#and ‘should make your adhd assessment pretty quick’

[sp00kito]

did you know you can tell a doctor you have symptoms and they’ll prescribe you medication

subscribe for more life hacks

[mental-health-advice]

Hi can you tag this as adhd99 please?? I’m pretty sure I have it and I can’t stay quiet to save my life. I talk too much and too loud and my gf is a very quiet person who needs me to to be quiet. Anytime she asks me to be quieter my feelings are hurt no matter how nicely she asks. Any tips to stay quieter with my volume and quantity of talking?? I don’t notice how loud I am or how much I’m talking! Thank you for everything you do

Hi friend, 

Thanks for getting in touch with us here at MHA! I hope I’m going to be able to give you a little bit of advice about how to handle this. 

The first thing I would say is -  have you discussed with your girlfriend how you are feeling about ADHD and how this might relate to you being quiet? I think that you both need to have some awareness of each other and what is going on so that you can both feel more comfortable, especially if it upsets you when she asks you to be quiet (which is very understandable!). Relationships are all about compromise so I think if you feel comfortable, that is something you should try to discuss with her.

I am going to briefly discuss some of the symptoms of ADHD and some techniques you could try to manage these symptoms. There are three main categories of symptoms:

Inattention - difficulty concentrating on a single task, being easily distracted.

Hyperactivity - restless and fidgety, sometimes unable to cope with quietness.

Impulsivity - making quick decisions without thinking about the consequences eg. spending money, or reckless behaviour.     

So when it comes to hyperactivity you can try incorporating moderate exercise into your daily schedule may help to control energy levels. Also practising meditation and other relaxation techniques may be something for you to look into.  Mindfulness could also be really helpful as it can help you to find some inner peace and reflect on the time you have - maybe you and your girlfriend could even do this together as it is a calm and quiet activity! Sometimes I find myself talking a lot about things when people would rather I didn’t so I have started doing a lot of writing instead - I just open up Word on my laptop and type away at whatever I’m thinking about. I find that can be really helpful to clear some of the thoughts from my mind so maybe you could try that? If it is sitting in quiet that you don’t like, then you could try just putting your headphones (or just one) in with some music playing quietly, this may you aren’t sat in silence and your girlfriend can still be in peace.

We do discourage self-diagnosis here at MHA for the reasons listen here. If you feel that you are struggling with undiagnosed ADHD then I really suggest going and getting it checked out by a professional. Your doctor would be a good place to start as they can assess your physical and mental health, diagnose if applicable, and begin treatment with you. Here is our page about getting help that should answer some questions that you might have about getting professional help.

I hope some of these ideas may be of use to you, friend. But please don’t feel ashamed or embarrassed about talking, it’s important that you feel heard and listened to - I think it’s just about finding a balance that works for you and those around you. Feel free to send us another ask if there is anything else that we can help you with or you have any more questions! Wishing you all the best.

Take care,

Rhiann xo

[studiash]

Or How to Survive School with Learning Difficulties

I recently got officially diagnosed with a significant specific learning difficulty (SpLD) in the area of mathematics or Dyscalculia after years of struggling with the most basic parts of mathematics, and I felt this was a suitable topic for a studyblr post.

My numeracy and maths fluency (addition) on the WIAT III both were in the 2nd percentile (Meaning I scored lower than 98% of people), and the highest percentile on any of the maths subtests was my problem solving, coming in at the 18th percentile, which is still disastrously low

And yet despite of all this, I’m currently in IB Higher Level maths, and actually doing somewhat alright, and I had to be pretty good at maths in school throughout the years in order to allow this to fly under the radar for so long, so how did I do it?

Showing. Every. Single. Step. Of. Your. Work. 

I know for a lot of people it seems like just a waste of time to show everything you do, especially if it’s something supposedly as simple as “2-1″ when you could just write “1″ right away, but if you’re like me... it’s not as simple as that and as it gets to more and more complex “basic” bits your likelihood of messing it up is higher.

I can’t speak for any other curriculum but in the IB the majority of your marks in maths come not from the answer itself but the working, even if your answer is completely wrong if you’ve shown every step of your work you will get the majority of the marks, but sometimes they will only award the marks if they see where you went wrong, and if it’s not clear why you might’ve messed up you could lose a mark.

Proofread, proofread, go over your work, proofread

Whether it’s an essay, a lab report, or an exam, always proofread and check everything over again n again. You can never be too safe.

Your calculator is your best friend

You know all those memes that have a picture of a calculator with 1+1=2 and a caption like “just to be sure”, yea that’s been my entire life. The majority of my maths tests in IBMYP were with a calculator, and that’s a huge part of how I managed to actually be one of the star students, it wasn’t until the last year or so of MYP and then this past year of DP that I started struggling because things became non-calculator, and that’s how my dyscalculia finally got picked up on, and I’ve got accommodations now (which I will go over in the next section) that will help with that.

But when it comes to calculator exams like DP paper twos, you get your graphing calculator, and even for people who are great at mental maths, your calculator should still be your best friend because it saves so much time, and if your calculator can do something for you, don’t waste the time doing it by hand.

You need to graph a function? Put it in the calculator and use that as a reference. You need to solve an equation? Graph it. You’ve got an integral or some other long calculation needs doing? Don’t bother to simplify it heaps to do it on paper, just type it in.

Your graphing calculator saves you time and provided you type everything in properly your answer will be difficult to get wrong, just make sure you show some sort of “working” on your paper. If you graphed something to solve it, do a quick sketch with basic labels to how you got your answer paired with “GDC” written somewhere in the corner. Whatever you type into your calculator, make sure that’s written somewhere on your paper (and whatever steps you had to take to get to that point).

Access Arrangements (Accommodations)

If you have a diagnosed learning difficult or any other condition that may affect your performance (This includes stuff like ADHD and Autism and even most mental illnesses), you may be entitled to inclusive assessment arrangements, different schools will have different processes for different things but most school/exam boards, from the IBO to APs and the US college board, to AQA and Edexcel and all other GCSE/A Level exam boards have systems in place for inclusive assessment arrangements.

Whilst schools are supposed to have processes themselves in place so that you don’t have to be the one looking at all this, sometimes you have to be the one to self advocate. Remember that these arrangements exist for people who need them, not just because you want an extra advantage, do not abuse them if you don’t need them. If you’re doing IB your school’s IB coordinator is the one who has to submit the applications for any arrangements requiring authorisation, most schools will also have a dedicated special education or learning diversity team for these processes, approach any people involved about these arrangements if you believe you do need them.

I don’t know much about other systems but it should be fairly easy to locate information online (If you can’t, feel free to HMU and I might be able to help you with my googling prowess) but click here for IBO’s document detailing the possible arrangements and requirements to receive those arrangements

The most common arrangements that people get however are:

Separate exam venue, you don’t actually need authorisation from your exam board in order to receive this, your school may require certain things like a diagnosis or evidence that you would be better suited for it than others to consider it but ultimately this is usually one of the easiest accommodations to get. Additionally, or by itself, if you have difficulties with noise/your surroundings, even if you’re in the main exam venue you should be able to wear noise reduction earmuffs (they mustn’t have any sort of audio capability or electronic function, think construction earmuffs) and/or have mini “walls” placed around you on your desk to block external viewing.

Rest periods, similar to separate exam venues you don’t typically need authorisation for this either, in fact all students (at least in the IB) are technically entitled to a certain amount of break time per hour (for the IB it’s ten minutes per hour), your school may already provide all students with this option or it may reserve it only for people who’ve asked in advance, if you feel you’d need it, ask about it. It’s also possible to apply for additional rest period time if you need it but that does require some form of diagnosis or doctor’s note giving proper reasoning why and depends on exam board/school/why you want/need it.

