ADHD/ADD: A Natural Approach

Editorial Comment

The author addresses the special problem of ADHD in school children, which is the fact that the very environment they are in (one of constraint, control and being stationery) is very stressful for them. His advice to parents that the best thing they can do is to learn as much as they can about the problem is very sound.



ADHD Kids "Hitting the Wall" at School

By: Douglas Cowan, Psy.D.
Can you imagine the most difficult environment for a child who had difficulty sitting still, difficulty paying attention, and loved to talk to other children? Imagine that this child had to go into this environment every day, and was expected to perform successfully in this environment.

When you think about it, it is the classroom setting that is this difficult setting for these kids. There are a lot of distractions, yet they are told to sit still, don't move, don't talk, to 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 Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder 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.

The disorder is most often recognized and referred for treatment in third grade. This is when kids most often hit the "academic wall." In third grade they are expected to do more and more work on their own, and they are given more homework to do as well. We also see many referrals in seventh grade, or when the child leaves Elementary School for Junior High School, with several classes and several teachers. Many Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder 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. Here is one of our outstanding web sites with over 500 Classroom Interventions to help your ADD ADHD Student succeed.
Douglas Cowan, Psy.D., is a family therapist who has been working with ADHD children and their families since 1986. He is the clinical director of the ADHD Information Library's family of seven web sites, including www.newideas.net, helping over 350,000 parents and teachers learn more about ADHD each year. Dr. Cowan also serves on the Medical Advisory Board of VAXA International of Tampa, FL., is President of the Board of Directors for KAXL 88.3 FM in central California, and is President of NewIdeas.net Incorporated.

 


ADHD Current News

ADHD More Articles
  • ADHD - Are there Treatment Options?
    As an ADD coach I am often asked about the treatment options available for Attention Deficit Disorder. Generally when someone says “ADD” the first thing that will come to the laypersons mind is ‘Ritalin...
  • ADHD And the Morning Routine
    Saying my ADHD son doesnt wake up well would be like saying Old Faithful is a pretty big geyser. This child, age 10 and with severe ADHD, wakes up like a rock. Morning has always been a difficult time...
  • What exactly is Adhd?
    Everyone hears a lot about attention deficit problems these days and the condition has even become a staple of media entertainment (mainly sitcoms), appearing as a humor-based topic on shows like Desperate...
  • Intro to Being an ADHD Parent
    In my fifteen years of private practice working with children with ADHD, one of the common concerns that I observed by parents was the fear that they had done something, or failed to do something, that...
  • A New ADHD Drug On The Horizon
    A new ADHD drug, Attenace, will likely hit pharmacy shelves in early 2006. This "new" ADHD drug isnt actually so new to the about 20,000 people currently taking Provigil "off-label" for ADHD. Attenace...