CHAPTER 2 ATTENTION

Discussion Questions

1. Teachers need to be familiar with the characteristic behaviors of ADD in order to prevent overreferral and underreferral for ADD. What behaviors should teachers look for that would indicate ADD? Think in terms of behaviors related to (a) mental energy controls, (b) processing controls, and (c) production controls.

2. Levine says that attention problems can affect academics, general behavior, and social skills. He talks most about the effects of attention problems on academics. How do attention problems of mental energy controls, processing controls, and production controls affect social skills?

3. Why might children with attention problems mistakenly be thought of as making careless errors? What underlying attention problems or characteristic ADD behaviors might make children appear careless?

4. Levine discusses 4 types of assessment instruments that can be used to assess attention problems: questionnaires, direct tests of attention, observations, and interviews. What is the main advantage of each? What is the main disadvantage of each? If you only had time to use one method of assessing attention problems which would you choose and why?