Extra time, now this you need authorisation for pretty much no matter how much it is BUT the requirements are fairly lenient, with the IB as well as most other boards (I believe) you can easily get 10-25% extra time for the majority of conditions provided it can be shown you need it, so even if you only have a diagnosis of depression, if it’s shown that your depression interferes with your speed or quality of work you can very easily get 10% extra time and possibly even 25%. Once you’re looking at higher percentages like 50% or 100%+ it gets increasingly more difficult to qualify, 100%+ is incredibly rare and 50% is somewhat rare, but the process is similar. Either way: Talk to your school about it

Modified papers (large text, braile, coloured paper), a reader, a scribe, or the option to use technology to type written responses. There are specific requirements for obtaining these arrangements, and they differ from board to board and school to school, typically you will know if you require this sort of thing or not and it’s easiest to do your own research, and then get a doctor’s note or other medical certificate for these applications. Talk to your school about what you need for them to consider it.

And my personal favourite: four function calculator. This is possibly one of the hardest accommodations to get and you need to have a certain standard score on a mathematical related psych test (IB wants below 90 on a test of mathematical fluency), which means you need to get properly evaluated by an edpsych to even have a chance at receiving it.

And last but not least:

Do not be afraid to ask for help if you need it

[cicadacreativemag]

Proctoring software is a nightmare for students. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Jay Serrano, Editorial Director

As you all know: COVID. In response to the lack of in-person interaction, many colleges and universities have begun to use proprietary software to ensure students do not cheat during exams, most often ProctorU, Proctorio, and ExamSoft. I take 3 issues with this development:

1.) This is spyware.

When you require students to install software that quite literally watches them, that is spyware.

“Spyware describes software with malicious behavior that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send such information to another entity in a way that harms the user; for example by violating their privacy or endangering their device's security.” (Wikipedia)

Modern tech’s propensity for obsessive surveillance has become increasingly difficult to combat and virtually impossible to avoid. However, one would hope higher institutions would advocate for things like data privacy and personal agency. Instead, the director of academic testing services at Utah State University lightheartedly described Proctorio as “sort of like spyware that we just legitimize.” (Washington Post) The University of Arizona’s assistant director of technology  insisted students don’t mind because “they know this is an expectation because their professors put it out there.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, the student body says otherwise. (The Verge)  Additionally, the chief executive of Proctorio reflected on the situation with a dystopian, “we’re the police.” (Washington Post)

I could spiral into a separate tangent about how the US obsession with policing and instinct to punish accelerates the meritocratic rot of late stage capitalism under collaborative neoliberal and fascist rule, but suffice to say that no academic software should ever be comparing itself to law enforcement. That’s how dystopian horror movies start. Putting aside this horrendously inappropriate take, violating student privacy is a pattern—schools force us to engage with abusive proprietary software every day. Whether it’s opting us into a relationship with Google via school Gmail accounts, forcing students to have accounts with Adobe Creative Cloud as a requisite for even being able to engage with a course, or holding office hours via Microsoft Teams, there is an insidious drip of our data that is all being funneled through people who want to profit from it. All of these companies have been revealed to be astonishingly abusive with data. Google alone would take an entire new post to cover (4 lawsuits and counting).

I don’t expect universities to be a beacon of free and open-source software, especially given how frankly inconvenient most FOSS is. But I also don’t expect them to gleefully make it worse. Proctor software requires a webcam to view (and, usually, tour) a student’s living space and often uses biometrics to track their physical motion; it often features facial recognition and eye tracking. It also records the event and human proctors may be able to remotely control the student’s machine. (Washington Post) It seems almost absurd to have to explain the Orwellian nature of this type of surveillance, but in case this wasn’t clear: allowing for-profit companies to record and monitor students in their private living spaces because they might look up a Calculus formula is absolutely unhinged.

2.) It isn’t an effective measure for cheating and does not account for students with disabilities or, really, the majority of people.

One of the most infamous features of this type of software is that it tracks eye movement and physical motion. These are, perhaps, pretty easy behaviors to latch onto as signs of academic dishonesty. But, as is often the case, the easiest path is also the laziest and least thoughtful. The assumption that darting eyes and excessive motion are indicators of dishonesty is a lazy one that perpetuates ableist beliefs and assumptions.  Students with ADHD may have a difficult time sitting still or staring directly at the monitor. Students with anxiety may need periods of time to readjust, perhaps closing their eyes to re-center. A student on the autism spectrum may need to stim during an exam. Students with chronic pain and/or fatigue may need to take breaks to stretch or struggle with uncomfortable seating (hi, that’s me.) As one student reported, she struggles with tics, particularly in stressful situations (such as exams), which puts her in a situation where she is being recorded in a vulnerable moment as she struggles with her disability, which she describes as embarrassing.

Even neurotypical students often fidget (clicking a pen, shaking a leg, etc.) It’s a very normal response to stress and hyper-concentration. Several peer-reviewed studies indicate that motion can be an effective tool to aid memory retrieval and clearer cognition. There is no reason to flag this as a suspicious or negative behavior, either in person or virtually. The only reason to discourage this behavior is for their benefit--it is much easier to identify any behavior other than the strictly prescribed one than it is to actually prioritize all students’ learning. Conventional academic settings are notoriously unfriendly to neurodivergent students and are often directly detrimental to the professed goals of teaching and learning. This is very much an institutional problem. It is just even more glaring and naked when distilled in this way--when given the choice between letting students learn comfortably (requiring some recalibration of course material) and forcing disabled students to be recorded by a software that is trained to view them as inherently suspicious, universities chose the latter.

To refocus and summarize: This software strips students of effective coping tools to take a test and hinders their academic performance.

So far, we’ve identified two ways this software works to the detriment of students and have identified zero ways it works to our benefit. At this point, we must ask: “Who does this serve?”

3.) This is a byproduct of institutional laziness that does not value its undergraduate students.

We have access to all the information we could ever need to perform our tasks competently, rendering many old testing styles archaic and impractical. Of course, we should have some working knowledge, but most of us will not be in situations where we have 2 minutes to recall the types of fault lines of the North American plate.

It demonstrates a broader issue: universities take their undergraduate students for granted; they fleece us for money we don’t have under the pretense that good education costs good money, then refuse to intervene when they do not deliver on that promise. We’re forced to spend inordinate amounts of money on textbooks—an 88% increase between 2006 and 2016 (Vox)—and additional equipment like clickers (which are usually just used to take attendance). We have little recourse when our professors (especially tenured professors) implement abusive practices. But we make these institutions run. Without undergraduate students, every single one of these universities would go under. The institutional arrogance and entitlement seems to grow every day, becoming harder and harder to ignore. But we--and more importantly, they--know college is the single most important tool for upward class mobility. As the casualties of late stage capitalism’s death rattle, we have no choice. It’s why they do it--they know they’ll get away with it. They know we have nowhere else to go.

In this specific context, I understand the burden of reconfiguring a course is not an easy one to shoulder and I do not expect professors to suddenly have all the answers. However, by introducing this software, the professor shifts this burden to this student--again. It is not our burden to bear--again. We’re struggling as well—there is no need to make it worse.

Where do we go from here?

Some of my fellow Cicadas pointed out I left this on a fairly depressing note. Although I am determinedly cynical, I don’t think there’s any harm in sharing some ideas.

Proctoring software is generally used for summative assessments, which evaluates student learning at a given benchmark, like a midterm or a final exam. These are high stakes, which means there is a high incentive to cheat, hence the proctors. Formative assessments are lower stakes, things like a quick summary of a lecture or a mini-quiz. Formative assessments aid learning and summative assessments measure learning. Conventional wisdom says both are necessary. A trickle of research has indicated that this may not be the case and this teacher makes a very compelling case as for why summative assessments might not even be necessary anymore.

That in mind, the most logical way to resolve this proctoring issue would be to eliminate time-based, closed note summative tests. There are many ways to achieve this

Solution #1: More (formative) testing.

I think almost everyone can identify with the “cramming for a test” experience. You sit down at 11:00 PM to engage with the material for the first time before your 8:00 AM exam. If you’re like me, maybe you’re only just now reading the textbook (oops). You open Quizlet and stare at the screen till your eyes hurt. Is it too late to email the professor a clarification question? You sleep for 3 hours, remorsefully wobbling your way through the test as you desperately chug the dregs of your coffee. You leave the room and feel overwhelming relief. You pass the test and learn almost nothing.

