=== Center of Attention ===
Newsletter of CHADD of Northern California
Also at: http://www.chaddnorcal.org/newsletter
12 April 2004

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>> IN THIS ISSUE <<
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*Calendar of Events
*Announcements:
Spring CHADD Elections
New Women's Group in SF
Class Action Lawsuit over Algebra
*Feature Article: Weavers and Stackers: On Being a Slo Lerner
*Please Tell Us
*Subscription Information
*CHADD Information

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>> CALENDAR OF EVENTS <<
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This calendar only has events for the next 3 or 4 weeks listed. It
also does not list some other CHADD groups which may be closer to you
and it does not list some non-CHADD events. For a thorough calendar,
look at: http://www.chaddnorcal.org/schedule and check the links at
the top.

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Santa Clara - 4/13/2004, Tues. 7:15 - 9 pm
Support Group for Partners! -- Support and community-resource
information for the partners of folks with ADHD. PLEASE NOTE: This is
NOT a support group for people with AD/HD, nor for couples, nor for
parents. It is EXCLUSIVELY for PARTNERS of people with ADHD, and
others will have to be turned away.
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Gina Pera: 888-759-9758
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Contra Costa - 4/14/2004, Wed. 7 - 9 pm
Antioch Parent's Support Group - Topic TBA -- For parents and
caregivers of children with AD/HD offering the opportunity to share
stresses, strategies and successes.
Sutter Delta Medical Center, Antioch - Contact: Colleen Ruddock: 925-757-2372
============================
Napa - 4/15/2004, Thu. 7 - 9 pm
Parent Support Group -- Focusing on education, ADHD strengths, and
strategies to manage the challenges of ADHD.
St. John's Lutheran Church, Napa - Contact: Karen Shepard:
707-257-8113, or ksnapa@...
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San Francisco - 4/19/2004, Mon. 7 - 9 pm
Adult Success Group -- Share skills and strategies for success at
home, in the workplace, in relationships, etc. (It's a good idea to
call to confirm dates, get ideas on parking. etc.)
First Unitarian Universalist Church, San Francisco - Contact: Rachel
Rosenfeld: 415-362-7227
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Online - 4/20/2004, Tues. 4 - 6 pm PST
"Ask The Expert" Chat -- Patricia Quinn, M.D. will chat about Women and Girls
Online Chat, Internet - Contact: Message Line: 888-759-9758
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Contra Costa - 4/20/2004, Tues. 7 - 9 pm
Danville Adult Meeting -- Topic followed by Group Discussion
Los Cerros Middle School Library, Danville - Contact: Dana: 925-886-8735
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Marin - 4/20/2004, Tues. 7-9 pm
Adult Support Group, with SueZee Poinsett, Professional coach and
organizer. -- Free, drop-in peer-support group. Talk with others who
really understand. And share and develop life skills. In addition, if
you want to work on skills for sorting and purging papers, bring your
paper piles.
Marin Community Mental Health, Greenbrae - Contact: Beverlee: 415-789-9464
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Contra Costa - 4/21/2004, Wed. 7 - 9 pm
Walnut Creek Adult General Support Meeting -- Ongoing, confidential
