Attention Deficit Disorder

1. Kerry Shelton CEP 841 July 30,2011 Attention Deficit Disorder ADHD

2. Why should we be concerned about ADHD? Approximately 2 million children across the United States suffer from ADHD. In a classroom of average size (25-30 children) there is likely to be one child who has ADHD. It is one of the most common chronic conditions of childhood http://www.adult-child-add-adhd.com

3. Why should we be concerned? - Continued • Teachers are often the first people to identify a child who may have ADHD. • General education teachers often lack training about how to best help these children. • There is not a definitive test for ADHD. Diagnosis comes from observation of specific behaviors in various situations. • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline

4. What is ADHD? • ADHD is a condition of the brain that makes it difficult for children to control their behavior. • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder that appears in early childhood. • The signs and symptoms of ADD/ADHD typically appear before the age of seven. • Diagnosis is often made between 6-12 years of age. http://www.healthychildren.org

5. Defining ADHD Continued • ADHD is not a learning disability • ADHD often continues into adulthood • About 3 times more boys than girls are diagnosed with ADHD. http://www.healthychildren.org American Academy of Pediatrics

6. ADHD symptoms • Inattention • Hyperactivity • Impulsivity

7. When to Suspect ADHD • When the child's hyperactivity, distractibility, poor concentration, or impulsivity begin to affect performance in school, social relationships with other children, or behavior at home, ADHD may be suspected. • Are these behaviors excessive, long-term, and pervasive? • Do they occur more often than in other children the same age? • Do the behaviors occur in several settings or only in one specific place like the playground or in the classroom?

8. Types of ADHD 3 Subtypes • Predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type (that does not show significant inattention). • Predominantly inattentive type (that does not show significant hyperactive-impulsive behavior) • Combined type (that displays both inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms).

9. Signs of Hyperactive-Impulsive Type • Feeling restless, often fidgeting with hands or feet, or squirming while seated • Running, climbing, or leaving a seat in situations where sitting or quiet behavior is expected • Blurting out answers before hearing the whole question • Having difficulty waiting in line or taking turns.

10. Signs of Inattentive Type • Often becoming easily distracted by irrelevant sights and sounds. • Often failing to pay attention to details and making careless mistakes. • Rarely following instructions carefully and completely losing or forgetting things like toys, or pencils, books, and tools needed for a task. • Often skipping from one uncompleted activity to another.

11. Criteria for diagnosis • The ADHD symptom behaviors listed on the previous slides must appear and continue for at least 6 months. • Above all, the behaviors must create a real handicap in at least two areas of a person's life such as in the classroom, on the playground, at home, in the community, or in social settings.

12. Students with ADHD often present the following challenges in the classroom: • They demand attention by talking out of turn or moving around the room. • • They have trouble following instructions, especially when they’re presented in a list. • They often forget to write down homework assignments, do them, or bring completed work to school. • • They often lack fine motor control, which makes note-taking difficult and handwriting a trial to read. • • They often have trouble with operations that require ordered steps, such as long division or solving equations. • • They usually have problems with long-term projects where there is no direct supervision. • • They don’t pull their weight during group work and may even keep a group from accomplishing its tas http://www.adult-child-add-adhd.com

13. Successful classroom programs have 3 components • Accommodations:what you can do to make learning easier for students with ADHD. • • Instruction: the methods you use in teaching. • • Intervention:How you head off behaviors that disrupt concentration or distract other students.

14. Specific accommodation techniques • Seat the student with ADHD away from windows and away from the door. Give instructions one at a time and repeat as necessary. • • If possible, work on the most difficult material early in the day. • • Use visuals: charts, pictures, color coding. • Test the student with ADD/ADHD in the way he or she does best, such as orally or filling in blanks. • • Show the student how to use a pointer or bookmark to track written words on a page.