Henry L. Roediger III, a famous cognitive psychologist known for his research on memory, asserts the following: fast learning leads to fast forgetting. Cramming is popular because it works. At least, long enough to get through the test. His study reveals that self-testing is an incredibly effective tool for learning, but that it is not leveraged in a productive way. He elaborates on a concept known as the “testing effect” and studies better testing practices, all of which you can find here.

Basically, he asserts that one day of intense formative assessments was so effective for learning that it enabled the student to survive a summative assessment. In other words, many times, a cramming situation occurs because the formative assessments either did not happen or they were not effective,

How to implement/Examples:

Quizzes can be embedded into lecture videos using Canvas. Every lecture could be split into multiple videos, each one with graded, embedded quizzes.

This could be a weekly quiz that goes over lecture material. Maybe this quiz has 2-3 attempts and records the highest score.

Solution #2: No memory-based testing.

If summative exams are really necessary, there are other ways to measure mastery of the material. One could argue that assessments such as recitals and other performances require a component of memory, but generally, performance-based summative assessments are an accumulation of all you’ve learned and retain the pressure of a traditional exam without requiring a proctor.

Have you ever taken notes so desperately you didn’t actually absorb what was said? Have you ever just listened to a lecture and been surprised at how much you absorbed? Our fear of not remembering something we’ll need on an exam can be extremely distracting. However, if you can focus on the lecture completely without being distracted, you can have a more meaningful recollection of the material. Maybe you don’t remember Crime and Punishment was published in 1866, but you do remember that it was published in a serialization for 12 months in the 1800s.

How to implement/Examples:

Essays take the place of traditional exams. Instead of a time-based hunt through the treasure trove of young adult memory, a student can take their time to sort through the information they’ve been presented and create a unique response. This does, of course, have its own host of challenges and should be treated carefully, but essays could just as easily measure mastery.

Perhaps a class could be conducted almost entirely through discussions and direct engagement. After every single lecture, you post a summary of what you learned with 3 questions. This is a type of formative testing that could replace mini-quizzes and other memory based assessments.

[misszarves]

timeline of my spiral for anyone who wants to laugh react

july 2019: hit a wall with sleep deprivation, anemia, gut problems and probably plain burnout, started having conflicts with my boss especially around my lateness (our workday started at 5:00 AM, he refused to simply write me up or suspend me but instead wanted to “talk about it” and this became extremely intrusive and uncomfortable fast)

also july: had my first encounter with an animal in a sticky trap, outside my apartment, a bird who I was able to rescue

also july: quit that job, went back to the golf course to bartend a couple of days a week

august: moved back in with my parents as a result of my changed employment situation

late august: read that shockingly graphic article in the NYT about child porn that some of you may remember (do I need to put a trigger warning or can y’all use common sense and refrain from looking it up). sharp spike in anxiety, making it worse than it had been in six or seven years

september: picked up more hours at the golf course, was able to make some investments in myself -- a new sewing machine and some singing lessons. had my two-year cake. 

mid-october: found out I was pregnant. on a friday (K, not J, was the father -- some people do ask). made the quick decision to have an abortion but was unable to get in touch with any abortion provider until the middle of the following week (due to phone/email tag, etc), giving me enough time to start Feeling Things about the pregnancy

november: continuing to live with my parents and work full-time as a bartender, succumbed to angst and anxiety as expected -- but family, friends and coworkers with the glaring exception of my mom (who still pretends she didn’t even know I was pregnant, lol) were very supportive. for a brief period, we settled on keeping the baby, and told my dad and picked godparents. when I changed my mind again, my boyfriend was devastated. that pretty much hasn’t changed

late november: in a last-ditch attempt to fend off the crushing dread, I took a trip north to see a friend and her husband (to be clear, I would have visited them anyway lmfao). it helped a little. on the way back, I stopped to see some of my mother’s cousins, who tried to rope me into a pyramid scheme.

november 28: abortion day! my aunt took me to the clinic and then out for burgers. while we were eating, one of the cooks, who my aunt knew, fell off a ladder and onto his back.

first two weeks following the abortion: the normal feel-like-shit-no-matter-how-secure-you-were-in-your-decision period

dec 3: relapsed! 

dec 3 onwards: since the relapse went on for about three months, I can’t nail down when that “two week” period actually ended. pregnancy hormones resulted in waves of anger and teariness, but no satisfying “mourning”. I drank more heavily than I ever did before, routinely got shitfaced or even blacked out while on shift. I told people about the relapse, but the actual inebriation mostly went unnoticed.

christmas eve: after convincing J to come spend christmas with my family, got drunk again, we got in some sort of argument. I don’t remember.

christmas morning: J left as soon as possible.

the blurry period between christmas and mid-January 2020: 

more drinking at work, and a peak in the mouse and rat problem my workplace had been managing badly for several months. saw and heard three tiny, dying, bloody mice on two separate sticky traps (two different days). on a slow ~pasta night~, knocked back a couple of drinks so I could ask one of the cooks at the pasta buffet to leave his post and euthanize the second and third mouse. which he did as humanely as possible -- with a shovel. at this point I wrote a letter to my GM telling him how unacceptable it was to make his hormonal, post-abortive employees deal with sentient animals in their dying agonies, and could he please come up with a different pseudo-solution. about a week later, he came up to me and, with great diplomacy and tact, told me to shove it up my ass.

powdered bait laced with rat poison was placed on the floor in and around the bar and kitchen. I called the health inspector, who brought the hammer down on both the poison and the sticky traps. the poison was cleaned up (part of that job went to yours truly, with no protection) as were some but not all of the sticky traps

I developed a small crush on a long-time coworker (cook #1) who began behaving in what I assumed was meant to be a flirtatious way (eye-fucking, going out of his way to talk to me in a way he hadn’t before, etc). this included some pointed questions about my mental health (the abortion and the relapse were public information at this point). bizarrely, he refused to tell me anything personal about himself. he started dating one of the banquet girls. he eventually told a mutual friend (cook #2, and our shovel-killer from above) that he “got [a] vibe” that I “wanted to fuck” but (as cook #2 gleefully reported to me) made a face and expressed disgust at the possibility of ever being involved with me in that way. (WHY ASK ME ABOUT MY FUCKING ABORTION THEN, YOU WEIRDO)

cook #2 started trying to fuck me. I did not reciprocate. he then told me he thought I was a “six” and that he wasn’t interested. a few weeks later he tried to fuck me again

early january 2020: got both a yeast infection and bacterial vaginal infection

january 6: J had a grand mal seizure on my kitchen floor. I had never seen a seizure and the tremors were so severe that my dad, who had seen many, thought he may also have been having a stroke (turned out, just a seizure). he was hospitalized overnight and kicked to the curb -- but the process was begun to get him back into rehab

january 7 (?): employee gift exchange at work. I was on shift and wasn’t participating, but there weren’t a lot of customers and my coworkers asked me to come join them. there were five-gallon buckets of old sangria to which we were given unlimited access (and remember that I was the bartender, so I took the trips to the fridge and back). I blacked out. cook #2 called my mother and I vaguely recall getting in her van.

the days following that “party”: cook #2 and several other coworkers told me I “didn’t seem that drunk,” ie was not a horrible embarrassment. however, cook #2 told me that I’d made out with him. then I started to hear rumours that I and a third cook (cook #3) had disappeared for half an hour to “go have sex”. let me be graphic for a moment: I was wearing a panty-liner that night because the spotting from the abortion hadn’t stopped, I had a yeast infection, and I hadn’t trimmed my pubic hair in about a month -- no matter how drunk I was, I cannot see myself agreeing to take my pants off around a random coworker. someone told me that I had a cheeseburger in my hand when we disappeared and was still eating it when she saw me again so she doesn’t think anything happened -- but I was suspiciously sore the next day. was it the yeast infection or was I sexually assaulted? I don’t know because I was blacked out and I never asked cook #3

january 10: actual staff holiday party. cook #3 introduced me to his long-time girlfriend. we all smiled and shook hands.

mid-january: mac miller’s circles album dropped. I decided I wanted to live. I continued to drink until the end of february, but stayed sober for much longer periods between much shorter binges

late january: I put in my two-weeks’ notice at the golf course and borrow some money from my dad. stinky came to live with us.

