7 Principles of Creative Thinking

1. You Are Creative

Artists are not special, but each of us is a special kind of artist who enters the world as a creative and spontaneous thinker. While creative people believe they are creative, those who don’t hold that belief are not. After acquiring beliefs about their identity, creative people become interested in expressing themselves, so they learn thinking habits and techniques that creative geniuses have used throughout history.

2. Creative Thinking Is Work

You must show passion and the determination to immerse yourself in the process of developing new and different ideas. The next step is patience and perseverance. All creative geniuses work with intensity and produce an incredible number of ideas — most of which are bad. In fact, more bad poems were written by major poets than by minor poets. Thomas Edison generated 3,000 different lighting system ideas before he evaluated them for practicality and profitability.

3. You Must Go Through the Motions

When producing ideas, you replenish neurotransmitters linked to genes that are being turned on and off in response to challenges. Going through the motions of generating new ideas increases the number of contacts between neurons, and thereby energizes the brain. Every hour spent activating your mind by generating ideas increases creativity. By painting a picture every day, you would become an artist — perhaps not Van Gogh, but more of an artist than someone who has never tried.

4. Your Brain Is Not a Computer

Your brain is a dynamic system that evolves patterns of activity, rather than simply processing them like a computer. The brain thrives on creative energy that results from experiences, real or fictional. The brain cannot tell the difference between an “actual” experience and one that is imagined vividly and in detail. Both are energizing. This principle helped Walt Disney bring his fantasies to life and also enabled Albert Einstein to engage in thought experiments that led to revolutionary ideas about space and time. For example, Einstein imagined falling in love and then meeting the woman he fell in love with two weeks later. This led to his theory of acausality.

5. There Is No Right Answer

Aristotle believed that things were either “A” or “not A.” To him the sky was blue or not blue — never both. Such dualistic thinking is limiting. After all, the sky is a billion different shades of blue. We used to think that a beam of light existed only as a wave until physicists discovered that light can be either a wave or a particle, depending on the viewpoint of the observer. The only certainty in life is uncertainty. Therefore when trying to produce new ideas, do not evaluate them as they occur. Nothing kills creativity faster than self-censorship during idea generation. All ideas are possibilities — generate as many as you can before identifying which ones have more merit. The world is not black or white. It is gray.

6. There Is No Such Thing as Failure

Trying something without succeeding is not failing. It’s producing a result. What you do with the result — that is, what you’ve learned — is the important thing. Whenever your efforts have produced something that doesn’t work, ask the following:

• What have I learned about what doesn’t work?
• Can this explain something that I didn’t set out to explain?
• What have I discovered that I didn’t set out to discover?

People who “never” make mistakes have never tried anything new. Noting that Thomas Edison had “failed” to successfully create a filament for the light bulb after 10,000 attempts, an assistant asked why the inventor didn’t give up. Edison didn’t accept what the assistant meant by failure. “I have discovered ten thousand things that don’t work,” he explained.

7. You Don’t See Things as They Are – You See Them as You Are

All experiences are neutral and without inherent meaning until your interpretations give them meaning. Priests see evidence of God everywhere, while atheists see the absence of God everywhere. Back when nobody in the world owned a personal computer, IBM’s market research experts speculated that there were no more than six people on earth who needed a PC. While IBM saw no market potential for PCs, two college dropouts named Bill Gates and Steve Jobs viewed the same data as IBM and perceived massive opportunity. You construct reality by how you choose to interpret your experiences.

Children with Visual or Hearing Disabilities Can Now Access TV Programming

The U S Department of Education yesterday announced that thousands of children with visual or hearing disabilities may now access free on-demand children’s television programming.

Dozens of children’s and family TV episodes may now be viewed online featuring closed captioning and descriptions through our Accessible Television Portal project. Among the shows: “Ocean Mysteries,” “Magic School Bus,” “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” “Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,” “Expedition Wild” and “Peg + Cat.”

