The View From Kalamazoo

ADHD Awareness Week is September 14-20 this year.

Has anyone heard of another attempt at organizing Blogging For Kids With Disabilities like the one we had done a few years ago?

Is anyone interested in being a part of one this fall (ideally, for me at least, during the aforementioned week, but certainly it could be scheduled at another time)??

Ah, the rest-of-Congress post I forgot to publish before I left town for a few days. Brilliant I am, oh yes:

Friday, and my hopes that all crises could be kept to Wednesday and Thursday have been dashed. *snarl*

On a happier note, I not only snuck off campus for a wonderfully chatty and baba gannouj-filled lunch, I actually got away from Reception long enough to attend Societas Magica’s Divine Names session (and it was fantastic!) I attended a couple of late-evening receptions and, oh frabjous day, I managed to track down a fair number of friends and co-conspirators I still had not connected with.

Saturday held my aforementioned afternoon of session presiding. The general session was interesting, the three papers very different but all leading to interesting questions and all have the potential for continuing discussion on their respective areas. The Weblogs session was engaging and filled with a lot of post-papers discussion and questions (and the lion’s share of the discussion, that of anonymous v. non-anonymous blogging and gendered voices, not only took us past the session ending-time, but has helped generate the topic for next year’s weblogs session proposal). I will be further blogging this, so that’s all for now.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday (cue monster truck commercial). Sunday is really a series of unfortunate moments in time…I’m up way too late at the dance (I always stay ’til the bitter end, alas) so I get way too little sleep, and am way too wiped (both physically and mentally) to properly offer farewell to my compatriots. And I’m packing up the mobile-institute and processing payroll and other bits of paperwork well into the afternoon. Later I get to rent a car at the airport, drive my sorry behind to St. Louis, and spend the next few days witnessing what should prove to be an outstanding dissertation defense and watching my friend process with the other SLU graduate school graduates and stand to be hooded. (there is a list of two people who could get me in a car for a road-trip the last day of Congress, and she’s one of them). I’ll also be an interloper, by sheer proximity, to the English Department’s Shippey retirement fest. And since I currently have almost voice left, I doubt I’ll be doing more than croaking for the next few days (apologies in advance.)

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, good night. See you all next year – same time, same channel.

Yes, we’ve moved to WordPress.  All comments from the other site are nada, and clearly there is housecleaning (categories, blogroll) and decorating yet undone – but things are moving along (at the pace of continental drift, granted…)

I’m still blogging in bare fits and starts – the distractions I’ve mentioned before still apply. Neuro/psych and genetic testing for Miss Emma continues –  med re-evals and IEPs and  girding myself for battle with the school system is still ahead. I have fantasies about feeling free enough with my time, again, to behave like a real blogger – til then, however…  le sigh.

The briefest of updates, as I have been poked soundly via email regarding the aforementioned dearth. It’s lovely to have friends and colleagues that think so highly of my prattle that they nag incessantly gently remind me of my responsibilities. *snort*

• In addition to presider duties for the smashing session on blogging Shana Worthen and I have put together, it appears I’ll be presiding over another blogging session, a general, as well. Whee! I get to leave Registration! (please do not think I exaggerate my excitement, there is a reason I am so dreadfully punchy by Saturday…)

• I’ve been too busy to photograph anything I have finished and put it up in the shop, too busy to glaze this fall (so I have crazy amounts of bisque ware to cope with in January), too busy to spend as much weekend time in the studio as I’d like, and I’m sick of busy. Officially. Next big decision – do I want to keep playing with salt or shift to wood-firing (anagama) for grins and giggles. Oh yes, the survival of nations depends on that massive decision. *eyeroll* (yep, I’m as ‘interesting’ as ever, folks – sometimes no news is good news!) I have commission inquiries looming…production pottery, can I really manage it without losing my blinkin’ mind? Honestly, sets (especially large sets) really bring out the obsessive in me (did I just hear a collective groan from my closest friends? oh yes, they know, they do…like a bloodhound on crack, I am, complete with utterly random panic of the type-A variety). *fret. fret. fret*

• Too. Much. To. Do. At. Work. Seriously, it’s talk me off the ledge time. When I’m not hyperventilating I’m head*desking. That sound Charlie Brown makes when Lucy Van Pelt snatches the football away as he’s about to kick? Auuuugh! Yeah – that sounds like me on a disturbingly regular basis – scary, twitchy, insane secretary.

Add that to the bits I mentioned at the beginning of my last post, put it into your pipe, smoke away. So there. /petulant sneer

It’s ADHD Awareness Day again! Read and be more aware! (and if you have the time volunteer in your schools! I do – medieval, medieval, medieval!!) Myth: Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder isn’t a real medical disorder.