february 1: k, stinky and me moved into a small house my parents’ church is renting

most of february: fighting, gossiping, and faction-forming in my AA homegroup, culminated in a member being expelled and a series of “group conscience” meetings which involved yelling, fighting and crying. a relatively new arrival to our group (but a longtimer in the program) started to power-grab, which wouldn’t have fazed me except that she started openly singling me out as a “newcomer” whose vote did not count. this despite other members relapsing in the same period I did, and said power-grabber having been in attendance at my fucking cake five months previous. things got awkward.

mid-february: J went back to rehab

also mid-february: I got pulled over driving drunk in washington state. ironically, the confidence and ease I got from the alcohol kept me from being rude and short with the officer as I usually am, and he told me in a very friendly way that the speed limit would increase by 10 mph a little further down the highway, so perhaps I was confused, and I should take care out there. no ticket. a sign from god?

also mid-february: I got formally assessed for ADHD and tried ritalin for the first time. this did not end up working out.

mid-february: I was invited to dinner by the much older man who does the irrigation on the golf course, through one of the gardeners, a woman a few years younger than me with an established father-daughter type relationship with the irrigation guy. the three of us ate dinner at his house, and she proceeded to pass out from drinking too much. irrigation guy took the opportunity to feel me up.

end of february: I took my last drink and decided to start applying for jobs

also end of february: my ADHD symptoms as well as my anxiety began to spike, throwing a wrench in my resume-writing and hand-shaking plans

march: something else threw a wrench in my hand-shaking plans, as it did with all of yours. it goes without saying that I have been terribly anxious. the upside is that I know for certain that the abortion was the right idea.

also march: I switched to vyvanse and began to see better results.

mid-march, at the very beginning of shut-downs where I live: I see irrigation guy again and he takes the opportunity to pat my ass. 

end of march: J relapsed in rehab, was discharged and will see at least a ninety-day delay in his plan to complete the program and then get into secondary housing. he was briefly hospitalized, during which time the doctors did so little for him that he would have literally been just as well off in a drunk tank. service canada lost some of his paperwork so he still doesn’t have his medical EI money.

yesterday: J moved into my shed. he spoke to his counsellor, who will try to get him into a recovery house. I am confident that some things, particularly his EI money, will work out very soon. but whatever happens I have felt a reduction in the second-hand stress. as I said, and now he agrees: it’s a pretty nice shed.

[duiillinois]

The Importance of Niche in Private Practice

Success in private practice is not only defined by financial gains but also by our fulfillment. Many counselors do not consider counseling practice as a business and believe that it is mainly their passion. It is important that they love what they do, but they also should learn business essentials. This can be done through a variety of free marketing classes that are offered online or books that are published on different business-related topics. If we do not explore new ideas, we cannot thrive in any business. Including counseling business. May therapists are excellent as individual therapists but do not specialize in anything, therefore, cannot claim that they are experts in any particular area of counseling. Having a niche that is also your expertise helps you become known in the community as a go-to person when other practitioners want to refer clients.

Counselors fear that having a specialty makes their practice too narrow and they will not be able to attract enough people to make a living. This might be true only if we are concentrating on one area and not accepting any clients who might have other needs. This is not possible to do at the beginning of private practice, but once we become experts in a particular area, we can make the narrow niche our full-time practice. Niche is not only for other professionals to be able to refer to us, but it is also a selling point to our clients. Educated consumers are looking for someone who has more than a college degree in counseling. They want a counselor not only with experience in a particular area but also with additional training and expertise. Both clients and counselors believe that specialty in a certain area allows us to provide better service and also consult on our specialty to other counselors.

Finding the right niche does not have to be difficult. Concentrate on what you already like and feel comfortable working with. It could be anything from children to adults and from educational setting to business setting. Use your current interests and ideas, do some research, and even ask your friends and coworkers to see if there is a need in the community for your specific service.

Some of the most popular niches that I have encountered within my counseling community are providing anger management classes or crisis intervention to business companies, offering wellness classes for people with different illnesses, medication management, assessment for ADHD or substance abuse, etc. One of the growing trends within the counseling field is providing substance use evaluations for different purposes. Some of them are performed for legal reasons, others for work-related situations. The majority of companies require random drug and alcohol testing, and as a consequence of positive testing, clients are required to undergo drug and alcohol evaluations. This kind of practice could be completely independent of insurance companies or can include contracts with insurance for the purposes of doing frequent drug and alcohol evaluations that are extremely short and do not require much follow-up. You as a practitioner have to make a decision if you feel comfortable with this type of practices and if you want to engage in such short assessment procedures.

Another niche has to do with providing short-term therapy and risk education for a variety of clients who have drug and alcohol problems. Many schools, business companies, police stations refer clients for these services and are looking for brief therapy and/or education that could be completed quickly. These establishments are in need of quick service and often expect you to help the client quickly and efficiently. You as a practitioner need to decide if you feel comfortable working under pressure with clients who are sometimes angry and do not believe they should even be in your office.

Another interesting niche is working with school children with ADHD. You can receive a lot of referrals from neighboring schools to perform short assessments for school children who are hyperactive. Schools are underfunded, and they usually refer the parents to the local therapists for assessments. Teachers and administrators like all additional help they can get and often appreciate short presentations that could be done within a school, on topics pertaining to children mental health that can make their job easier.

These are only some of the niches that are pretty lucrative and do not rely on insurance reimbursement. Just the opposite.  Many clients do not want to use their insurance when it comes to substance abuse problems. They do not want to be labeled, and they do not want the insurance company to carry the stigma of their addiction. Many parents do not want their kids to be diagnosed with mental illness, and they are fearful of insurance paperwork. They want to make sure that the practitioner is keeping all information confidential and does not inform anyone about any unnecessary issues. Parents have the right to make a decision about the diagnosis and how they want to proceed.

No matter what niche you choose, make sure that you also enjoy the work that it entails. Some of the niches might look financially rewarding, but they carry some legal burdens or other difficulties that you might not be ready to engage in. Know your personality and your limitations. The best niche is a simple extension of your passion that does not feel like work.

from Counseling Center of Illinois https://www.duiillinois.com/the-importance-of-niche-in-private-practice/

[jflashandclash]

Attrition of Peace

Fifteen: Annabeth

How to Predict Unicorn Collisions. You Don’t.

             Annabeth hated when things didn’t go according to plan, and being side-rammed by a unicorn hadn’t been part of the plan. As she pushed off the black pavement of the Brooklyn street, she thought about how she should recalculate this.

           She’d been furious that her call with Frank had been interrupted. No matter how many drachmas she and Percy tried to throw at Iris, they kept getting the message, Your rainbow has been disconnected. Please hang up, and try your rainbow again.

           The two most important parts of the message had been left out: Leo is alive and these demigods were probably terrified.

           And now Frank and Hazel were here. Something must have gone wrong for them to ride all the way to the East coast on Arion.

           Finding the right flight over had been child’s play. She knew which airlines the Romans had frequent flyer miles with because of some deals they’d worked out with the Amazon. She knew their preferred airports and the approximated time the flight would have left. They only ever did direct route flights, since layovers were bad news for ADHD, monster hunted demigods.

           She had hoped Piper could talk to them first, using that line she never got to use on the Romans when they first got to Camp Jupiter, “Lower your weapons. We just want to talk.” Or Will, since he and the shy daughter of Apollo, Kally, seemed to get along well. Or Nico, her friend. Or Jason, who connected really well with Axel over Capture the Flag.

           Something about this felt like a set up: the way the video of Euna Song turning people into trees had zoomed carefully onto hers, Kally’s, and Pax’s faces without any context as to why they were fighting against those people, the way the dialogue had been muted from the video of Axel attacking Leo, the way her phone, and the phone with the videos, malfunctioned so she couldn’t watch it again for a closer analysis, and the way the two ex-Kronos soldiers had ended up in a town whose policy was to execute ex-Kronos soldiers.  