TO VIEW THE CONTENT:  teachers and school personnel, parents, and other professionals working with qualified students can visit www.dcmp.org  and apply for access to the portal.  The portal is part of the Department-funded Described and Captioned Media Program (DCMP). It includes video-on-demand content provided at no cost

Once approved, accessible content can be used with, and by, students in the classroom and at home via the Web, mobile phones and tablets, mobile apps, and set-top boxes. The portal itself is fully accessible to those with sensory impairments. Children with disabilities can locate any featured program without difficulty.

“So this is what normal feels like.”

(Reames, 2015)

THE NEW ME

After half a lifetime of struggling at home and at work and dreading each new day, I feel as though a new me has been born with my adult ADD diagnosis.

I’m sitting in the tiny nurses’ station, staring at neat piles of completed paperwork. It’s only 1:30 a.m. and I’m done already. Work that used to have me scrambling to finish before the day-shift nurse came in at 7 a.m. is finished. Not just finished: done right, with a clear focus.

I smile, leaning back in my chair. “So this is what ‘normal’ feels like,” I think, amazed.

All my life, I had struggled with a vague sense that something was different about me. I felt inferior, inadequate, undisciplined, and hopelessly disorganized — all feelings that have been, at one time or another, reinforced by others in my life.

“Donna, can’t you ever be on time?”

“I couldn’t live in this clutter.”

“How can you not know where your daughters’ birth certificates are?”

“Maybe you’re just one of those people who can’t stay organized.”

I had gotten used to feeling tired before I even got out of bed, of dreading the new day and its various obligations. I was exhausted, struggling at work and at home with my kids. It took every ounce of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual strength to live my life — until I finally met someone who listened to my story and gave me a chance to do something about it.  He didn’t hand me a planner or a book on organization. He didn’t lecture me on slothfulness or give me parenting advice. He handed me a prescription AND suggested that I talk with someone about making changes in my life.

“Take this and see what happens,” he said. “I think you have adult ADD.” He was the first person ever to believe me when I said that there was something wrong beyond depression or a fundamentally disorganized personality.   I had always sensed that there was a part of me that could be structured, that could be organized, and that could function with ease. I just didn’t know  how to access it.

A NEW MOM

As we pulled into a gas station the other day, another car pulled in front of us. The driver was shouting and cursing. At the station, I walked over to her. “Hey, I’m sorry if I irritated you,” I said. “I’m taking my kids to school, we were talking, and maybe I didn’t give you enough space.”

The woman calmed down noticeably and shook her head. “No, it’s my fault,” she said. “I’m tired this morning and I got mad. Don’t worry about it.” As I got back in our car, my oldest daughter, Zoë, stared at me, eyes wide open.

“Mama,” she said eagerly, “I can’t believe how nice you were!” (How embarrassing to realize what a jerk your kids thought you were, in the throes of daily ADD-related irritability.) I grinned. “You’ve got a new mama, girls!” I said as we continued on our way.

In the past, a situation like that would have caused me to erupt. I’d fuss and fume and blare my horn. I used to think I had a problem with anger. Now I know that my nerves were just stretched to their limits, and things that rolled off other peoples’ backs were intolerable to me.

Our life has slowed down at home. We eat in more often, and my girls actually enjoy my cooking. I’m not trying to do 15 other things while making dinner anymore, so I don’t end up burning it. I’ve also come up with my own system to organize my cabinets — and it works!

Because I now understand that I have a disorder that requires me to do things a little differently, I do them without feeling that I’m stupid or lazy. What I’ve discovered about myself is just the opposite: I can be highly organized and disciplined if I let myself be.  My medicine has calmed something down inside of me, allowed me to take a deep breath and live at a slower pace.

I CAN DO THIS!

I actually enjoy being a mother for the first time in 11 years of motherhood. Don’t get me wrong: I love my girls and am totally committed to them. But I used to wonder why my daily interactions with them left me so frustrated. By the time they went to bed, I was often near tears.

Life was hard that way for 44 years. When I look at old photos of myself, I’m shocked: I look drained and pinched, even when I was smiling for the camera. I never used to have fun, even on vacations. The simple act of packing for trips used to depress me.

