CNN Medical Experts Reveal Two Keys To Helping Children With ADHD In School
July 20, 2010 
5 Comments
In a blog post today, CNN’s medical team discusses the recent results of a Consumer Reports Health Survey that suggests the two most important keys to successfully helping and supporting a child with ADHD.
These two keys:
- Medication
- Schools that are “in the know”
All in all, this is a very interesting read and perspective on the difficulties many children and parents face when trying to manage and overcome the challenges presented by ADHD.
The article is heavy on research findings and statistics, reporting that 84 percents of parents turn to medication at one point or another. I don’t know about you, but that seems very high given the great controversy reported by so many parents who are against using medication. But that’s just my thought, and reaction.
At the same time, I definitely agree that medications are an important part of comprehensive treatment, but only when necessary and fully explored (not just for the sake of medicating).
What I liked most was the balanced discussion of just how important it is to be working with schools who are flexible and prepared to support these children in their unique learning styles. That’s a huge factor! It’s an awful lot to put the pressure on these children, and I think it even goes so far to suggest that they are the ones who must adapt to the world…rather than teaching them the value of choice, flexibility, and most importantly, fit.
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the article after you get a chance to read it all.
Totally agree that ADHD kids and all kids need supportive schools. It’s so important that it’s worth moving for.
As for the stats on meds, if that’s true, it’s distressing. Meds can certainly help a lot IF the child really has ADHD and not a condition that mimics adhd. I’m not against meds at all but I’m certainly against over-prescribing them and feel strongly that such is the case now.
Often wonder how often the serious side-effects that some kids suffer is because the kid doesn’t have ADHD in the first place. Allergies, lack of vitamin D, sensitivity to red dye 40 and dozens of other things can cause ADHD-like behavior.
O.K. Enough of my soap box!
It is a fine line between having a cooperative, supportive school or work environment and asking the world to adapt to each child or person’s differences. As you say, our children need to be taught to make good choices, self advocate and be flexible enough to fit.
I am thankful for your updates on informatin with the ADD world! My boys’ school has built an IEP for emotional disorder for them to be in a smaller classroom with teachers that are more patient when they fidget in their seats. However, these teachers also told me the boys needed to be on meds. So like a good mother, I went to the doctor and started meds. However, the side effects were far worse than the help they received. So I turned to natural supplements which are working great! I didn’t tell the teachers for 3 months that I had taken the boys off meds…and they said the boys were doing well. I did find it interesting that one teacher started calling me with “issues” the same week she found out that my son was no longer on meds. I believe some teachers have it in their minds that children have to be on prescription meds!
My 12y/o son has been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and has been on Respiridone since age 2 1/2. He also has been diagnosed with ADHD and Asperges Syndrome. He also takes Concerta and Stratera. He is in 8th grade and an auditory learner. So we are having trouble getting him to write notes, do his warm-ups or even get his binder out of his backpack to get his homework out or write the next day’s homework in his agenda. Any suggestions? He won’t take any fish oil to see if that would work as well as his Concerta either.
There’s plenty of medication out there, but finding a school “in the know” ?? I really can not fathom what that means or how a parent would be able to determine that. Schools consist of different teachers with different opinions and attitudes on ADHD/ADD. I have two daughters-one with ADD and the other, ADHD/ADD combined, primarily inattentive. Some school years have been better than others because the TEACHER was willing to work with us and follow through with much needed accommodations. What’s important to mention here, is that the accommodations we asked for were simple and did not require a whole lot of effort on the teacher’s part. Yet the roughest academic years were when teachers dismissed our concerns or resisted cooperating with (simple) accommodations. With that said, unless a school is totally dedicated solely to the education of ADHD/ADD children, it would be completely impossible to find a school that was (completely) “in the know”. I have found that inconsistency in teachers’ attitudes about ADHD/ADD, to be the biggest obstacle when advocating for my children. So then, my final comment would be, finding a school “in the know” is neither clear nor feasible.