           This group of half-bloods was suspicious, and very dangerous, but she also suspected something else was happening here, possibly something out of their control. From what she’d seen of Calex Rupin McKenzie and Merry Blythe at Camp Half-Blood and from Piper’s solid impression of them, neither seemed the type to associate with murders without reason.  

           But she also knew that desperation could crack a person. She wanted to know what was going on. They needed more data. Like where Axel had found Leo Valdez.

           Percy gently touched her arm. “Are you alright?” he shouted over the sound of the getaway taxi-van zooming away and horns blaring from oncoming traffic.

           Scraps and bruises. Minimal damage. They needed to focus on their target. She nodded, checking him over first. He looked the same—just dazed from being thrown off Blackjack.

           Had he been hurt, she’d have to murder a unicorn.

           They staggered to their feet in enough time to see the unicorn blur in retreat, Arion, riderless, was in quick pursuit. Annabeth wondered if that unicorn knew mythology was not on its side in a race against that horse.

           “Is Blackjack okay?” she asked, assessing the situation. Percy’s pegasus stumbled to his hooves. Hazel was on foot, Frank had disappeared, and an SUV pulled up beside them. She didn’t get to see what had attacked Hazel and Frank to knock them off Arion.

           Percy nodded, quoting in his best equestrian mimic, “Good as new, boss. I think I’m going to take it easy for a bit. I get a carrot for that, right?” He reached to pet Blackjack’s face. “Thanks for the ride, bud. Get to safety. You’ll get a whole bushel when we get back to camp.”

           Blackjack huffed and flew off into the air. Percy turned to Annabeth. “I hope Arion teaches that unicorn to play nice with other ponies.”

           Someone threw open the door to the SUV beside them, and Annabeth was glad to see Jason Grace motioning them inside. Piper gave them a happy wave from the back and a, “Hey guys! Tell me about NRU after we’re done doing some demigod hunting.”

Hazel hopped in from the other side, glancing towards the front in concern.

“Sorry I’m running late,” Jason apologized. “I couldn’t summon Tempest. I was scared my powers might throw off weather patterns around the airport.”

           Something felt uncomfortable inside the SUV, and it took Annabeth a moment to realize it wasn’t because the driver was a French zombie. There was an argument happening.

           “What’s the one thing I told you not to do?” Will demanded, his hands on his hips, despite being seated in the middle. If he hadn’t been such a firm believer in seatbelts, she was pretty sure he’d be leaning over Nico’s passenger seat.

           Nico sighed and leaned his head against the headrest to stare at the ceiling. “Raise the dead.”

           “And what did you do?”

           “Raise the dead—but look Will, it’s been a month since my last incident, and it’s just summoning the dead—not rocket science or shadow travel—”[1]

           Annabeth winced as they rearranged the seating. Everyone had promised to enforce Will’s no excess power usage for six months on Nico, but none of them  predicted Apollo showing up to shake Nico like a ragdoll. It put Nico’s recovery back by a lot and terrified Will and pretty much everyone at camp.

Jason jumped into the back. Percy pulled Annabeth into his lap so they could conserve on seating. From the uncomfortable glance that Jason and Piper shared, Will and Nico had been arguing since the airport. Maybe a chat about rogue half-bloods or college entrance exams would be relaxing.

           “Nico, I’m not saying this because I don’t have faith in you. I’m mad because we made an agreement and because I care about you and it would crush me if anything happened to you.”

           Nico went bright red in the face and sank into his seat. “Will,” he grumbled, “Not in front of everyone.”

Hazel cleared her throat. She looked concerned for her brother, but her expression also had serious problem written all over it. Something had gone wrong in Rome. Annabeth’s mind raced with ideas.

“It’s great to see you guys, but Frank scouted ahead. We should—”

           A hummingbird darted through the door before Annabeth could shut it. When Frank turned back into a human, the SUV became uncomfortably cramped, and Annabeth started to really miss the expansiveness of the Argo II. Annabeth’s brain filed through excuses to push them past any cops that might pull them over for having too many people in a vehicle.

           Normally, Frank would have been embarrassed to squish in the tiny bit of space between Will and she and Percy. Instead, he leaned forward to talk to the driver, jumped to find it an undead person, and turned in confusion to Nico. “Uh—hey Nico—they’re five blocks ahead, can you uh tell—”

           “Monsieur Jules-Albert.”

           “Yes, Monsieur Jules-Albert to follow—”

           The zombie driver stepped on it. Their SUV lurched forward, knocking Frank back. Though they quickly jerked back to a stop in Brooklyn’s absurd traffic. Annabeth’s mind whirled to calculate if it would be faster to walk.

           “Seatbelt,” Will said to Frank, folding his arms and frowning at the passenger seat in the best charades of, we’ll finish this later, that Annabeth had ever seen.

           “Augh, dude, what happened to your ear?” Percy asked.

           Annabeth was about to ask the same question. Frank had a hasty patch job of gauze on his ear with medical tape wrapped around his head to keep it in place. From the old blood dried on the gauze, she had a feeling there wasn’t much of an ear left under there.

           “I can probably reattach it if you have the ear,” Will offered, sensing the same.

           “I don’t,” Frank said grimly, like he’d forgotten a number two pencil on test day. “Axel bit it off after he set Reyna’s house on fire.

           “He what?!” Nico demanded, sitting up in his seat and forgetting his prior embarrassment. “Is Reyna okay?”

           “Physically, yea,” Frank said. He gave them a brief update on what happened as Jules drove.

           “Wait—why were they in Reyna’s house? I thought she pretty much lived, ate, slept, and plotted punishments for bad legionnaires in the principia,” Percy asked.  

           Annabeth swatted him. She’d seen Reyna and Axel interact once, when Axel first parked outside Camp Half-Blood’s boundaries and refused to come inside. From what she’d seen then, and from a few comments Piper had made about the type of guy Reyna might like, Annabeth had a guess why Axel was in her house.

           “They were on a breakfast date, sort of,” Hazel confirmed from the back of the SUV. “It was… hard to convince her not to come on this quest, but she’s making sure Camp Half-Blood is safe, since she knows you guys are out.”

           Annabeth hoped that wouldn’t make everyone lose focus. She kept reminding herself that they needed all the facts first, that something wasn’t adding up here, but Nico voiced the opinion of the group perfectly.

           “I’m going to drag Axel to Tartarus and craft him a personal punishment for the rest of eternity. How dare he hurt Reyna,” Nico growled. As the SUV rolled to a stop, he glanced back. “Or Frank. Sorry about your ear, Frank.”

           “It’s okay; it’s just gone for good.”

           “Nico, we talked about this,” Will scolded.

           Nico rolled his eyes and threw his door open. “Fine. In a few months, I’ll drag him to Tartarus and craft him a personal punishment.”

           “There’s my responsible son of Hades.”

           They got out of the SUV and took off down a wide alley between two brick buildings designed with the classic flare of late nineteenth century architecture. This was an old part of Brooklyn, one the gentrification hadn’t yet touched, but the neon blue and purple lights around two ionic columns were new. They stood on either side of a club entrance that Annabeth could see Euna, Calex, and Merry darted through.  

           They needed a plan.

           The bouncer was a huge guy in a biker jacket—what you’d expect to find at a club in New York. Unlike what you’d expect, he stood off to the side of the door, leaning against the wall and grinning stupidly at their approach. He held a hand out to prevent the small line of guests from entering. The guests in line whispered, looking far less agitated than Annabeth would expect with a bouncer not letting anyone in.

           From what Annabeth had read and seen, clubs weren’t usually active this early at night. She hoped this wouldn’t be a rerun of Club Lotus.

           “Stop,” Annabeth said before they reached the entrance.

           Everyone skittered to a stop, like she’d pulled a gear out of a watch. Jason, Percy, Piper, Hazel, Frank, and Nico all paused to glance at her expectantly. She forgot how well their team worked together. The only person who stumbled was Will.

           “We need a plan.” Jason read off her face.

           Annabeth’s mind spun. That was her territory. But she was missing some integral data to make a full plan. Her instinct told her not to go in with swords drawn. “We should try to parley. When they ran from the airport, and when they were in the cab, they didn’t attack any of us. The Pax brothers may have only done that in New Rome because they were cornered.”

