Square Peg by L. Todd Rose

Square Peg.  My Story and What It Means for Raising Innovators, Visionaries & Out of the Box Thinkers by L. Todd Rose with Katherine Ellison

Square Peg is, in part, a memoir about L. Todd Rose's experience growing up a misunderstood, wild and out of control kid with ADHD.  He is every teachers nightmare, throwing stink bombs in school.  He ends up making a lot of mistakes including, failing high school and is three steps short of being a juvenile delinquent.  He had a couple of things going for him though, a mother who loved and accepted him and the will to succeed.  He uses this will to succeed to reinvent himself.  Square Peg is the story of how he went from being a failure at the very bottom of the educational system to a Harvard graduate student.

Square Peg is also a book for parents and educators who are looking for answers for helping kids survive and thrive in a failing education system.  If you have a child with dyslexia or ADD or Asperger's you probably already know that your child doesn't do well in the current educational system.  Rose provides specific techniques and ideas on how to be a better parent and how to be a more effective teacher when working with kids that are active learners.

Both of my kids have ADHD and Dyslexia.  School has been a major challenge for both of them.  I am  a high school teacher who wants my students and my own children to succeed and yet I know that what L. Todd Rose states in his book his true, School is failing to educate some kids.  We must find a way to teach school so that every learner can succeed.  Right now dropout rates for high school students are staggering and many of these students are "intellectually gifted".

One of the ways to reach struggling students is to use digital technology in the classroom.  Currently I am teaching with digital media (Ipads in the classroom) and am rethinking and relearning a new way to teach my curriculum.  I am trying to create a paperless classroom (the wave of the future) as well as being creative with lessons on the Ipads.   I love it and I believe my students do too.  I plan to teach the staff in my building some of the techniques I am trying digitally in my classroom.  I love to be an innovator!  Did I mention I have ADD?

Square Peg arrived on my doorstep at the right time.  My son is struggling in school and one of the reasons why is because he is bored with worksheets.  Rose's book has given me a new outlook and strategies to help him and encourage his teachers to think "out of the box" when they teach him.

I LOVE the way the book is set up.  Each chapter begins with a relevant quote and the chapters are easy to read, entertaining, informative and positive.  At the end of every chapter are listed the Big Ideas as well as Action Items.

Square Peg is a informative book for parents and educators alike.  I think it might be my new teaching mantra as I have recommended it to several of my colleagues already.  I'm going to end with one of my favorite quotes included in the book.

"If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow."
John Dewey

Movers Dreamers and Risk-Takers by Kevin Roberts

Movers Dreamers and Risk-Takers.  Unlocking the Power of ADHD by Kevin Roberts

Seven percent of the world's population has some form of ADHD.  ADHD is the acronym for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  There is no complete set of criteria as ADHD manifests itself differently with each individual but there are commonalities.  Most ADHDer's are easily distracted, unorganized, and seekers of fun.  Traditionally they don't perform well in school because they dislike mundane tasks and sitting still for long periods of time and schools are not set up for the ADHD learning style.

Most ADHD individuals are highly creative, impulsive, intelligent, thrill seekers.  Yet many suffer low self esteem and a lack of motivation and follow through.  If you have ADHD, or are a parent of children with ADHD or a teacher, Movers Dreamers and Risk-Takers will be beneficial to you. 

Roberts grew up in a ADHD family.  He grew up to become a teacher, a comedian and an ADHD coach with a degree in ADHD studies.  He wrote this book based on his experiences with teens.  It is a funny personal look at his life as well as tips and ideas on how to respond, react and get results from your under achieving child.  This is a positive, powerful approach to (quoting the title) Unlocking the Power of ADHD.

Several parts of the book resonated with me, as my kids and I all have ADHD.  Obviously, it runs in the family.  Once I started reading Movers Dreamers and Risk-Takers, I couldn't stop as I was so inspired and my brain was going crazy with joy that someone in the world understands what my kids and I go through on a daily basis.  So much of my day is spent avoiding negative criticism (from certain people) that it is refreshing to read a positive approach at looking at ADHD.

Here are two of my favorite quotes and words to live by from the book.

"Play, excitement, and humor energize us, making us more powered-up to then tackle work that needs to be done.  Lack of these things, on the other hand, drains us.  Pg. 115

 "We have to be careful that we don't put creative people into the straight-jackets of conformity.  We live in a world that, in many ways, teeters on the brink of disaster.  The creativity so common among ADHDers is something the planet desperately needs." Pg. 119

My favorite bumper sticker and mantra sums it up nicely:  WHY BE NORMAL?

Super-Parenting for ADD

Super-Parenting for ADD.  An Innovative Approach to Raising Your Distracted Child by Edward M Hallowell, M.D. and Peter S Jensen, M. D.

As a parent of two children with ADHD, I need all the help and strategies I can get to help my kids be successful.  This book was great for me as a parent.  ADD is described in the book as having a race car brain with bicycle brakes.  I told my kids this and we all agreed it is an accurate, positive description.  ADHD runs in the family so for our little family of four we could potentially have four race car brains inhabiting our home and leaving tracks of debris all over the house.  Welcome to my chaotic super creative life.

One of the things I am going to do this year is educate the teachers of my children better and work on improving their 504 plans.   This book contains a section that you can photocopy especially for the teacher that gives positive,  instructions for helping your child be successful.  I am totally photocopying this section.

If you know any kids with ADD/ADHD most of them believe they are stupid, lazy, disorganized, angry, no one likes them, etc...  It is always negative feedback from their teachers, bus drivers and their own opinion in many cases is negative.  My biggest goal is to be positive this year, as it is so easy to fall into negativity and as a teacher and a parent negativity really hurts kids.  This book does an excellent job of taking a so called negative trait and showing the reader the opposite positive trait that any parent would be proud of.  So instead of saying your child is stubborn use the positive trait, persistent instead.  The authors takes about 10 traits and explains to the reader the positive and negative aspects of each component.  Very helpful.

What I didn't like about the book is that the authors talk about the Kolbe model and suggest you and your child as well as their teacher take an online test to determine your preference but what they don't tell you is that it costs fifty dollars.  What I find frustrating is that these tests cost to much for the average person and I wonder why they can't be priced more reasonably or even offered for free.  Most parents who have kids with ADD/ADHD need help now and paying a lot of money isn't always the best option.

What I have found to help me is having my kids see a child psychologist once a week as well as reading blogs, the ADDitude magazine and books.  Here are a few websites I would suggest:

www.additudemag.com
www.letsgetfittofocus.com

Blogs I like:
A Mom's View of ADHD
Life in our ADHD family

I really love my kids and my crazy ADD life.