support groups for Adults with ADHD
Kaiser Mental Health, Walnut Creek - Contact: Donna Love: 925-687-4324
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Santa Clara - 4/21/2004, Wed. Reg: 7pm, Meet 7:30pm
Silicon Valley Adult, Parent and Spouse Support Groups -- Separate
peer-facilitated groups let you share struggles and strategies with
each other. Includes video.
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Silicon Valley Warmline:
650-949-5472
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Marin - 4/26/2004, Mon. 12:30 am - 2:30 pm
Parent Resource & Support Group -- Call First...
30 Catalpa, Mill Valley - Contact: Victoria Vogel & Holly Seerley: 415-383-6048
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Alameda - 4/27/2004, Tues. 7 - 9 pm
Adult Support Group --
Lynnwood United Methodist Church, Pleasanton - Contact: Pattie: 925-548-3997
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Contra Costa - 4/27/2004, Tues. 7 - 9 pm
Danville Parent Meeting: Advocacy for Your Child -- Topic followed by
Group Discussion
Los Cerros Middle School Library, Danville - Contact: Dana: 925-886-8735
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San Mateo - 4/29/2004, through 5/1/2004
Annual Conference -- Sponsored by Learning Disabilities Association of CA.
San Mateo Marriott Hotel, San Mateo - Contact: LDA of CA: 916-745-7882
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Contra Costa - 5/5/2004, Wed. 7 - 9 pm
Walnut Creek Adult Topical Meeting --
Kaiser Mental Health, Walnut Creek - Contact: Donna Love: 925-687-4324
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Santa Clara - 5/5/2004, Wed. Reg: 7pm, Meet 7:30pm
Sarah Cheyette, MD - The Neurology of ADHD --
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Silicon Valley Warmline:
650-949-5472
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Santa Clara - 5/6/2004, Thu. 7:15 - 9:30 pm
Kitty Petty ADD/LD Institute - "ADD/ADHD and Sex," Jeffrey Kisling,
M.A., LMFT -- As an expression of love and mutuality, sex deeply
enriches one's quality of life. Mismanaged, it can result in serious
problems. These include losing a marriage, getting fired, sexually
transmitted disease and legal problems. An important night about an
important topic that people need to talk about, but often don't.
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Kitty Petty ADD/LD
Institute: 650-329-9443 or visit http://www.kpinst.org
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Santa Clara - 5/11/2004, Tues. 7:15 - 9 pm
Support Group for Partners! -- Support and community-resource
information for the partners of folks with ADHD. PLEASE NOTE: This is
NOT a support group for people with AD/HD, nor for couples, nor for
parents. It is EXCLUSIVELY for PARTNERS of people with ADHD, and
others will have to be turned away.
Friends Meeting House, Palo Alto - Contact: Gina Pera: 888-759-9758
============================
Contra Costa - 5/12/2004, Wed. 7 - 9 pm
Antioch Parent's Support Group - Topic TBA -- For parents and
caregivers of children with AD/HD offering the opportunity to share
stresses, strategies and successes.
Sutter Delta Medical Center, Antioch - Contact: Colleen Ruddock: 925-757-2372
============================
Alameda - 5/12/2004, Wed. 7 - 9 pm
Tri-Valley Parent Support Meeting --
Thomas J. Hart Middle School, Pleasanton - Contact: JoAnn Matone: 925-484-2173
============================

