Yesterday I sat in an interesting lecture that I would like to reflect on here in this forum. One of the things about truth is that it is truth no matter where you find it. I love how the information I can pick up at a conference on neuroscience can fit so well with what I know from other fields.
As you know, I work with children who struggle in schools, families and relationships. A number of those children are diagnosed with ADD (attention deficit disorder) or ADHD (attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity). The disorders cause about 5% of the population to process information in a very different way. In reality, their brains function in a manner very different from the rest of people. I could go on and describe the distinctions in the size and blood flow to their prefrontal cortex of the brain, but it becomes overly detailed and tedious. The net result is, when children with ADD or ADHD are screamed at or lectured, as many frustrated parents, teachers, or grandparents might do, the blood flow to the centers of the brain that process information shut down and they stop learning. Information is not being processed. Some things can help them learn, but agitation cannot be one of them.
Let’s just say, since there is a physical difference in the manner in which the brain exists and works, to punish a child for ADD or ADHD is much like punishing someone for being under 5 foot 5 inches or for having long fingers. It is something that exists and we may be able to compensate for it; however, we cannot alter the fact. But how does this have anything to do with God and Scripture?
One of the treatment processes for ADD and ADHD is to help children and adults to learn how to “work around” the abnormality. As someone who is short might have to use a stool from time to time, we can learn to work differently in our thinking and behaviors. So, for me, the question is: What is the stool that someone with ADD or ADHD needs to help them succeed?
Paul says, Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 Now, I am not too sure about you, but I know I really struggle with this discipline. I need to get my mind focused to think about what I am going to say and how I am going to say it. When I do so, I change and I can change those around me.
If a person hears, reviews, and thinks about just three positive things per day at a focused time, the brain begins to anticipate and look for positive things all throughout the day. This is due to neuroplasicity. The brain can actually change on a cellular level, functioning in a new and different way. Can you imagine the power that would exist in your world if you began to anticipate doing well? What if you expected to find a way to be successful?
I am not just talking about the absence of criticism, but what if I actively praised genuinely good things in others. What if I reviewed each morning three things that God had blessed me with? What if I looked for the blessings of God in my world? Neuroscience would tell us that we will become aware of them, not fabricating them, but seeing what is already there.
All the things Jesus told us about our speech, they sort of take on a whole new meaning to me. I’ll see you next week.