But since I’ve been treated for ADD”, I’m surprised over and over by how easy life can be. It’s no big deal to a non-ADDer to help a second-grader read for 15 minutes every night, or to sit through an entire movie without getting up five times to “check on something. But for me, it’s a different world, and I love it!

The only thing that bothers me about adult ADD is that so many people — even doctors — still think it’s a myth.  Years ago, I actually suggested to a doctor that I might have it, but I was told that if I had done well in elementary school, there was no way that I could. I was never hyper or aggressive or disruptive at school, but I cried in my bedroom nearly every night because each tiny decision felt like a giant hurdle. Deciding how to put my hair up could leave me in tears.

Since I’ve been diagnosed, I have the same responsibilities as before. I’m still a single mom working full-time to support three daughters. I still live paycheck to paycheck, drive my same old station wagon, and, sometimes, I still get frustrated when things don’t go my way. The difference is that nothing seems overwhelming anymore. If the car breaks down, I can handle it. Without hysteria. If the money’s short, I figure out how to get by.  Without breaking down. Things don’t have to be black or white any more. I’ve learned to see and live with gray.

Come to my house for a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or tea; I’ll know where the cups, spoons, tea bags, and cocoa are. You can sit in a chair that does not have piles of laundry on it, waiting to be put away. You can talk to me and I will listen, instead of chattering non-stop about myself. And while you’re talking, I won’t jump up to take care of something I forgot to do earlier. Mostly, I’ll have fun being with

you, which means you’ll have fun too.  My life works for me now, instead of me having to work for my life. And that’s worth the world to me.

ADHD is an Executive Function Deficit Disorder

Executive Function refers to the cognitive or mental abilities that people need to actively pursue goals. In other words, it’s about how we behave toward our future goals and what mental abilities we need to accomplish them.

The term is very closely related to self-regulation — executive functions are things you do to yourself, in order to change your behavior. By employing your executive functions effectively, you’re hoping to change your future for the better.

Dr. Russell Barkley on what parents need to know about the executive function challenges that can start as early as age 2 — and serve as early warning signs of ADHD in children. Essentially, ADHD is an executive function deficit disorder (EFDD). The umbrella term “ADHD” is simply another way of referring to these issues.

Executive function is judged by the strength of these seven skills:

1. Self-awareness: Simply put, this is self-directed attention.
2. Inhibition: Also known as self-restraint.
3. Non-Verbal Working Memory: The ability to hold things in your mind. Essentially, visual imagery — how well you can picture things mentally.
4. Verbal Working Memory: Self-speech, or internal speech. Most people think of this as their “inner monologue.”
5. Emotional Self-Regulation: The ability to take the previous four executive functions and use them to manipulate your own emotional state. This means learning to use words, images, and your own self-awareness to process and alter how we feel about things.
6. Self-motivation: How well you can motivate yourself to complete a task when there is no immediate external consequence.
7. Planning and Problem Solving: Experts sometimes like to think of this as “self-play” — how we play with information in our minds to come up with new ways of doing something. By taking things apart and recombining them in different ways, we’re planning solutions to our problems.

These seven executive functions develop over time, in generally chronological order. Self-awareness starts to develop around age 2, and by age 30, planning and problem solving should be fully developed in a neurotypical person.

ADHDers are generally about 30 to 40 percent behind their peers in transitioning from one executive function to the next. Therefore, it makes sense for ADHDers to have trouble dealing with age-appropriate situations — they’re thinking and acting in ways that are like much younger people.

