Hollis Dannaham has been empowering complex learners for 30 years as a learning specialist, special educator, administrator, and consultant in public, private, and charter schools. Hollis created Transform Boundaries, an organization dedicated to helping schools create programs and creative solutions for reaching their complex learners. She served as the Director of Academic Intervention at Explore Charter School and co-created the Carmel Alternative High School for at-risk teens. Hollis also worked as a learning specialist at the Student Success Center of All Kinds of Minds. Currently Hollis is a coach, mentor, and workshop facilitator for Hidden Sparks.
This session will be a facilitated discussion to construct and deepen our understanding of attention collaboratively. After the facilitated discussion, you can stay on to discuss students you have been observing, especially if they seem to have strengths or struggles having to do with attention (time permitting).
PREPARATION MATERIAL & OPTIONS
For each Webchat, there are 3 levels of preparation: 1) Short prep (up to 45 min.), 2) Medium prep (up to 3 hours), 3) Long prep (over 3 hours). Choose the preparation level that corresponds to the amount of time you can spend on learning before the WebChat.
Please watch these two videos:
1) “The Face of ADHD: Let’s Change Your Stereotypes: Anna Davide at TEDxHonoluED” (Video, 6.5 min)
Anna Davide is a freshman at Assets High School who has boundless energy and a learning style that is unique and imaginative and is widely discussed and diagnosed in our education system today. Anna shares an insider’s view of ADHD.
2) The Cognitive Neuroscience of Sustained Attention and Classical Mindfulness: Volume 1 (Video, 11 min)
This short film outlines basic ideas behind sustained attention and classical mindfulness. It covers concepts of the behavior of attention, real life examples, cognitive neuroscience, and some of the differences between western and eastern approaches. It also presents basic differences between internal and external sustained attention. This film is designed for students, clinicians, and anyone interested in the topic of sustained attention.
“Phenomena Related to Weak Attention Controls“, Chapter two from Educational Care by Dr. Mel Levine (PDF)
This chapter is from Mel Levine’s 2002 book about the neurodevelopmental constructs. This chapter describes different weaknesses in attentional controls ranging from mental energy, to processing controls to production controls.
Attention Deficit Disorder: The Unfocused Mind in Children and Adults (Book)
by Thomas Brown – Book (Available on Kindle for $10; paperback $12; used from $4; audio $25)
A leading expert in the assessment and treatment of Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder dispels myths and offers reassuring, practical information about treatments. Drawing on recent findings in neuroscience and a rich variety of case studies from his own clinical practive, Dr. Thomas E. Brown describes what ADD syndrome is, how it can be recognized at different ages, and how it can best be treated.