V. SCHOOL HOMEWORK-THE EVERLASTING PARENT-CHILD BATTLEGROUND!

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Homework- the renowned parent-child battleground! Unfortunately, the success of your child in school depends on his ability to complete homework…and remember it. Parents and teachers have challenged the value of homework since the early 1900’s, but whenever the amount of homework decreased, grades and test scores plummeted. Current studies demonstrate that children who spend more time on regularly assigned, meaningful homework, on average, do better in school, and that the academic benefits of homework increase as children move into the upper grades. Here’s 21 tips on how to teach your child to be homework savvy:
1. Teach time management skills. True, he must get it done before bedtime, but that’s too vague. The youngest of school-age children can differentiate between short-term and long-term projects. You'll learn more about teaching this skill as you proceed through the 21 tips.

2. Create a specific “Study Area” with good lighting. Have it chock full of essential school supplies in a space that’s distraction free. All children have an attention span, but many attend to everything, including fido getting a drink from the dog bowl or a TV blasting two rooms away. Have a closed room with no TV or stereo, away from the household hubbub, and where you can easily “drop by” to check how he’s doing. Cell phone, TV, iPod, stereo…whatever, are to be shut off. Funny thing about text messages- you can always view them later. Hint: Some students learn better with quiet music in the background. If your child is one of them, first have him complete homework in the beginning, then gradually allow his music to be played.

3. Have a homework planner available; it’s the “workhorse” in winning the homework war. Have him record the day's homework for each subject and check it upon home arrival…daily. And, if a particular teacher (s) assigned no homework, he should write “No homework” in the planner.

4. Hang a magnetic or non-magnetic dry erase board hung in the “Study Area” (See No. 8).

5. Have him double-check his planner before leaving school to go home so all essential materials and textbooks are packed in the backpack.

6. Decide with him on a specific homework time to prevent procrastination. Many parents follow the time-honored rule of requiring all homework to be completed before playtime begins. I’m against this! Many children need to unwind upon arriving home from school. Allowing them to let loose some pent up steam before doing homework is OK. Hint: Researchers tell us that the optimum time for the adolescent brain to work is from 7 – 8 p.m. and they should study their toughest subjects at that time.

7. Foster good time management skills by helping your child determine how long each subject should take and touching base on how to proceed. figure out how to break up long-term projects. For many children, it’s a new concept to plan something over a long period of time. Parents can be most helpful in the areas of organization and time management.

8. Record long-term assignments on a large calendar or on dry-erase board (See No. 4). Then, the long-term stuff is constantly in plain view. You can then help your child to tackle them in “baby steps”. Even younger children can learn “Salami Tactics”. A huge salami may look unmanageable, but when you cut it into smaller slices, you‘d be surprised how the whole salami disappears. Use salami tactics for large projects.

9. Don’t stand over child’s shoulder, but periodically stop by to check on your child. Is he on task? If he’s stumped on something, answer his questions instead of immediately jumping in to solve the problem.
10. Check homework upon completion.

11. Have your child pack his backpack the night before school. Store completed homework, tests, worksheets and papers due the next day in one (not a half dozen for each subject) brightly colored, durable plastic folder. Have your child put it in his backpack.

12. Encourage your child to tackle more-difficult subjects first--before he or she gets tired or frustration sets in (See No. 6).

13. Train yourself how to help your kid with homework. For teaching tools and homework help, check out http://www.school.discovery.com/ The book “Winning the Homework War“ by Fredric M. Levine, Kathleen M. Anesko, State University of New York at Stony Brook Homework Clinic is a good read for parents.

14. Don’t feel guilty and get upset if you’re losing the homework tug-of-war with

your child. Consider a homework club, hire a tutor, or check to see if there‘s an after-school program with tutors. Tutors are helpful anytime your child is turned off by a particular subject. Some public libraries offer tutors at no cost.

The material may be over his head. Remember, learning proceeds from the “known” to the “unknown” and some children need more “knowns” before the “unknowns” are introduced. A tutor can provide focus on the “unknowns” to turn the situation around. Even a half-hour of tutoring can save the day because a teacher is lucky to give him 5 minutes of individualized time a day. How about teaming up with a friend to help each other’s kid out?