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>> ANNOUNCEMENTS <<
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Announcements

>>Spring CHADD Elections Coming Up

If you are interested in a position on the CHADD of Northern
California Executive Board, or would like to help in the process of
the elections, please drop us a line.

>>The 4th Women's Reading/Support Group begins in May

A new CHADD women's reading and support group will meet on alternate
Monday evenings beginning in May.

Members of the group travel to San Francisco from throughout the Bay
Area to exchange ADD war stories and share their wisdom with one
another. Personal and professional backgrounds are equally
varied--from intelligent and creative women who have not been able to
realize their potential, to women
who are successful in their profession but whose daily lives are
nonetheless impaired by their ADD.

Using Sari Solden's first book, Women with Attention Deficit
Disorder, and excerpts from other reading material as a basis for
discussion and
self-exploration, our objective is to find the clarity and
self-acceptance to work with our ADD symptoms and move forward with
our personal goals. The
format itself is structured to provide a model for each group to
continue as a peer support group once the 8 weeks are completed.
Please contact Kali Grosberg if you wish to be put on the waiting
list for the May group.

You can also email Kali for information about other support that may
be available to women.

Kali.g@...

As with all of our meetings, members are free; nonmembers, we ask for
a donation. This group is by registration only.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

>> NEWS FLASH!!! Class Action Lawsuit being Developed over Algebra
>>requirement: Need your help to contact & identify potential
>>plaintiffs


Hello Parents and Advocates,

I will be working with the California Teachers Assoc. (CTA) to
develop a class action lawsuit against the State over the Algebra
requirements that alone, could have prevented an estimated range of
8,000-24,000 seniors (at least 1/3 in special ed) from getting a real
diploma this June.

Out of an estimated 490 school districts with seniors only 185 (40%)
have applied for a waiver to exempt kids this year from this
requirement. For example in my home county of Marin, 2 districts
(Novato Unified & San Rafael) out of 4 districts with high school
students have applied for an algebra waiver (as of Wed. Apr 7). Some
districts can honestly state that necessary supports are in place and
all seniors are on track to graduate--but this is clearly the
exception. Regardless, far too many children statewide are being
harmed by lofty, unfounded 'high stakes' i.e., the high school exit
exam, now algebra requirement.

We want to interview negatively impacted seniors and their parents or
guardians. From the OpEd and quoted below is an urgent appeal for
your help ASAP to locate impacted seniors. If you know of any
seniors and/or their parents or guardians willing to talk to me or
CTA attorney Bev Tucker, please give them one or both contact info.
If they prefer you can give Bev Tucker or me their info and one of us
will contact them...

"Many advocates and educators are not willing to standby while these
'at risk' seniors are irreparably harmed due to lofty, inappropriate
'high stakes' and inaction of districts that, for whatever reason,
refuse to submit an algebra waiver. Valiant efforts last month to
find legislators willing to draft urgent legislation failed. So we
are ratcheting-up. In preparation for filing class action litigation
any student or any parent of a student still at risk of not
graduating this June or who would have been at risk if their district
had not filed for a waiver is encouraged to contact Chief Legal
Counsel, Beverly Tucker, JD, with the legal department of the
California Teachers Association as soon as possible. Her phone number
is (650) 552-5413, Fax number (650) 552-5019, Email:
<BTucker@...>.

Please tell Ms. Tucker what circumstances made it difficult for you
to pass algebra and how the algebra requirement to graduate impacted
you and your family during high school."

Thanks again for your help on this vital litigation strategy to keep
unjustified 'high stakes' from foreclosing on future postsecondary
education and living wage earning employment prospects for thousands
of deserving California graduate hopefuls.

Jo Behm

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>> FEATURE ARTICLE <<
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Weavers and Stackers: On Being a Slo Lerner

I am a slow learner. I may be bright, but I have had to admit that
absorbing new information sometimes takes me a long time. On the
other hand, there are certain advantages to the way that I learn
things. Being slow at learning new things can mean that you are
learning in a different way.

Here is a metaphor for two styles of learning. Although clearly not a
scientific theory, I hope that it illustrates the difference between
two learning styles, stacking and weaving, to help you optimize your
own strategy.

The Stacker is the more common way of learning. A Stacker acquires
new information and stores it like a child with building blocks. If
you are a stacker, you might start by grouping similar blocks
together. After having accumulated a few, you might add some on the
next row, stacking them on top of what you have. Knowledge is
organized in a roughly categorical way, constantly building into
something more elaborate.

You could build a rather large and complex edifice in this way. It
will be pretty stable, it is easy and fast to build, and it is
relatively easy to find blocks when you need them. The downside is
that if you are missing a few pieces, or if a piece is inserted
incorrectly or removed, the structure becomes vulnerable. And
curiously, if you need to move the structure, it is most likely to
completely fall apart.

For a Weaver, the way in which information is put together is
entirely different. Each new piece of information is a thread, not a
block. You could stack up your threads, but you wouldn't come up with
much. The threads would be prone to blow away in the slightest
breeze. In order to keep and use your threads, you need to weave them
together into something more substantial and weighty. This will make
the information structure you create more stable, but of course it
takes more time. This is a slow learning strategy.

This strategy also requires more treads to start with, before you can
begin to build anything. A Weaver may need to pick up the very same
thread many times before finding a place to weave it in. There is
inevitably a moment where you have a big mess of threads that are
totally useless and confusing.

