Imagine the most difficult environment for a child who has difficulty sitting still, difficulty paying attention, and loves to talk to other children?

Imagine that this child has to go into this environment every day, and is expected to perform successfully.

This describes your child's classroom setting. There are a lot of distractions, yet they are told to sit still, don't move, don't talk. They must pay attention to boring worksheets, and keep on task until the work is finished. None of these things come easily to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder kids. But day by day, off to school they go.

Many ADHD kids "hit a wall" in school as the school year progresses. Every week they just get a little farther and farther behind, until they're so far behind that it's impossible to catch up. They lose their homework assignments, even after they have spent hours working on them. And they study hard for tests only to perform poorly the next day. They just slip farther and farther behind with each passing week.

ADHD is most often recognized and referred for treatment in third grade.This is when kids usually hit the "academic wall" for the first time, and the parents search for some help. We also see many referrals when the child leaves Elementary School for Junior High School, with several classes and several teachers. Many ADHD kids who found ways to compensate in Elementary School are totally lost in Junior High School.

How can we help these children to be more successful in school?

Begin by learning more about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder from the ADHD Information's family of web sites.

ADDinSchool.com is one of our ADHD web sites. It has over 500 Classroom Interventions to help your ADHD Student succeed. It is time to check it out!

1. Don't buy into the line, "He'd behave if he wanted to." That may or may not be true. He may behave just fine from time to time, and if you encourage him, he may do well for long periods of time. But his problem is not that he does not want to behave, rather his problem has a medical basis which makes it hard for him to sustain self-control.

2. Understand that of all of the kids with ADHD, about 60% or so are hyperactive, and that 40% are not hyper at all. Also know that about 60% are male, and about 40% are female. Not all kids with ADHD will cause problems. The rest will just sit and stare. Only one out of three with the Attention Deficit Disorder will ever get help from a professional.

3. Don't dismiss the behaviors as either poor parenting, or poor classroom management.

4. Before talking to the parents, get a second opinion from another teacher, the school psychologist, etc. When you do meet with the parents, make a list of the behaviors that you are concerned about. Don't try to diagnose the child yourself, as this will simply make the parents defensive. Instead, just report the observed behaviors and ask the parents to get it checked out.

5. Invite the parents to come in to your class and observe. Hint: More than one visit will be required, as having the parent present the first time creates a "unique" situation which stimulates the child to do better than normal.

6. Be aware that the ADHD child often does very well in unique or novel situations, or in one-to-one situations. This includes a visit to a physician or a therapist to diagnose a problem. Also be aware that the hardest place for an ADHD child is in the classroom setting. There are dozens of distractions, pressures, and rules that can be difficult for the child.

For more tips please be sure to visit us at the ADDinSchool website to find over 500 classroom interventions helping children with ADHD to be more successful in school.

I am moving from static html pages to dynamic php pages using Drupal, a CMS platform. Wow! Stay with me...

What that means is that I will be able to add new content easily, every day or every week to the sites. I will also be inviting several others to become "contributing authors" to the sites, and they will be able to add articles as often as they'd like.

I am planning to add completely new sections

• ADHD Information (what is already there, and more)
• New! - Parenting Tips - Contribute Your Experiences Here!
• New! - Grandparents, parenting again! For grandparents of ADHD kids that are raising their grandchildren. Share your experiences here!
• More on the different types of ADHD, and specific treatment options for each type

So if you are interested in contributing articles, please let me know, and start writing!

I know that there are many of you who have a lot of experience that you can share with others in your same situation. And there are many professionals out there who could make big contributions as well.

Remember, I do this "Very Part-Time" so I can always use good articles!

If you are interested, please email me at dcowan @ newideas.net

Thanks

Dr. Doug