ADHD has been recognized as a legitimate medical diagnosis by major medical, psychological, and educational organizations; these include the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Education, and the American Psychiatric Society, which recognizes it as a medical disorder in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It is biologically based, and research shows that it’s a result of an imbalance of chemical messengers, or neurotransmitters, within the brain.

The primary symptoms are inattention and impulsiveness, sometimes also combined with hyperactivity. Those with this diagnosis often have difficulty with many core aspects of daily life, including time management and organizational skills. My Emma is combined-type, that is she displays all of the aforementioned primary symptoms (in spades!). Like many other parents of ADHD children I know, after her diagnosis and education on the nature of the disorder I noticed the signs that allowed me to trace it to her paternal line – I know parents whose own ADHD was diagnosed only after their children and were relieved to learn the information that put their own experiences to date into clear perspective.

Myth: ADHD is a new diagnosis.

The symptoms that describe the disorder were published in the respected medical journal Lancet in 1902, first described by George Fredrick Still. Although the technical moniker has changed over the years, the disorder described has not.

Myth: The use of Ritalin is a fairly recent development.

Ritalin has been in use for over 45 years and Dexedrine was used for ten years before that. Something new, however, is delivery – in addition to tablets, there is long-active time-release, and even the same stimulant in a patch (marketed as Daytrana, which Emma is on now and which I am grateful for as the delivery method both circumvents her rocket-speed metabolism and leaves her system slowly enough that the stomach issues that led to poor appetite and mood swings are almost non existant). There are many other stimulant medications on the market, now, increasing the ability of pediatricians to best treat the individual needs of individual patients.

Myth: Children with ADHD eventually outgrow their condition.

On the contrary – more than 70 percent of the individuals who have ADHD in childhood continue to have it in adolescence and up to 50 percent will continue to have it in adulthood. Given the severity of Emma’s displayed symptoms I am fairly certain that she will continue to have struggles with the disorder into adulthood and may need to treat it with medication, in addition to other treatments, even then. Early diagnosis has been key for her in our striving to give her the best tools possible to succeed – estimates suggest that 6% of the adult population has ADHD and the majority of those adults remain undiagnosed (only one in four of those diagnosed seek treatment). Without help, adults with ADHD are highly vulnerable to depression; anxiety; substance abuse; career, legal and financial problems; and trouble in personal relationships — children left undiagnosed or diagnosed very late struggle with self-esteem issues, difficulties in social interaction (which can inlclude run-ins with authority in and out of the school setting), and overall poor educational foundations. Only through early diagnosis have we been able to work with both pediatrician and school system as well as we have to ensure Emma has what she needs both educationally and chemically to put her in the best position possible for learning and advancement.

Myth: ADHD affects only boys.

Girls are just as likely to have ADHD as are boys, and the gender of the child makes no difference in the symptoms caused by the disorder – because this is a persisting myth, however, boys are still more likely to be diagnosed than girls. Emma, obviously, is a girl with the disorder.

Myth: ADHD is the result of bad parenting.

This one always gets my riled, especially when I read it in conjunction with opinions of physicians in other countries to attempt to claim this it’s merely an American invention. Parenting these children is difficult, plenty difficult enough without the sort of stigma this myth bolsters. A child with ADHD has been taught that blurting things out in class, getting out of their seat, paying no attention to adults teaching, and letting their impulses for self-entertainment rule their behavior are wrong – the child cannot control these impulses and the issue is rooted in brain chemistry, not discipline. Overly strict parenting, like punishing a child for things s/he can’t control, can actually serve to make ADHD symptoms worse. Professional interventions: drug therapy, psychotherapy, and behavior modification therapy (in varying combinations) are often required. While I tend to lean toward strictness, we are aware of the time of day, timing of medication, and even what she’s eaten and the amount of sleep gotten – we, therefore, respond to Emma’s behavior accordingly.

Myth: People who have ADHD are stupid or lazy – they never amount to anything.

Recent studies show that people with ADHD are of above-average intelligence and certainly aren’t lazy. Many well-known, high-achieving individuals from the past are thought to have had the disorder, including Mozart, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, George Bernard Shaw, and Salvador Dali. There are high-achieving individuals with the disorder in business today (to consider merely one career area) including top executives David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways, and Paul Orfalea, founder of Kinko’s. The high incidence of co-morbid learning disorders can compound the appearance of a student lacking in intelligence, and getting extra help for Emma’s LDs has been a particular focus for us from 1st-grade to present (4th grade).

Consider checking out these Expert Podcasts about ADHD.