ADHD Accommodations That May Help Your Child at School

Manage Impulsivity in the Classroom
For a child who speaks out of turn:
> Seat him front and center, near the teacher, and away from distractions
> Discuss the behavior in private rather than calling him out in front of the class
> Have him sit next to a well-behaved role model
> Increase the distance between desks, if possible
> For younger students, mark an area with tape around his desk in which he can move freely

Help for Half-Done or Incomplete Assignments
> Allow extra time to complete assigned work
> Break long assignments into smaller segments, each with a deadline
> Shorten assignments or work periods
> Pair written instructions with oral instructions
> Set a timer for 10-minute intervals and have the student get up and show the teacher her work

Help Classroom Focus
If your child doesn’t participate, drifts off when taking notes, or turns in work with mistakes:
> Have a peer assist him in note taking
> Have the teacher ask questions to encourage participation
> Enlist him to help present the lesson
> Cue him to stay on task with a private signal—a gentle tap on the shoulder
> Schedule a five-minute period for him to check over work before turning in assignments

To End Disruptive Classroom Behavior
> Have the teacher ignore minor inappropriate behavior
> Allow the student to play with paper clips or doodle
> Designate a place in advance where to let off steam
> Adjust assignments so that they are not too long or too hard
> Develop a behavior contract with the student and parents (share info about what works at home or vice versa)

For the Daydreamer in Class:
> Have the teacher use clear verbal signals, such as “Freeze,” “This is important,” or “One, two, three…eyes on me”
> Allow the student to earn the right to daydream for 5-10 minutes by completing her assignment
> Use a flashlight or a laser pointer to illuminate objects or words to pay attention to
> Illustrate vocabulary words and science concepts with small drawings or stick figures

Settle Fidgety, Restless Behaviors
If your child taps his foot or pencil nervously in class or gets up out of his seat a lot:
> Allow him to run errands, to hand out papers to students, clean off bookshelves, or to stand at times while working
> Give him a fidget toy in class to increase concentration
> Slot in short exercise breaks between assignments
> Give him a standing desk or an air-filled rubber disk to sit on so he can wiggle around

Keep Track of Homework and Books
If your child forgets to bring home homework assignments or books, return papers to school, or to put his name on his paper:
> Use an assignment notebook/student planner
> Allow students to dictate assignments into a Memo Minder, a small three-minute tape recorder
> Staple the teacher’s weekly lesson plan in the student’s planner
> Reduce the number of papers that are sent home to be signed
> Appoint monitors to make sure that students write down homework assignments
> Allow student to keep a second set of books at home

Put Time on His Side
If your child has trouble with due dates and deadlines:
> Give advanced notice about upcoming projects and reports
> Stand next to the student to make sure that the assigned task is begun quickly
> Present all assignments and due dates verbally and visually
> Use timers to mark transitions—putting materials away before starting a new subject or project

Expand Her Social Network
If your child is clueless about social cues, doesn’t work well with others, or isn’t respected by peers:
> Set up social-behavior goals with her and implement a reward program
> Request that the school establish a social skills group
> Encourage cooperative learning tasks
> Assign her special responsibilities or a leadership role
> Compliment positive behavior and work
> Acknowledge appropriate behavior and good work frequently

Take the Fear Out of Writing
If your child is challenged by written assignments:
> Allow more time for written assignments and essay questions
> Shorten reports or assignments
> Allow students to print; don’t require cursive writing
> Allow the option of a recorded or oral report in lieu of writing
> Encourage students to use a computer for written work
> Allow the use of spell check and grammar check software

Reduce Math Anxiety
If your child does not finish math tests, is slow to finish homework, or has problems with multi-step problems:
> Photocopy pages for students so they do not have to rewrite math problems
> Keep sample math problems on the board
> Allow use of a calculator for class- and homework
> Give review summaries for math exams
> Give extended time on tests

What Exactly Are School Modifications and Accommodations ?

There are many ways teachers can help children with learning and attention issues succeed in school. Here are some common accommodations and modifications to discuss with the school as possible options for your child.

Presentation accommodations allow a student to:
• Listen to audio recordings instead of reading text.
• Learn content from audiobooks, movies, videos and digital media instead of reading print versions.
• Work with fewer items per page or line and/or materials in a larger print size.
• Have a designated reader.
• Hear instructions orally.
• Record a lesson, instead of taking notes.
• Have another student share class notes with him.
• Be given an outline of a lesson.
• Use visual presentations of verbal material, such as word webs and visual organizers.
• Be given a written list of instructions.