          They’d have to worry about Frank’s quest from Ares later. Right now, she wanted to know what was going on.

          “Seeing Roman colors is going to probably scare them, so Hazel, use the Mist to hide what you and Frank look like. Stay to the entrance to make sure they don’t double back to escape. Everyone else, keep with your partner—” She didn’t need to say who was partnering with whom. “—keep alert. They are dangerous, but try to talk them down first. If you see them—”

          “Find or walkie-talkie Jason and I,” Piper finished. “And I can make sure things don’t get out of hand.”

          Annabeth was pleased to see Will open up his jacket to show off a charging station for walkie talkies beside his medical kit and a package of latex gloves. He handed one off to Percy and one to Hazel.

          Because Iris Messaging had been so inconsistent, and the presence of a half-blood tended to make technology go haywire, she’d been experimenting with ways to keep in contact. Older walkie talkies proved somewhat reliable.

          The other problem was getting into the club. If Axel Misted a group of underaged kids in, Hazel could probably do the same. Annabeth just hoped everyone either had a driver’s permit or a library card for Hazel to Mist.

          The bouncer put a huge arm out across the door. “The guitarist says you’re with him. And he said you’re allowed to keep your weapons. And we aren’t supposed to kill you.”

          Annabeth wanted to swear. She should have assumed the others had connections here, else they wouldn’t have ran straight to this club. Her brain pierced through the Mist to reregister the bouncer’s single eye, and how tall he was. Despite all the time she’d spent with Tyson, the seven year old in her always cowered at the sight of Cyclopes. But she was almost a legal adult now, a hero of Olympus and a daughter of Athena. Annabeth maintained steady eye contact. This guy wasn’t mimicking any of them, and didn’t even look interested in chowing down on one of their heads.

          The people in line hazed into various monsters and ghosts.  

          “This is a club for monsters,” Frank said. The way he said it made her wonder when Frank would bring the entire legion here for a warm up drill.

          Everyone else must have seen it too. They touched their weapons.

          This Cyclops kept grinning, not seeming to realize which demigods he was stalling. “The guitarist says you can come in, but,” he said, “the tiny Pax said you can only come in if that one gives me a hug.” The Cyclops pointed at Jason Grace.

          Jason Grace pointed at himself in confusion. “Me?”

          The Cyclops nodded. “He said you love hugging Cyclopes. And the tiny Pax knows I love hugs.” The Cyclops folded his arms and stood up tall, like he had declared how much he liked breaking people’s necks.

          Percy stifled a laugh. “Hey, Cyclopes give the best bear hugs, probably only second to Frank.”

          “You’re not going to hurt him,” Piper asked her question as a statement, one enlaced with charm speak.

          The Cyclops didn’t change his posture or expression at all. Maybe he really did like hugs. “Nope!” he affirmed.

          Jason frowned as Hazel giggled and Nico and Will choked on laughs.

          Percy patted Jason’s back. “He seems like a good Cyclops. Go get ‘em, tiger.”

Thanks for reading guys! I had a great time writing this one :D XD

 Foonote:

[1] I need to thank both Gravity Falls and BruneGonda for this. I’ve been trying to find a way to slip her hilarious fanart in for three books.

[iamthedukeofurl]

Brainhack: How to deal when you have Wasted All Your Time

Duke Here. I’ve been adulting with ADHD for a few years now, so I figured I’d share some tips for when you just Wasted A Ton Of Time You Shouldn’t Have Wasted/Generally Screwed things up.  Not to be too Neurotypical here, but I find that mindset can actually help a good deal. No, not “Positive Thinking”. If you’ve got two days to do something that should have taken two weeks, no amount of smiling and looking on the bright side is going to help you. The key isn’t optimism, it’s stubbornness.  Step 1: Accept that the Task is important. Seems simple, but it’s not. Often, when you’ve Wasted All Your Time, it’s easy to say “Ah well, I guess this thing isn’t happening”, and you have to fight against the urge to say “This isn’t worth doing at this point”. So, step 1 is to make sure The Thing is worth doing (This could be a very short step), get that shit over with right away. Also, it’s very possible that, at this point, The Thing just ISN’T worth doing. The rest of this process is not a pleasant one, and you shouldn’t put yourself through it for something that’s not important. So, weigh the pros and cons, and decide, once and for all, Does This Thing Need to Happen? If you have a big pile of things to do, this is where you start cutting. Order them by priority, and anything that doesn’t make the cut gets left behind.  Step 2: Start from the Present. Sometimes you need to get things done without enough time to do them properly. Sometimes this is your fault, sometimes it is not. But, at this point, WHY you ended up in this situation is NOT IMPORTANT. You may have spent the last four hours watching Youtube videos about Ducks, but from this point forward, you’re trying to achieve your goal. Take all that guilt and shame and put it away for now. You’re not dismissing it, you’re just dealing with it later. Imagine that you are blameless. Approach the problem as if there was literally NOTHING you could have done to avoid your exact current situation. Because it doesn’t matter. If you passed step 1, then it means that doing the thing is more important than kicking yourself.  If at any point you find yourself spiraling out of productivity, restart from this step. 

Step 3: Fulfill your needs. This can be done concurrently with Steps 1, 2, and 4. Those steps are primarily Mental, while this is mostly a rote physical step. Take a shower, go for a quick walk outside, eat a sandwich, straighten up your room. Anything urges or distractions that will be nagging at you moving forwards should be cleared up. It’s tempting to dive right in, but spending ten-fifteen minutes taking care of yourself now will save you time later. Eating now means you’re not constantly debating about whether or not you can afford to eat later. Taking a shower now means not feeling miserable and disgusting later. Step 4: Identify the Ideal Outcome. If you’ve really Screwed Up that thoroughly, chances are you can’t achieve your initial goals. That’s fine, the important thing is that you get the best result possible from this point forwards. Let’s say you were planning to bake two cakes. Well, One cake is better than no cakes, a bad Essay is better than no essay. If a Bad Essay is the best you can do, then that’s what you’re doing. At this point, you need to set aside any thoughts of pride or ego. You might be turning in a flaming pile of garbage, but it’s the Best Dumpster Inferno you could manage at this point.  Step 5: Count your Spoons. If you’re in this situation, there’s a good chance that you have a limited amount of energy to work with. Caffeine and Spite will only get you so far. You may be tempted to think that you can go past your limits, that you are an unstoppable productivity machine capable of overpowering the limits of this weak flesh by sheer willpower alone, but that’s Ego talking, and as we established in step 3, there is no room for Ego here. Certainly you’ll be pushing yourself, but it doesn’t help anybody if you crash and burn halfway through the project. Don’t count on all-nighters if you know you can’t pull them. Think of it as assessing what resources you have available. If you’re writing a paper, and you know you can work for four hours straight, that’s a resource. If you have a friend willing to help you with editing, that’s a resource. If you know that by treating yourself to a milkshake, you can keep yourself motivated and focused, That’s a Resource. Know yourself, so you know what you can do.  

Step 6: Make your Plan: Now that you have your goals and your resources, make your plan. Don’t make it too elaborate, with the pressure on, there can be a temptation to try to precisely plan things out, but that can just lead to you wasting time. You may be tempted to try to make A Perfect Plan, but that’s just Ego talking, it’s another way to procrastinate. Get the plan whipped up quickly and get to work. Step 7: Execute the Plan. Get to work, do the shit that needs doing. If you find yourself in the zone, ride that as long as possible. Otherwise, when you feel a natural break point, take a minute to recharge. Get some water, change your music, gaze wistfully out the window. 

Don’t underestimate the power of the Placebo Effect here. I’ve been constantly saying “Don’t let your Ego get in the way”, well, let your Ego run free. If you think you work better with classical music, a mug of tea, or your lucky scarf, do that.  If you ever get knocked off track, reset to Step 2. You should be able to rush through the other steps pretty quickly, so this won’t waste too much time.  Step 8: Accept your work. Perfect is the enemy of good. Especially in a situation where you have multiple tasks you’re trying to complete, it’s important that you recognize when you are finished, not only so that you stop polishing and actually do whatever you need to do to finalize the project, but for your mental state. Accepting that a project is flawed but done is important. If you don’t do that, then the project will be forever incomplete in your mind, which goes nowhere good.