15. Eat breakfast! Children need energy to think and stay on task. A Harvard Uiversity/Massachusetts General Hospital study found that children who eat breakfast perform better on standardized achievement tests and have fewer behavior problems in school.

16. Determine if your child is studying too much. The National Education Association (NEA) armed with observational research recommends the following age-appropriate nightly homework time: Grades K-2 = 10-20 minutes; 3rd to 6th grades = 30-60 minutes; 7th to 8th grades = 2 hours; and in high school = 2-2½ hours. I’ve heard experts say study times should be roughly 10 minutes more for each grade level; i.e., 1st grade = 10 minutes and 6th grade = 60 minutes. Hint: Study breaks are needed for elementary and middle-school kids. They lack the sustained concentration that most high school students have. Allow a 5-10 minute break every 20 minutes of so for 6th to 8th graders, and longer breaks for younger children.
Hint: Every teacher has academic expectations for students. Ask your child’s teacher how much time she/he expects students to spend on homework each night.

17. Inspect the planner if the school uses one. It will have space to write in daily assignments and in-between dates for long-term projects. Use the planner yourself to review projects and due dates with your child. A growing number of schools have online sites to view daily and weekly assignments in each class, long-term projects and due dates, and what is currently being covered in class. Bookmark the school's site on your computer!

18. Downsize if necessary to keep homework the No. 1 priority. How busy is your child’s schedule? Does he partake in too many other activities? Signs of a child being overscheduled and overloaded are: feeling tired, exhausted or depressed; not enjoying the activity they once loved; earning lower grades in school; complaining of headaches or body aches, which may be due to stress or lack of sleep; and having stomach pain due to missed meals or stress (Boys Town Pediatrics). Keep school academics and homework the No. 1 priority! If your child is having a difficult time keeping up with the pace and demands of the classroom, think about dropping an activity.

19. Become a diagnostic teacher. Professional teachers don’t need a test to learn academic areas kids are having difficulty in. They observe while floating up and down the aisles, noting how much time a child takes to complete a task, whether or not he shows frustration, if he erases too much or asks too many questions in order to complete the academic task. Observe at home. If the frustration persists, contact his teacher. Don’t wait for the school to contact you. Chances are, the teacher has noted the frustration in class, too. Let him/her know what your doing at home and ask if there’s specific activities you can do to help your child master the material.

20. Encourage daily effort and improvement instead of waiting to praise final product. Yes, I know, test and exams are important. But, it’s not all about the end product, but about the process of learning. For example, say your child is having difficulties in math. He studies the math chapter each night for a week, then earns a 64 percentile, or “D” on the chapter test. Keep encouraging his efforts in the subject. If he earns a 69 percentile on the next chapter test, you can’t praise him by saying, “You did great. We’re proud of you!“, because he’ll realize you’re obviously insincere. However, you can say, “Johnny, we saw you studying hard for that test and you got 5 percentage points higher…you’re improving because of your efforts!”

Hint: That’s what diagnostic teaching is all about (See No. 19). Become a good observer and you can encourage your child every day by commenting positively on his effort and improvement, no matter how small.

Hope this site gives you some ideas to win the homework war. In the right-hand margin, don't forget to take the Homework Poll, watch the videos on homework research, and read "Hot Off The Press", which has today's headlines about school homework.

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Robert Morton, M.Ed., Ed.S. has retired from his positions of School Psychologist and adjunct professor in the School of Leadership & Policy Studies at Bowling Green State Univeristy. A portion of Ad sale revenue from this site is donated to Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America. Questions? Comment? Concerns about family, parenting, educational or personal concerns? Contact him on the secure Bpath Mail Form.

VI. ALCOHOL ABUSE RESEARCH AND SELF-ASSESSMENT OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ALCOHOL

The study of alcohol abuse is vast. This Family Journal piece will present a synopsis of the research, and includes well-researched “self-tests” you can take. These self-screenings are the first line of defense against alcohol abuse and will force you to honestly think about your drinking behaviors. Clinics often conduct free and confidential alcohol screenings, usually a written self-test along with an interview with a health professional.