Response accommodations allow a student to:
• Give responses in a form (oral or written) that’s easier for him.
• Dictate answers to a scribe.
• Capture responses on an audio recorder.
• Use a spelling dictionary or electronic spell-checker.
• Use a word processor to type notes or give responses in class.
• Use a calculator or table of “math facts.”

Setting accommodations allow a student to:
• Work or take a test in a different setting, such as a quiet room with few distractions.
• Sit where he learns best (for example, near the teacher).
• Use special lighting or acoustics.
• Take a test in small group setting.
• Use sensory tools such as an exercise band that can be looped around a chair’s legs (so fidgety kids can kick it and quietly get their energy out).

Timing accommodations allow a student to:
• Take more time to complete a task or a test.
• Have extra time to process oral information and directions.
• Take frequent breaks, such as after completing a task.

Scheduling accommodations allow a student to:
• Take more time to complete a project.
• Take a test in several timed sessions or over several days.
• Take sections of a test in a different order.
• Take a test at a specific time of day.

Organization skills accommodations allow a student to:
• Use an alarm to help with time management.
• Mark texts with a highlighter.
• Have help coordinating assignments in a book or planner.
• Receive study skills instruction.

Assignment modifications allow a student to:
• Complete fewer or different homework problems than peers.
• Write shorter papers.
• Answer fewer or different test questions.
• Create alternate projects or assignments.

Curriculum modifications allow a student to:
• Learn different material (such as continuing to work on multiplication while classmates move on to fractions).
• Get graded or assessed using a different standard than the one for classmates.
• Be excused from particular projects

(NCLD, 2014)

Where Did Special Education Come From?

Three federal laws establish and undergird the rights of children and adults with LD. They ensure that all citizens receive needed and appropriate special education services, as well as fair treatment in public schools, postsecondary education settings and the workplace.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provides special education and related services to children and youth with disabilities who are 3–21 years old. Passed in 1975 as the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, this law guarantees each child a free appropriate public education tailored to his or her individual needs and delivered in the least restrictive environment appropriate to the individual’s needs. It also guarantees the right of children and their parents or guardians to timely evaluation, access to all meetings and paperwork and transition planning. IDEA specifies that children with any of 13 possible educationally handicapping conditions (including specific learning disabilities) are eligible for these services. IDEA also provides federal funds to states and local school districts to help support the additional costs of special education. The law provides several ways to address disputes between schools and parents, including mediation, due process hearings and written complaints to the state.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in federally funded programs and activities. While this civil rights law doesn’t fund programs, it does permit the withdrawal of funds from programs that fail to comply with the law. Persons with a physical or mental impairment that substantially restricts one or more major life activities are eligible for services under Section 504. Some schools use Section 504 to support students with LD needing only reasonable accommodations or modifications. Children and youth with ADHD who don’t need more comprehensive special education support also are frequently served under this law. Section 504 provides for both complaints to the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education and due process hearings. (An important note: All students eligible for special education services under IDEA are also eligible under Section 504, while the reverse is not true.)

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is another civil rights law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination in schools, the workplace and other environments. The ADA protects people who have a physical or mental impairment that substantially restricts one or more major life activities. Since “learning” is considered such an activity under the ADA, students served under IDEA are also covered by this law. In addition, people with disabilities are protected from discrimination in employment settings by the ADA. The law prohibits employers from using unnecessary qualification standards to weed out applicants with disabilities, while not requiring employers to hire unqualified applicants with disabilities. Employers are prohibited from making reference to inaccurate job descriptions to determine that an employee with a disability can no longer perform his or her job. Employers are also prohibited from failing to provide reasonable accommodations that do not cause undue hardship to them. Like Section 504, the ADA provides no federal funds. It was amended in 2008 in order to clarify how its definition of disability should be interpreted in light of several court decisions. As a result, more people (including those with learning disabilities) are now able to satisfy the definition of disability, to gain access to reasonable accommodations and to be protected from discrimination. Issues of noncompliance are handled through complaints to federal agencies and the courts.