Step 9: Present your work. Whatever you have done, that’s what you’ve done.  Turn in the project, whatever form that takes, and own it. Don’t try to weasel into “Well it would be better if X hadn’t happened”. You did what you could, be proud of that.  Step 10: Learn your Lessons. Now that you are done, you can take all that useless guilt and shame you boxed away in step 2 and deal with it. Why did you end up in that situation? What could you have done better? If you have a disability/mental illness that contributed, make sure you factor that in, not as a personal failing, but as an obstacle to overcome.

I’ll stick to my personal experiences with ADHD. If I wasted time because I decided to play video games for six hours, THAT’S a personal failing, and the lesson learned is “Don’t do that, Dipshit”. 

If I wasted time because I ended up browsing Reddit for six hours, that’s probably a symptom. I know that, if given a chance, I’ll waste six hours on Reddit. So, the lesson is to avoid giving myself that chance. Unplug from the internet, get a friend to check in on you every so often and make sure you’re working. If it helps to work in a public place like a library, do that.  Sometimes you don’t get any important lessons from this step, but that’s a key part of this too. If you learned lessons, then you know that you can do better next time. If you don’t learn any lessons, then you did nothing wrong, and shouldn’t be kicking yourself over this mess.  

[sosmomlife]

Hudson’s Journey

Hey all!!! It’s Andrea here.  I’m sure many of you are trying to figure out how to navigate this crazy change in our world.  Some of you have children at home and are trying to juggle “home schooling” amongst other things, like your own work, a new baby, a partner who has been laid off, etc.  This week our school board officially rolled out distance learning so this meant my husband Andy and I were going to implement more structure to the day.  I’m a teacher and he is off of work right now so this should be easy, right? 100% WRONG!!!!  Here’s a little story of our oldest who has been through a lot and battles with his emotions and abilities every day of his life. 

That cutie (ya ya I may be biased) in the picture above is Hudson. He will be 8 in June. Just before he turned 4 I took him to watch a baseball game and as we were walking beside 3rd base (outside of the diamond) a ball came hurdling across the field, hit the top of the fence and smacked Hudson right in the head. He dropped so fast and I was terrified. I will never forget the "clunk" sound; like a coconut cracking open. I was terrified but he was conscious and settled down after about 10 minutes. He was very clingy so we called EMS just to check him over and make sure he was ok. They came, did a quick assessment and left it up to me to decide if I wanted him to go to the hospital.  By that point he was acting himself so I figured I would just monitor him and if anything got worse I would take him to the ER. I did question why he didn't have a goose egg  (I always heard that no goose egg could be a bad sign, but the EMS responded with "ya that's weird." They pretty much made me feel like I wasted their time so off I sent them not wanting to be “that crazy mom.” As the day progressed Hudson went from playing hard outside to wanting to lie down every couple of hours. I thought it was the heat or that he didn't sleep great the night before.  That night I had him sleep with me and he was very restless. He kept waking up and saying that his head hurt a lot where he got hit but then he would go back to sleep.  The next morning he seemed pretty good other than not wanting breakfast (which isn't normal) because his tummy hurt  (which is normal for my dairy sensitive boy). He went to his first t-ball game (I know I know...what were we thinking taking him to play baseball) in the morning but came home and crashed hard on the couch. He was off and on all day and we questioned taking him to the ER but then he would get up and play like he was totally ok.  At 6 pm after noticing his entire left side of his head was swollen I decided to call Telehealth to get their opinion and they said to take him to the ER immediately.  They always say that so I still wasn't too worried. Hudson slept the whole car ride to Stratford General and when we arrived he was happy and hyper. The waiting room was so busy that I contemplated leaving. Hudson was putting on a show for all the other "patients" Re-enacting how he got hit in the head by the ball.  I definitely thought we would be sent home because he seemed totally fine.

We got called into a room before a lot of people who arrived before us. We didn't wait long before the doctor came in to do an assessment.  Right away the doctor felt the swelling and said it's a boggy hematoma meaning he has a break in his skull. I was shocked and terrified but the doctor assured me that most of the time its small and no big deal. It will heal on its own she said. She sent him for a CT scan and I was told I could be in the room to watch the images of his little skull and brain..or as Hudson says his "big" brain.  The first images started coming up and all of a sudden I was asked if I wanted water and taken out of the room. I instantly knew something was wrong but tried to wait calmly for Hudson to come out.  They had previously told me it would be about an hour before the radiologist looked over the scans but within 5 minutes the doctor came to see us.  The scans showed a significant break in his skull and a small bleed on the outside of his skull. I started imagining the worst and stupid scenes from Grey’s Anatomy started rushing through my head. I was so scared and upset but I knew I had to calm down so I could call Andy and give him the news.  The neuro team in London was going over the scans and transportation was being arranged to take us to Victoria University Hospital in London. Hudson in all of this was still happy and entertaining anyone who came to see him.  Before we left I was assured that Hudson would be fine  because we made it past the crucial first 24 hours. We spent 48 hrs in London for observation and had the greatest healthcare team supporting us throughout the entire ordeal. The next month we were on high alert and Hudson had a couple of seizures (which is common after a concussion). We spent the next year going for check ups every few months with the Neurologist in London. Everything went great so Hudson was released at the one year mark. We thought we were in the clear, but don't let that fool you, the paranoia of our kids getting hit in the head or falling and hitting their head is extremely high to this day. Ugh!

Fast forward to a year and a half ago when Hudson started grade 1. Since the "accident" Hudson's behaviour had definitely changed, he could barely remember anything that happened the day before, let alone a week before. He was super fidgety, always touching his face and wiggling around on chairs. We would ask him to do 3 things and he would forget everything we asked him after he walked away. We were often annoyed and frustrated and we were struggling with managing his "lazy-like" behaviour. I knew there was something else up but people kept assuring me he was acting like a “typical” boy.

After a couple of months in class I had a meeting with Hudson's teacher to discuss his progress and behaviour. I mentioned the head injury he had sustained and the thought of possible ADHD and she thought it might be a good idea to have him psychologically assessed. We went through the lengthy process of a psychological educational assessment and received a thorough analysis of him. Everything the psychologist explained made so much sense: low executive functioning skills, low average working memory, low average processing speed, extremely low visual perception and fine motor coordination, broadly average academic skills, high average oral skills and finally anxiety due to the need he feels to please everybody. It was a huge eye opener for Andy, but wasn't as surprising to me, being in the educational world has exposed me to a number of students with these exceptionalities. It did however make me feel like an ass for thinking my child was not listening and being a lazy jerk whenever I asked him to do a list of things (ie. get ready for school).

Since Hudson was 6 at the time of the assessment the psychologist would only provide a provisional diagnosis of ADHD as his brain is still developing as well as due to the uncertainty of the impact he might have from the brain injury. We spoke to a neurological psychologist about doing a neurological assessment but he said at Hudson's age the results and recommendations would be the same as his previous assessment so to just wait until his next assessment at 10 when he can better communicate his thoughts and feelings.

With the current assessment report we received we were able to get an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) created for Hudson at his school. This IEP will stay with him throughout his educational journey as it is needed. The staff at Hudson's school have been so amazingly supportive. They have been following his psych ed assessment recommendations which includes things like, more breaks, strategic seating (close proximity to teacher and good choice of friends), more time to complete work, chunking of work, more oral testing and no repetitive tasks if he already shows he can do something.

I wish I could say that knowing his limitations has made us better at parenting him but in all honesty it hasn't. Sure we check ourselves more but the frustration and annoyance is still there. Some days more than others. I have actually just put a reminder in my phone for the start of each month to re-read Hudsons psych ed assessment and Occupational Therapist report. Just reading it again to write this blog post reminded me of so many things I had forgotten and was treating Hudson unfairly with: "you just have to do 20 min of work...why can't you just do 20 min and then be done....if you spent all the time that you have been sulking typing you would be done by now...." and so on and so on. Sigh. It's a learning process for all of us and I just need to keep telling myself the way I tell him that practicing what is hard is the only way it will get easier. So I will practice my patience as I help him practice working through his challenges and in between we'll go play some sports because we're friggin’ awesome at that.

