Brookline Books/Lumen Editions

Rethinking Attention Deficit Disorders 

Fall 1999 
ISBN 1-57129-037-0 $27.95  

This book presents two major ideas. First, it explains why the behavioral outbursts of a person with an ADD are not in fact "misbehavior," but attempts at self-regulation. The authors view Attention Defict Disorder as a problem with the regularity, control and fluency of attention; people with ADD have trouble balancing the demands of sustained focus against forces such as novel, intense, or affectively driven preferences. The essence of attention dysfunction thus transcends issues of behavior to its cognitive, affective, social and personal aspects.

The second half of this ground-breaking book reveals that, even as these students gain control of their behavior, they frequently have other formidable learning problems. The authors describe what a classroom should be like for these students. Then, in serperate chapters, they review the practices in reading, writing, and mathematics that have proven useful in working with students with ADD. An important new angle on the eductions of students -and adults -with ADD!