Fall semester topics
- Week 36. Benefits of volunteer work
- Week 37. Living with learning disabilities
- Week 38. Personality disorders
- Week 39. Setting up healthy boundaries
- Week 40. Learning to improve concentration
- Week 41. Suicide prevention – learning to help
- Week 42. Phobias – dealing with fears
- Week 43. Sleep disorders
- Week 44. Sexuality – the biochemistry
- Week 45. Addictive relationships
- Week 46. UNESCO day of tolerance
- Week 47. Improving self-confidence
- Week 48. Helping friends or others in distress
- Week 49. World AIDS day – living with illness
- Week 50. Value based decision making
- Week 51. Being assertive in a diverse world
- Week 52. Spirituality – spiritual growth
- Week 1. Dynamics of intro- & extraverts
- Week 2. Orientation – a career that fits!
- Week 3. Living in a foreign country
- Week 4. Overcoming test anxiety
- Week 5. Understanding dysfunction in a family
- Week 6. Smoking – giving up methods
- Week 7. Valentine’s day – commitment
- Week 8. Communication – focusing on skills
- Week 9. Domestic violence
- Week 10. Work-life balance – expectations
- Week 11. Loneliness and feeling alone
- Week 12. Understanding of joy and happiness
- Week 13. Racial discrimination
- Week 14. PTSD
- Week 15. World health day
- Week 16. Panic disorders
- Week 17. Academic honesty – authenticity
- Week 18. Death and dying
- Week 19. Job interviews – good impression
- Week 20. Characteristic of sound families
- Week 21. Celebrating cultural diversity
- Week 22. Growing up in a single parent home
- Week 23. Act of love (self and others)
- Week 24. Focusing on personality tests
- Week 25. Childhood traumas
- Week 26. Relating to the elderly
- Week 27. Grief – dealing with loss
- Week 28. Drug and substance abuse
- Week 29. Dealing with depression
- Week 30. Procrastination
- Week 31. Recovering from shame and guilt
- Week 32. Perfectionism
- Week 33. First generation university students
- Week 34. Compulsive obsessive behaviors
- Week 35. Body image – eating disorders
- Week 36. School bullying – mobbing concerns
Spring semester topics
Learning disabilities (LD)
This week we bring LD into focus. Even if you are personally not effected by it, there is a great chance that someone is in your enviornment. This classification includes several areas of (dis)functioning in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors. The most common learning disabilities are:
Reading disorder (e.g.: dyslexia earlier called “word blindness”)
Disorder of Written Expression (e.g.: dysphasia/Aphasia)
Math disability (e.g.:dyscalculia)
Non ICD-10/DSM (e.g.: nonverbal learning disability)
Of all students with specific learning disabilities, 70%-80% have deficits in reading. Certanily “adults with learning disabilities can make successful life adjustments and lead fulfilling lives. Here are some words of advice from successful adults with LD who have overcome obstacles and achieved success in school, at work, and in the community.
– Recognize and accept your disability.
– Understand your disability and how it affects your life.
– Understand and value your unique strengths, talents and abilities.
– Learn strategies and techniques to work around your disability.
– Be goal-oriented and persevere in working toward and achieving positive results.
– Learn from failures and take action to change what’s not working.
– Build a support network of teachers, family members, friends, counselors and co-workers.
In addition to taking advice from others, many adults with learning disabilities have learned to use assistive technology to help them be more successful and productive in school, at work and at home. Success doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a continuous process of understanding your strengths and challenges, and then making adjustments as needed.” Source info
Today we would particularly like to focus on another common disorder relating to LD called: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD which is a psychological condition that begins in early childhood and frequently persists into adulthood. In general, males have a higher prevalence rate of the disorder than women. There are three broad sets of symptoms associated with ADHD: inattention and distractibility, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. It is not necessary to have symptoms from all three areas to meet criteria for ADHD and many adults experience primarily the cognitive symptoms of inattention and distractibility. The hyperactivity and impulsivity symptoms are more common in males and are typically more severe earlier in childhood. In addition to these primary symptoms, many children with ADHD experience secondary problems, including significant academic difficulties during their early school years and/or interpersonal difficulties with peers.
Additional web resources