So what could possibly be the advantage of this strange strategy? The
main benefit is that, when it is successful, the woven information
connects everything together. Each thread shows you the relationships
between the different pieces of information. It may be difficult to
build the huge edifices of blocks that the Stacker can create. But a
strong textile of threads can eventually even be used to hold even
some of the blocks that a Stacker might collect. This cloth is very
strong and flexible.

Here is the amazing benefit of the Weaver strategy: You can pick up
the whole cloth and move it. Unlike the block edifice, it is
independent of gravity and the foundation upon which it was built.
Remarkably, you can even turn it inside out and look at the other
side. Am I stretching the metaphor? (That would be a good thing to
do, according to Weaver strategy! You can't stretch a stack.) What I
mean by saying that you can turn the cloth inside out and move it is
that the Weaver emphasizes the relationships between bits of
information. Weaving abstracts out the way things connect. These
abstract patterns and relationships are enormously adaptable and can
be reused in many other places.

For example, understanding these patterns and connections can often
translate across fields. A model that you learn about ecosystems may
well translate into a model for understanding historical watershed
events. A mathematical principle may be relevant to the structure of
a foreign language. The weavings you have created are metaphors and
patterns that run through everything that you know. In the most
fortunate circumstances, they allow for a totally new understanding
of how things in your world connect.

Why isn't everyone a Weaver? Well, remember, it is slow. Stacking is
the primary mode that we teach children to learn throughout
elementary school. Stacked learning is much easier to assess in the
ever-more-popular standardized tests. A successful weaver rarely gets
more acknowledgment for their efforts than oblique praise for
"original thinking." It rarely translates much into better grades or
evaluations. Often young students learn to weave only because they
fail at stacking.

Ultimately, it is good to be able to do both stacking and weaving. A
Weaver that cannot stack, never accumulates enough threads to even
begin to put them together. A Stacker with no weaving perspective is
not able to move from the first row of blocks to the more complex
stacked and related structures. In a pure stacking strategy the
result is a sea of blocks one layer thick covering the entire floor.
We would recognize this as the strategy of a child with an autism
spectrum syndrome, one who collects facts prodigiously, but cannot do
very much thinking with them.

A weaving strategy does not correlate perfectly with ADHD. But it
occurs often enough that it behooves us to understand it and learn to
use it wisely. It clearly has its downsides, and the brain is best
off if it can master both strategies. However, if you are primarily a
Weaver, know that there is something there that not everyone else can
do. Apply your talents to areas where the Weaver strategy will pay
off. Use the metaphors and patterns that you learn to make something
new. Unlike in childhood, there are often payoffs to being an adult
Weaver. Your boss has probably collected the Stacker's block that
tells her, "Encourage 'out of the box' thinking." Well, you know how
to do that! Dump the threads out of the box and start weaving.

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>> PLEASE TELL US <<
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We thank members for their responses to the Newsletter. Any comments,
suggestions, or criticisms will be greatly appreciated. Please
continue to help us make this newsletter and CHADD of Northern
California more beneficial to you all.

We also invite readers to share their experiences with us and other
members. Please feel free to write to us about anything that you
would like to see published.

You can e-mail your comments to us at Lew@.... Simply
replying to this e-mail will also send your message to the editor.

Lew Mills, Editor

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>> CHADD INFORMATION <<
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About the Newsletter:

The Center of Attention is CHADD of Northern California's bi-weekly
newsletter. The newsletter is designed to keep you up to date with
CHADD of Northern California's activities and updates in the field.

* CHADD Works to Improve the Lives of People with
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder through Education, Advocacy,
and Support *

Contact:

--

Lew Mills, PhD, MFT
Editor, "Center of Attention"
CHADD of Northern California, Chapter # 504
mailto:Lew@...
http://www.chaddnorcal.org/newsletter
Fax or Voice Message: 510-291-2950
Toll Free 888-759-9758