Researchers are trying to increase our understanding of why, how, and when people drink, and why and how some people develop alcohol use disorders. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) developed a Five Year Strategic Plan for Research FY08-13, which can be found on their website at: www.niaaa.nih.gov. The following is a synopsis of their findings:

Alcohol across the age span:
1. Midlife: Researchers consider “Midlife” to be between the ages of 30–59. This age period is where the consequences of heavy drinking often become evident. Alcoholic liver disease, alcohol pancreatitis, several types of cancer, disorders of the heart and circulatory system, alcohol-related brain disorders, and other adverse effects upon the endocrine and immune system are most likely to emerge. Researchers are studying how alcohol damages body tissues, as well as methods for better tailoring treatments and interventions to this segment of the population.

Individuals in midlife are more likely to seek treatment for alcohol dependence. Three drugs—disulfiram, naltrexone, and acamprosate—have been approved for use in the United States to treat alcoholism. Although some patients have responded well to these medications, others have not. Research shows that a variety of factors—both biological and social— influence an individual’s response to therapy.

2. Senior Adults: Once in their 60’s, senior adults tend to drink less. However, senior adults drinking is on the rise and studies show that alcohol problems in older adults soon may become a national health issue. Little alcohol-related research has been conducted among this age-group. Researchers are exploring how the physiological and social changes in seniors interact with alcohol use. Increasingly, they’re studying the effectiveness of current medications in seniors with alcohol use disorders, as well as developing medications that might work better in older individuals. Particularly, much funding goes to studies of how alcohol impacts the development of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, and other age-related health problems. Ongoing research will reveal how changing demographics may affect the use, impact, and consequences of older adult drinking. Alcohol-related problems increase for older adults as well.

As individuals age they metabolize alcohol more slowly; as a result, alcohol remains in the body longer. Older adults are more likely to have health conditions that can be exacerbated by alcohol, including stroke, hypertension, neurodegeneration, memory loss, mood disorders, and cognitive or emotional problems. Additionally, older adults are more likely than younger people to take medications, putting them at risk for interactions that can be dangerous or even life-threatening. Alcohol also may decrease effectiveness of some medications.

Research shows that treatment can be effective in older individuals because they respond better to treatment that takes place in groups of people in their same age range. Cognitive behavioral therapy has been shown to be effective in older patients. Group family therapy also has been shown to be successful, perhaps because family therapy engages support systems that might have been lacking or even exacerbating the patient’s alcohol use.

Studies reveal that education is the most beneficial treatment for alcohol use disorders in older adults. The age at which they begin drinking also is important. Older adults who began problem drinking earlier in life tend to have worse treatment outcomes than those who began drinking later in life.

What about Moderate Alcohol Consumption?
Moderate drinking is, obviously, less of a health risk than heavy alcohol consumption. In fact, some research suggests that moderate alcohol consumption may protect individuals from some of the health problems that tend to strike during midlife, including coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and ischemic stroke. However, more research is needed to determine whether these potential benefits outweigh the risks of drinking {NIAAA and National Institute of Health (NIH)}.

What do studies show about medications to treat alcohol abusers?
Disulfiram, naltrexone, and acamprosate are now used and are highly effective with some patients but ineffective in others. Research reveals that drinking and alcohol-seeking behavior are influenced by multiple neurotransmitter systems, neuromodulators, hormones, and intracellular networks. New medications will be developed to target these sites.

Unfortunately, a disconnect exists between research and practice regarding the use of medications to treat alcohol abusers. For example, many physicians while few drug/alcohol counselors suggest patients take naltrexone. This medication helps reduce the frequency of drinking and the severity of relapse among alcohol-dependent patients. True, there are occasional reports of no effects, but large-scale analyses of clinical trials have continued to support an improvement in treatment outcomes with the use of this naltrexone (Kranzler, H.R., and Van Kirk, J. Efficacy of naltrexone and acamprosate for alcoholism treatment: A meta-analysis. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 25:1335–1341, 2001).

Conclusion of 5-year NIAAA plan
Researchers will explore how alcohol affects individuals at different stages of development and how different stages of development affect drinking behaviors. NIAAA’s Lifespan Perspective offers a new approach to the age-old question: Why do some people drink too much? They’ll focus in on how alcohol intersects with one’s biology and the environment, which will result in more effective and better-targeted interventions that take into account the changing needs of individuals at every stage of life.