15. Specific Instructional Techniques • List the activities of the lesson on the board. • Keep instructions simple and structured. • Vary the pace and include different kinds of activities. • Allow a student with ADD/ADHD frequent breaks. • Let the student with ADHD squeeze a Koosh ball or tap something that doesn’t make noise as a physical outlet. These are only a few activities for a complete list go to http://www.adult-child-add-adhd.com

16. Ineffective techniques for ADHD students • punishing, removing privileges (especially those that consist of being active like recess) • confronting • yelling, shouting • lecturing, threatening • branding the child as “lazy or “unmotivated” Lavoie (2005)

17. Very Important!!! • Because children with ADHD do better when their lives are ordered and predictable, the most important thing teachers can do for those children is to establish a calm, structured classroom environment with clear and consistent rules.

18. Advice from Richard Lavoie • In his book It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend Lavoie offers the following advice: “If it doesn’t make a difference, what difference does it make?” If a child is squirming in his seat, but doing his math assignment the teacher should ignore the excessive movement.

19. The Co-Positive effects of ADHD in children • Creativity – Children who have ADHD can be very creative and imaginative. • Flexibility– Because children with ADHD consider a lot of options at once, they are more open to different ideas. • Enthusiasm and spontaneity – Children with ADHD are rarely boring! They’re interested in a lot of different things • Energy and drive-When kids with ADHD are motivated, they work or play hard and strive to succeed. It actually may be difficult to distract them especially if the activity is interactive or hands-on.

20. A test for you… • Which one of these children may have ADD/ADHD? A. The hyperactive boy who talks nonstop and can’t sit still. B. The quiet dreamer who sits at her desk and stares off into space. C. Both A and B

21. Answer C

22. Some famous people with ADHD complete list can be found at: http://www.adult-child-add-adhd.com • Albert EinsteinAnsel AdamsAnn BancroftBeethovenAlexander Graham BellJames BoswellSir Richard Francis BurtonPresident George Bush (both) Admiral Richard ByrdLord ByronThomas CarlyleAndrew CarnegieJim CarreyGen. H. Norman CharlesChristopher ColumbusTom CruiseLeonardo da VinciEmily DickinsonPatty DukeThomas EdisonRalph Waldo EmersonErnest & MarelF. Scott FitzgeraldEdward FitzgeraldMalcomb ForbesHenry FordRick FoxBenjamin FranklinRobert FrostZsaZsaGabor Tom Gainsborough GalileoBill Gates

23. Summary • Parents, teachers and doctors must work together closely in order to provide a child with an accurate diagnosis since there is not a definitive test for ADHD. • Patience, support and positive feedback are critical factors in supporting a child with ADHD. • Proper accommodations and interventions are a key the ADHD child’s success.

24. A question for you.. • Children with ADHD are often rejected by their peers because of their impulsivity. What can you do within your classroom to help the ADHD child feel socially accepted?

25. Resources Books Lavoie, Richard (2005). It’s So Much Work to Be Your Friend. New York: Simon & Schuster. Hallowell, E., Ratey, J., (1995). Driven to Distraction. New York: Touchstone Press. Fowler, Mary (1999). Maybe You Know MY Kid. 3rd ed. New York: Kensington Press. Journal Articles J. Pediatr. Psychol. (2007) 32 (6): 655-663. doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsm024 (Journal Article)-“Peer functioning in Children with ADHD”-Betsy HozaPhD • Jiang, Y., & Johnston, C. (2010). Parents' dilemmas in choosing empirically supported treatments for child ADHD. The ADHD Report, 18(4), 5-5-9. doi:10.1521/adhd.2010.18.4.5

26. Resources Journal Articles continued Levy, R. (2008). Demystifying ADHD: A clinician's perspective. The ADHD Report, 16(6), 15-15-16. Web Sites Adult-Child-Add-ADHD: http://www.adult-child-add-adhd.com PBS-Frontline: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline American Academy of Pediatrics http://www.healthychildren.org

27. Resources Web Sites continued American Family Physician http://www.aafp.org/afp/2001/0501/p1803.html National Groups Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA) PO Box 7557Wilmington, DE 19803-9997 Phone/Fax: (800) 939-1019Email: info@add.org National Resource Center on ADHD (CHADD) 8181 Professional Place - Suite 150 Landover, MD 20785 Tel: 301-306-7070 National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663 Bethesda, MD 20892-9663 Phone1-866-615-6464 Email: nimhinfo@nih.gov