to people in ways that were neither predictable nor conventionally accepted. Josh genuinely liked people and showed great interest in their activities. But certain social skills that came naturally as part of development in most children eluded him. (p. 107)

* My own preferred style both for teaching and for learning is to advance in a sequential manner, starting at the beginning and following a linear progression to the conclusion. I like to finish what I start before moving on to another subject area. Whereas Josh loves experimenting, possibilities, risk-taking, and alternatives, I like details, predictability, and structure. In other words, Josh and I could not be much more different in our approaches to tasks. My way of learning did not work for Josh, and just led to frustration for us both. Beth could learn from my step-by-step way of teaching, but fortunately she could also adapt to learn alongside Josh as I made changes in how I presented some subjects. In order to truly connect with Josh as a teacher to a student, there were a number of alterations I needed to make. (pp. 138-9)

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1553693329
• ISBN-13: 978-1553693321
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,341,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Children's Health > Learning Disorders

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical tips and ideas with every turn of the page, January 30, 2003

By 

Lisa R. Simmons (Enid, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heads Up Helping: Teaching Tips and Techniques for Working With ADD, ADHD, and Other Children With Challenges (Paperback)

This is a quick and easy read offering practical tips and ideas with every turn of the page. It will be a treasure trove for any parent interested in home schooling a child with ADHD. I especially like this book not only because it offers lots of solid suggestions but also because it does so in the context of REAL family life. No challenges are sugar coated, but hope & joy still permeate this terrific book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Encouragement and Help for those working with ADHD children, September 27, 2002

By 

M Price (Columbus OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heads Up Helping: Teaching Tips and Techniques for Working With ADD, ADHD, and Other Children With Challenges (Paperback)

The author has written an easy to read, very helpful book that would be useful to anyone working with an ADHD child. Her own experience and quest to find solutions to problems her children have experienced is evident in the book. While I am a classroom teacher and the author homeschools, I found the book to be quite helpful with ideas I have and will use with various students in my class. It also gave me insight into children diagnosed with ADHD and the trials and victories both they and their family members experience.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, Practical, and Easy to Read, August 27, 2011

By 

Anne (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Heads Up Helping: Teaching Tips and Techniques for Working With ADD, ADHD, and Other Children With Challenges (Paperback)

When I worked in the public schools, I grew to respect and admire the knowledge and experience of the special education teachers and the teachers that worked with students with learning disabilities. They had training beyond what I had. I saw their demeanors and patience with their students. Because of my experience I have doubted whether a homeschool parent could teach their child at home as well as teachers with specialized education could.

Two weeks ago, I read this book and it changed my mind. It was published about 5 years ago. Melinda is a homeschooled her children all the way through school--kindergarten through high school. Before she had children, she was a speech therapist. And she put that experience to good use being a homeschool mom. I know from watching Eli's speech therapist, that speech therapists are wonderful observers and learners. Ms. Boring's book begins with her story of how she discovered her son had ADHD. In the first 20 pages of her book, I learned so many lessons. I reflected on the things I've said and heard from other moms over the years. I reflected on what I'd do different now walking forward having heard this story out of a desire to love the children I meet who need a little extra understanding.

In her book, Melinda addresses so many facets of teaching, living with, and loving a child with ADD, ADHD, or other learning disabilities. She explains and addresses such issues as distractibility, fidgeting, social skills, adapting curriculum, and developing a child's strengths. I especially enjoyed her discussions of auditory and visual distractibility. I wish I had read such a book back when I was teaching middle school (although it wasn't written yet)! She gives simple and constructive suggestions of how to help children cope. Her suggestions are specific to homeschooling, but I think many of the suggestions would be very helpful for parents with children in private and public schools. Parents can use her suggestions as spring boards to other ideas that might be feasible in a classroom. Ms. Boring's chapter on sensory seeking and avoiding convicted my heart deeply. My middle daughter is very tactile. After reading this chapter, my perspective changed. I need to realize that my daughter "sees" through her touching. I need to train her how to "see" gently and make appropriate requests of her. I can't expect her to go into a building full of glass for an hour and not touch anything. But, I can expect her to go in for a half an hour with close supervision by Mommy. She can handle that.

There is one noticeable topic that she does not address--medication. I have been corresponding with the author and I learned that she did this purposefully because medication is such a controversial topic. It was not a helpful tool for her family. From Melinda, I learned that medications can often have horrible side effects and they are not consistent. When children grow, their bodies often don't continue to absorb the medication the same way. I have had other conversations with friends who've expressed the same feelings to me in the past. I have three friends with children who have been diagnosed as bipolar or extreme ADHD. Yet, I have also heard from a few parents that medication helps. I can see that it is a very personal decision whether or not to choose to have your child take medication.

I mentioned earlier that this book changed my mind that a homeschool parent can teach their child at home as well as the public schools could teach him or her. In the course of reading this book, my respect for Ms. Boring as a fellow homeschooler grew deeply. She was a student of her children. I also know that her experience isn't limited to one child. The Borings have three children. Her oldest son has severe ADHD; her middle daughter does not have any learning disabilities; and her youngest daughter has ADD. She did research throughout their educations. She shares in her book that she diagnosed her son by using a list of symptoms from the DSM around the time he was going to enter kindergarten. She did have that diagnosis confirmed through testing. As she explains in her book, the label of ADHD was helpful because it "put an end to having him mislabeled - as a defiant, disobedient, stubborn, stupid, noncompliant, and more." (p.36) That statement was very insightful to me. I thought back to how often students were spoken of that way in the schools I worked at. After reading this book, I have no doubt that Ms. Boring was better able to teach her children than the schools could have. I also now believe that homeschooling parents can teach children with learning disabilities and ADD/ADHD successfully!

There is one question you might have after reading this book. That question is, "How did she know behaviors were due to her son's ADHD and not misbehavior?" My husband, who did not read the book, could not get the picture of Ms. Boring and her children that I did by reading the book. I could see by reading the book that Ms. Boring cared deeply for the hearts of her children--which I believe is the place all misbehavior begins. In my emailing Ms. Boring, I posed this question to her and she confirmed to me that each parent must observe carefully and seek to know the hearts of her children so that he/she can discern what behavior is misbehavior and what isn't.

So often books and resources within the homeschool world don't extend beyond this little world. This is one book that I wish would. Parents could be equipped with the tools in this book. Educators would enjoy this book of anecdotal research that is easy to read. Honestly, most of the books I review have been published by major publishers. Once in a while I have reviewed a book by an author that has sought to use an independent publisher so that they could get their work published. This is one of those books. I think that is part of what impresses me so much about this book--it isn't one that has been fine tuned by a highly paid editor and given a glamorous cover. It's real and honest. Ms. Boring is down to earth and easy to like in her writing. She's honest with her readers.

I can't give this book a rating that will do it justice. On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, I'd give it 5+. There's room for improvement (mostly chapters that could be added), but as it stands this book is a treasure. If you know a Christian parent of a child who has learning disabilities or ADD/ADHD, please pass this recommendation on. There is a burden on my heart that the parents who need to hear this message would.

If you have a child who has ADD/ADHD or a learning disability, you may find Melinda's website called Heads Up Now very helpful. On the website, you'll find many of the resources that worked for her children and resources that she has gathered, such as her fidget bundle.

Lastly, in case you were wondering, how are her children doing now? Did they all graduate from high school? Yes, they did and it sounds like they are doing well.

Please note that I did receive a complimentary copy of this book from the author in e-book form for review. I read the first 20 pages online and then printed out all 172 pages on my printer so that I could read it.