What about alcohol abuse between ethnic groups and minorities?
National surveys show alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems among White Americans have declined since the mid-1980s (Caetano, R., and Clark, C.L. Trends in alcohol consumption among Whites, Blacks and Hispanics: 1984 and 1995. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 59:659–668, 1998). At the same time, however, alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems have remained stable or even increased among Blacks and Hispanics. Studies also show that, for any given level of alcohol consumption, ethnic minority populations experience more negative health and social consequences of drinking (unemployment, poor education outcomes, and alcohol-related legal problems) than Whites (Boyd, M.R.; Phillips, K.; and Dorsey, C.J. Alcohol and other drug disorders, comorbidity, and violence: Comparison of rural African American and Caucasian women. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing 17:249–258, 2003).

How much alcohol consumption is too much?
Men may be at risk for alcohol-related problems if their alcohol consumption exceeds 14 standard drinks per week or 4 drinks per day, and women may be at risk if they have more than 7 standard drinks per week or 3 drinks per day. A standard drink is defined as one 12-ounce bottle of beer, one 5-ounce glass of wine, or 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician’s Guide. NIH Pub No. 05–3769. Bethesda, MD: the Institute, 2005).

Have you ever really contemplated whether you were consuming too much alcohol or not? Here's some self-assessments you can do on yourself, in private. The first of two self-questionnaires is the CAGE, which will make you more aware of the extent to which alcohol consumption is or is not affecting your life. The CAGE identifies alcohol problems over your lifetime and is commonly used to screen in primary care settings. It is short and easy to remember and has been highly researched and shown to be reliable for detecting a range of drinking problems. Begin your self-assessment by honestly answering the four CAGE questions below:

CAGE
C Have you ever felt you should cut down on your drinking?
A Have people annoyed you by criticizing your drinking?
G Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?
E Eye opener: Have you ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady your nerves or to get rid of a hangover?

Two positive CAGE responses are considered a positive test and indicate further assessment is warranted. You may want to take the second self-assessment below called the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT):

With the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), simply circle the answer below that is correct for you:
1. How often do you have a drink containing alcohol? a. Never b. Monthly or less c. Two to four times a month d. Two to three times per week e. Four or more times per week

2. How many drinks containing alcohol do you have on a typical day when you are drinking? a.1 or 2 b. 3 or 4 c. 5 or 6 d. 7 to 9 e.10 or more

3. How often do you have six or more drinks on one occasion? a. Never
b. Less than monthly c. Monthly d. Two to three times per week
e. Four or more times per week

4. How often during the last year have you found that you were not able to stop drinking once you had started? a. Never b. Less than monthly
c. Monthly d. Two to three times per week e. Four or more times per week

5. How often during the last year have you failed to do what was normally expected from you because of drinking? a. Never b. Less than monthly
c. Monthly d. Two to three times per week e. Four or more times per week

6. How often during the last year have you needed a first drink in the morning to get yourself going after a heavy drinking session? a. Never
b. Less than monthly c. Monthly d. Two to three times per week
e. Four or more times per week

7. How often during the last year have you had a feeling of guilt or remorse after drinking? a. Never b. Less than monthly c. Monthly d. Two to three times per week e. Four or more times per week

8. How often during the last year have you been unable to remember what happened the night before because you had been drinking? a. Never
b. Less than monthly c. Monthly d. Two to three times per week d. Four or more times per week

9. Have you or someone else been injured as a result of your drinking? a. No b. Yes, but not in the last year c.Yes, during the last year

10. Has a relative or friend, or a doctor or other health worker, been concerned about your drinking or suggested you cut down? a. No b. Yes, but not in the last year c. Yes, during the last year

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) can detect alcohol problems experienced in the last year. A score of 8+ on the AUDIT generally indicates harmful or hazardous drinking.
How to score your AUDIT responses: Questions 1–8: a = 0, b =1, c = 2, d = 3, e = 4 points. Questions 9 and 10: a = 0, b = 2, or c = 4 only

If you answered “Yes” two or more questions on the CAGE and scored 8+ on the AUDIT, perhaps you should consider seeking help to better control your alcohol consumption.

Watch the four videos on alcohol abuse and take the Alcohol Poll in the right margin. Also, read "Hot Off The Press", which has daily Ohio newspaper headlines covering the topic of alcohol abuse in Ohio.

VII. COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH LEARING DIFFICULTIES

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