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27 May 2014
Helping kids with problems...
My career ambition is to work with children with behavioural difficulties...
Some children have a mental disorder called ADHD
syndrome which causes difficulties concentrating, memorizing, speaking, coordinating their movements or being able to stay still. Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder
is suffered by several thousands of children worldwide.
It is very difficult to take care of a child
with ADHD because he requires complete attention and a lot of patience. One
needs a real capacity to listen to a child with ADHD, who often rejects authority.
It is also very difficult to play with a hyperactive child. The number of diagnoses
of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has ballooned over the past decades. Before the early 1990s, fewer than 5% of school-age kids were thought
to have ADHD syndrome. Earlier this year, data from the Centre for Disease
Control and Prevention showed that 11% of children aged 4 to 17 had been
diagnosed with ADHD. Moreover this disease affects more boys than girls: 12.4%
of boys aged 3 to 17 have been diagnosed with ADHD against 4.7% of girls.
There are treatments which can help improve behaviour
but do not solve the problem. Ritalin, for example, can help a child to concentrate
and be calmer. But we have to be very cautious with these treatments because
they can lead to new problems; Ritalin can cause seizures, heart failure,
emotional problems, and suicidal thoughts as well. Many adolescents have become
addicted. Nowadays, the side-effects are well known and can be better managed.
In some schools, there are special classes or activities which can help children with ADHD live
as normally as possible.
This year, I supervised, with other volunteers,
a group of 6 to10 year olds during one week. We had two ADHD boys in the group.
It was not easy to interest them during the activities because they were not
able to keep up their level of concentration for long. They could not sit still
at all, made a lot of noise, and were sometimes violent. They needed our constant
and undivided attention. However, I enjoyed playing with them: I had to find
solutions and strategies to get them interested in the activities. What was
difficult to deal with is the way they monopolized our attention though there
were other children present. Because of their behaviour they were often
rejected by the other children during the games and, sadly, even by some of the
volunteers...
A friend’s son, Nolan, now aged 8, was
diagnosed as an ADHD-child when he was 5. He moves around a lot, shouts all the
time, and seeks attention from others constantly. He takes Ritalin, even
though this treatment can have negative effects on him. His mother told
me it allows him to be calmer, especially in class. Usually he can only concentrate for
about five minutes on a particular activity, but with Ritalin he can
concentrate longer. He does a lot of sport, including tennis, climbing, and
judo, which also allows him to control his hyperactivity.
I asked his mother what the biggest difficulty
with an ADHD child is. She answered that it was others’ prejudices: people don’t
understand this kind of behaviour. For example, when she is in the tram with
her son, Nolan can’t keep quiet, he speaks very loudly and she often gets
criticised about her son’s behaviour. People think she is incapable of raising her son
properly... A child like Nolan requires a lot of patience and his mother always has
to look after him to avoid him getting hurt. But despite his hyperactivity, he
is a lovable boy with good intentions and I like him a lot.
I would like to be a teacher for children who
have behavioural or psychological difficulties, including ADHD children, helping
them to the best of my abilities to live a decent life.
Article by Mathilde K.
5 April 2014
IChO
I took part in the International Chemistry Olympiad which runs from
November to the end of January. In Clermont-Ferrand, we were around 60 pupils
who met for 4 hours every Wednesday in order to gain more in-depth knowledge of
Chemistry.
The theme this year was Chemistry and Sport. There’s no sport without
chemistry! For example: chemical experiments lead to the discovery of new
materials to build better equipment. And there are illegal molecules too (like
cocaine, testosterone, or morphine)...
The International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) is an annual competition for
high school students all over the world. The first IChO was held in Prague in
1968. The event has been held every year since then. The delegations that
attended the first events were mostly countries of the former Eastern bloc and
it was not until 1980, the 12th annual International Chemistry Olympiad, that
the event was held outside of the bloc (in Austria).
The idea of the International Chemistry Olympiad was developed in the
former Czechoslovakia in 1968. It was set up with the aim of increasing the
number of international contacts and the exchange of information between
nations. Invitations were sent by the Czechoslovak national committee to all
socialist countries, except Romania. However, in May 1968, relations between
Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union became so delicate that only Poland and
Hungary took part in the first international competition.
I think these events are also opportunities for the students to meet
people from all around the world who share similar interests, to visit
different places, and to discover different cultural practices. The IChO
competitions help to create friendly relations among young people from
different countries; they encourage cooperation and international
understanding.
I really liked taking part in this competition, especially as I could
carry out all sorts of chemical experiments in the laboratories!
Article by Mathilde D.
What are the ties between a mother and her unborn baby? Article by Mathilde D.
The ties between mother and fetus are biological, psychological and sensory:
- Biological: the umbilical cord brings all the food and the vital elements for the well-being of the fetus. It is the physical link everyone knows about.
- Psychological: it includes the attitudes and reactions of the mother during pregnancy. Doctors have demonstrated that if a mother is really stressed the newborn baby may get eczema or become an anxious child later. There is also a transgenerational memory, meaning if the mother goes through a very difficult ordeal during her pregnancy, the baby will be psychologically affected by this event. He may then develop phobias or other mental problems.
- Sensory: it is really important that parents talk to their child during the pregnancy in order to provide her/him with affection and love. After the birth, the parents’ voices will be really important for the baby because they are the first sounds s/he will recognize. Haptonomie, the ability of parents to communicate with their child without the use of words, is also very important: they have to use their hands and rub the stomach in order to interact with their child.
Unfortunately, some babies will never get the attention needed from their parents... Some surrogate mothers, for example, deprive their fetus of the necessary sensory attention because they consider the baby as not really being their own...
Mathilde's ambition is to become an obstetrician. Studies are long (11 years or more) and very difficult (with two major exams). But she thinks it will be worth the effort because improving the health of mothers and their babies is so important.
Mathilde's ambition is to become an obstetrician. Studies are long (11 years or more) and very difficult (with two major exams). But she thinks it will be worth the effort because improving the health of mothers and their babies is so important.
1 April 2014
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