(posted one day late, as for some reason I could post on the old version of my blog last night but not this)

I want to go see OOTP. Now.
As in, taking the afternoon off work sounds like a fine idea. *grumblesnarl*

Helped loan kiln last night. Nothing of mine in, tho, as I still need to dremel the last two pieces, since they (like nearly everything in the last load) suffered when so much of the wadding exploded and they have chunks stuck in the glaze. Bring the temp up slowly kiddies, candle that sucker for a while and don’t be impatient.
gah.
I have 6 mugs and a couple of porcelain pieces to glaze. And Thursday is the last day for fresh clay, so I should, really, spend my lunch tomorrow at a wheel.

And clearly I’m not blogging much. I’ve been reading others and thinking about a lot of things, but I’ve really not moved to jump into the discussions. Yet. Or not.

You know, it occurred to me that I never posted about the blogging session this year. Bad me.

It was, by design, a mix of different opinions of using blogging (and, in addition, course management software with blogging-like bits since online teaching is growing more common) in teaching and from different levels of experience. This meant that it was a pretty large panel, but it went well, there were many very interesting things discussed, and the idea for next year’s blogging session was one of the topics that threaded through the session.

And so, next year. The thought I had, and tossed at my most excellent co-organizer (the unflappable Shana Worthen), was that this could consist of short presentations with a lot of time for jackjawing and questions (a departure from the roundtable, but without missing the best benefits of the discussion). I need to begin contacting folks – if you have names to suggest or you fit the bill please contact me, I don’t assume to know everything out there and who is doing it (really, even if the retired Director called me Madame Lisa Who Knows All – I don’t. I promise.)

Weblogs and the Academy: Professional and Community Outreach through Internet Presence

The blogger meetup was an enjoyable way to start a morning (seriously, as if I would have anything good to say about the early morning!) and there was so many people that we were scrambling for space. Another hearty Yay – I don’t network with any skill whatsoever, so I really enjoy these relaxed events.

Otherwise – I have a lot to say about the fun of interim years and searches, but I won’t. I would have to take some Tylenol just thinking about it, actually.

I’m considering adding ‘the long suffering’ to my business cards…

So I’m back working in the studio – loading the salt kiln, unloading, bitching about exploding wadding, dremeling out the crap that ended up fused to the glaze in my bowls when wadding went ka-blooey in the too-quickly-brought-up kiln, and then putting the pieces in again. Wash, rinse, repeat. And I call this my ‘sane time’…I’m certifiable, clearly.

Saner still was leaving the madness behind for a near-week and wandering my way down to visit a friend, road trip with her to attend the wedding of another medievalist, visit my sister and fam, and generally attempt relaxing around adults and the random and often amusing discussion that goes with that. Nice change from my regular role as harridan. Good beer, good friends, good conversation, good food…even decent weather through most of it. A thing of beauty to behold. I think eventually my shoulders relaxed despite the many, many hours car-bound. They’re re-knotting, now, but I swear they did relax.

And now…back to the chore of digging-out the desk.

Yo, Anglo-Saxonist cohorts of mine – my dear friend Wingal is dissin’ solo (sans advisor or any other committee members, all of them UK-bound) this summer and has been posting deep Anglo-Saxon-type thoughts and questions.

We know I’m not qualified to address them. Oh hellsyes.

I can think of several of you (and you know who you are, are your ears burning?) who are pinnacles and amazing and brilliant and all…so if you have time (and an inclination to discuss discourse, Wealtheow, thick language, and interesting Beo-stuff) pop over and visit her.

Blogger meet-up

Me, myself, and wine will host a small gathering with friends as smitten with the outstanding olfactory concoctions of Miss Beth and the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab peeps. If I’m not already in contact with you and you’re a BPAL fan, let me know. (any excuse for wine better than the wine hour fare, eh?)

Cheddarvision LOL

Endlessly behind. On keeping up with my favorite bloggers, on the 1,000,001 things I have to do, and, of course, on blogging (yeah, you haven’t noticed, admit it.) I think I need to read Seven ways to find the time to blog
and get a grip.
Of course, I also need to work out, eat right, parent my children with less volume, and give my house a thorough cleaning. And there’s the Congress paper that’s not currently writing itself. argh and ugh.

I hope their amps go to 11: Spinal Tap to reunite at Live Earth concert
We’ve got Armadillos in our trousers. It’s really quite frightening.

Archaeology world tour:
Bulgaria: Marble Phrygian Goddess Statue Discovered in Bulgaria
Hungary: Neolithic burial site yields unique archaeological find
Greece: 2 000-year-old tombs unearthed
Iran: Iran opens dam that archaeologists fear will harm famed Persepolis and other ancient sites