attention seeking

This is the supplement to the main web site  www.nmellor.com   Now that you have got this far, just one more tiny step. Please look at the pages  listed in the side bar  to see which ones you want to explore.

But first, please note, 

A copy of the Springer Encyclopeida entry on attention seeking is  in the attachment labelled   Attention Seeking version for EP

A copy of the  article  ADHD or attention seeking? Ways of  distinguishing  two common childhood problems

is in the attachment below  labelled   ADHD, AS, asinjournal.doc

• For those wanting to pursue the academic side of things even further, the evidence base for this article is included in a British Psychological Society conference paper of the same name, presented in 2008. This paper is posted on the main website www.nmellor.com  in the section on attention seeking.

• In addition, in this rather short article,  there was not time to examine in depth how far, if at all, ADHD might be seen as a medical / neurological condition. Many authors such as Brown, T.  (2006) "Attention deficit disorder: the unfocused mind in children and adults" strongly argue that it is. Others I mention in the article are highly critical of this medicalisation of children's behaviour. The latest NICE report, quotes, for example,  evidence from a review by Paloyelis et al (2007) of clear differences in brain activity in ADHD children, using functional magnetic resonance  (see p.122). The NICE report, however, admits to ignoring  sociological based studies  and  concentrating on  papers that "reflect the dominant medical scientific paradigm" (p.133). However,  their overall position is to treat ADHD as not a neurological condition  but  "a  complex disorder resulting from multiple genetic and environmental risk factors" (p.139). My position is that, if there is any (broadly) medical factor in ADHD e.g. in sustaining attention / executive function,  then, at a simple level of analysis,  this factor should not be expected to vary a great deal between situations.

Also, please note: 

 Many teachers on courses about attention seeking have asked about violent or extreme behaviour which puts children at risk.  A brief summary of ideas is listed in the attachment below called "Stop Think Go".

This is  based around a simple traffic light system.

 STOP  THINK   GO

This is not meant to be the final answer to extreme behaviours. The aim of the document is  to generate discussion with colleagues in school. My focus is on attention seeking. This topic would need a whole course on its own.

(Please note, it may be that on some sytems, the names of the attachments below may not display correctly. If that occurs, either download the documents one at a time to find the one you want or click on the download arrow at the right, if you can see one, to read the document names).