~Andrea

[easyweight101]

Mindtrixil Review: Don’t Buy Before You Read This!

 What is it?

Mindtrixil is a “lab-grade nootropic” designed to boost brain energy and metabolism. This product also targets those looking to boost productivity and improve memory and focus.

Mindtrixil is made from N-acetyl tyrosine, in combination with other ingredients targeting focus and concentration. There’s not much information available about Mindtrixil, though the makers of this product claim it has the ability to protect against brain damage due to its high antioxidant content.

Our experts have looked closely at hundreds of herbal supplements, nootropics and prescription medications, only to discover Memotenz is the best product for improving mental capacity on the market today. From the formula to the long list of benefits, click here to learn everything you need to know about Memotenz.

Do You Know the Best Brain Enhancement Supplements of 2017?

Mindtrixil Ingredients and Side Effects

Unfortunately, Mindtrixil does not have an official website, and we were only able to find a list of ingredients someone posted online. Because there’s no product label, we aren’t sure whether or not this list is accurate, nor do we have any information concerning dosage. Regardless, here’s a quick look at what you can expect to find inside this product:

Ginkgo Biloba Choline Phosphatidylserine  N-Acetyl Tyrosine Vinpocetine  

Ginkgo Biloba: A common supplement long used for improving memory and thinking, as well as for its antioxidant properties, gingko biloba may be used to prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.

Phosphatidylserine: A chemical used to boost thinking and cognition, this ingredient is also useful in treating conditions like ADHD, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression, as well as stress reduction and improved athletic performance.

Side effects may include sleep disturbances or upset stomach.

Choline: Found in many foods like meat, beans, eggs and more, choline is used to improve athletic performance and memory, as well as a way to treat depression, dementia, seizures and other conditions.

Side effects associated with choline may include sweating, gastrointestinal problems, vomiting and a fishy odor present in sweat or urine.

Additionally, there is some concern that choline, when taken in large amounts may contribute to colon or rectal cancers.

N-Acetyl Tyrosine: An accelerated form of the amino acid, L-tyrosine, sometimes known as NALT, this ingredient is used to boost cognition in periods where the user is sleep deprived. It may also be used to help busy students or professionals who need to extend their working hours. NALT produces both dopamine and non-adrenaline, which improve mood and reduce stress.

Side effects may include nausea, joint pain, heartburn, tiredness or headaches.

Vinpocetine: Vinpocetine is a man-made chemical that is used to improve blood flow to the brain, and as a result may be a viable treatment for those with age-related memory loss or who have had a stroke, or Alzheimer’s patients. Vinpocetine may also be useful in preventing brain cells against injury.

Side effects may include dizziness, nervousness, headache, insomnia, facial flushing and stomach pain.

Experts share their favorite picks for boosting productivity – click here for more.

EDITOR’S TIP: Combine this product with a proven brain enhancement supplement such as Memotenz for better results.

Mindtrixil Quality of Ingredients

Because we don’t know for sure what ingredients can actually found inside Mindtrixil, it’s really difficult to assess the quality of this product. If the list is accurate, then it’s quite possible users can expect to see some benefits, such as improved memory, cognition and overall, more mental energy.

Some of the ingredients listed do pose some risks. Vinpocetine, NALT, and phosphatidylserine may cause some minor discomfort to users, while choline has been linked to certain cancers. While most users probably won’t run into any problems, it’s wise to talk to a doctor before trying this product.

Additionally, we don’t have any idea if his product has been clinically tested, nor if there are any other ingredients included in this formula. For that reason, we likely would not recommend trying this product. There are a number of similar supplements on the market that have been studied in much greater detail, and are easier to find.

Click here to learn how you can become sharper, smarter and more focused.

The Price and Quality of Mindtrixil

Mindtrixil was listed for sale on Amazon at one point, and the listing is still intact, though we cannot see the price. It’s not especially clear where to purchase this product, or if it has been discontinued. It looks as though this product was $70 for a bottle containing a one-month supply

There are a few links that come up should you search for this product, but they are all associated with these unknown, small e-commerce sites that feature broken links.

Check out the complete guide to nootropics for focus, for energy, and more.

Business of Mindtrixil

The company that makes Mindtrixil is known as Purethenic Labs, and unfortunately, their contact information is not readily available on the web.

There is no official webpage associated with Mindtrixil. Instead, there are a few websites that provide links to buying this product, as well as some listings on Amazon stating this product is no longer available.

We found the name of the company, Purethenic Labs through an outdated Amazon listing of this product, and strangely, there’s almost zero record of them existing on the internet. It’s unclear whether they have largely opted out of digital sales, or if this isn’t the real manufacturer of this product, but something seems off.

The Amazon listing for this product has several users complaining that this product has fake reviews associated with its use, which appears to be accurate, as many reviews are as vague and as “great product, worked well.”

Additionally, there’s just not that much information about the product—we don’t have a great sense of the effort put into ensuring product safety, whether or not users found this useful or if it produced side effects with use or any background on Purethenic Labs.

EDITOR’S TIP: For the best results, our experts recommend using brain enhancement supplements for at least 3 months. Save your money by buying a few bottles at once.

Customer Opinions of Mindtrixil

As we mentioned above, some people are suspicious that some of the reviews associated with this product are paid for by the company and don’t reflect the true experiences of those who have tried Mindtrixil. Regardless, here’s a look at what some users had to say:

“This is an OK product. I’m not feeling smarter or more productive, but I am able to recall names a bit more easily, and the brain fog has been lifted, so to speak. In general, I don’t know if it’s worth the price, but it’s got some benefits.”

“I have some chronic issues with memory and recall, and felt this product helped me make some headway as far as learning and memory and cognition are concerned. Nothing drastic, but I’m pretty happy.”

“This product had no effect on me whatsoever, and honestly, I’m not sure what’s in it. Don’t’ waste your money, there’s better products out there.”

Again, it’s hard to know whether the positive reviewers are from real users or those who were offered some form of compensation in exchange for a review. Skepticism aside, Mindtrixil received some mixed reviews.

Based on the above reviews, as well as others we came across in our research, it’s hard to get a good sense of what the typical reaction to Mindtrixil is. There are quite a few positive reviews, so this may be a promising solution for people who need a boost here and there.

Our review roundup of the best products for improving brain capacity and mental function.

Conclusion – Does Mindtrixil Work?

Based on the lack of any product information, we feel that it would be irresponsible to recommend Mindtrixil to anyone looking for a supplement aimed at improving cognition and focus.

There’s essentially no record of the company, Purethenic Labs anywhere on the internet. And while there’s the chance that the folks behind Mindtrixil haven’t quite made it into the e-commerce space, that’s rather unusual in this day and age.

Aside from the mystery behind the company that makes Mindtrixil, there’s also the issue of potentially fake reviews and a real lack of legitimate seeming customer experiences available to those seeking more information.

In short, we’d really recommend looking for a product that’s both easy to find and can offer a predictable set of benefits. We’re not sure Mindtrixil can accomplish this, and we have no idea if it’s safe or effective. Even the formula itself cannot be confirmed. For all these reasons, it’s wise to avoid this supplement in favor of a doctor-prescribed solution or an herbal supplement with a good track record and far more transparency.

After trying a number of supplements promising increased brain capacity, memory and more, our experts have found Memotenz actually delivers on promises to boost cognition, sharpen thinking and more. Herbal ingredients like gingko biloba, bacopa monnieri and others ensure users will see results, without any negative side effects of risk of dependency.

The makers of Memotenz closely follow FDA regulations and current good manufacturing practices in an effort to keep consumers safe, as well as consistently offer a quality product. Click here to learn how Memotenz can leave you feeling smarter with one daily pill.

from Easy Weight Loss 101 http://ift.tt/2pi5Oqv via The Best Weight Loss Diet In The World