After all of the various articles and speaking with a parent of a child with ADHD I feel as if I am more informed about ADHD and can see all of the different situations that a family could be with their child.

I've learned that you can't compare these children and that no two situations are going to be the same. There are many different factors that come into play when working with a child who has ADHD. They might have different symptoms or experience various degrees of impulse and hyperactivity.

What really surprised me was the information about ADHD in girls. You hear about it so much in boys that you don't realize that girls can have ADHD as well. It is much harder to diagnose and sometimes leads to more social interaction with peers to be harder when the become teenagers. 

I want to learn more about ADHD in girls and possibly speak with a parent or observe a girl who has been diagnosed and hear her story as well. The parent I talked with about the little boy I student taught all year was very helpful and full of information. I enjoyed hearing his story and hearing about how far he has come since the beginning. 

I want to add more about the interview I had with this particular parent about ADHD. She also had a lot of experience with medications and the effects they had they her child.

They were first advised to maybe start medicine when he was in the 1st grade. They said they were very reluctant at first but started to try these medications. He had tried three different medications with varying degrees of success. At the end of 1st grade they settled on Concerta. He was on this medication for all of 2nd grade and his mother was having some doubts on this medication due to the fact that he weighed 62 pounds the entire year and she felt like he was such a zombie. The summer after 2nd grade they switched to Intuitive. This is a non stimulant and there was no option to take it sometimes. They had to build it up into his system. She said at first they thought this was a miracle drug and he was doing so much better on it. It seemed to help with his hyper activity and impulse control.

When he began the 3rd grade and being on this medication, he had a rough start. He was having trouble connecting with peers and controlling his impulses in the classroom. He was not engaged in the school activities and did not want to participate in the lessons. He had a couple of instances where he actually got in school suspension for doing things at school due to his impulse control. His mother decided she wanted the teachers to know him for who he is and not on the medication anymore. Over the winter break she took him off of the medication and his year started to look up. She is very pleased with his behavior off of medication.

He just went and was evaluated in the spring and his parents decided to focus on the psychological evaluation rather than going on the medication route again. Together his parents have gone to ADHD behavior classes and have tried to implement these new routines into their home. She said it has been difficult but they are still trying.

I was fortunate enough to interview the parent of the child I had in my internship who has ADHD. All I really was aware of was what I had seen throughout his 3rd grade year. It was interesting to hear their story and all they have been through over the years.

She began by telling me that her story was unlike any other story. Their story begins when he was just two years old and people at church started noticing some of his impulse actions and were worried he was going to hurt himself or someone else. They did not know exactly what was going on but he was given a special helper to be with him just for the one hour they were at church and this bothered his mother. She did not want him to be labeled or to be looked at differently from other children.

When he was in preschool they decided that he needed to be tested for ADHD. They found that he needed services and got him started on an IEP going into kindergarten. His mother informed me that this is very uncommon and it made his kindergarten year a better transition with already having a plan set for him.

When speaking with her, I also wondered about her experiences with teachers and aides throughout his journey in school thus far. She is very pleased with the school system and how they have treated her and her family. She said that they all take her opinions into consideration and follow his IEP. She said that all of his teachers have been open to trying new strategies with him and always keep her informed on how he's doing in school.

This year in the 3rd he's been pulled out of the classroom a lot more and has worked with a tutor for half the year for math. He also goes one on one with an OT specialist and the special education teacher.

His family is very pleased with how this year is going for him and have even commented on that for the first time, he made a comment about being sad that school is almost over. She said he is very excited for summer, but for him to make a comment about missing school is a big deal.

I just read an article about ADHD in girls. I never realized how difficult it is to diagnose it in girls. The symptoms for girls are not as prevalent as they are in boys.

http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/LD-ADHD/781-understanding-girls-with-ad-hd-symptoms-and-strategies.gs?page=3

This article begins with a story about a girl and a boy. The boy has been identified with ADHD and worked well with his group while the girl had a hard time. It then goes on to explain that girl has ADHD but no one really knew. As I as reading this back story before it talked about all of the symptoms and I was wondering what I would do if this was my classroom and how I might feel if I didn't know that I should be making these accommodations for this girl. I feel as if there should be a better way to find out for girls like it is for boys so that as teachers we can also help them as well.

I know in my classroom we made so many accommodations for the boy with ADHD and if there was a girl with the same issue, I would want her to have the accommodations she needs as well.

Even reading more through the article I was surprised to find out what these girls go through and are most likely are to suffer from eating disorders and those things. It is a very informative article that I think should be read.

The whole reason I wanted to start this blog about ADHD was to really find out the effects it had on the family members, especially children with siblings who do not have ADHD. While searching I found a case study where they interviewed different families with siblings who have ADHD. All of the siblings who have ADHD are boys and some of the siblings are younger while some are older. Some are also girls.

As I am reading through this study I am seeing connections to the child I had in my classroom. He has a brother who is a grade younger and you can see how the child with ADHD had jealousy issues. He would write stories about his brother that were not pleasant. You could also see how he seemed to be so angry with him all of the time. I could see how their house might also be exhausting and never knowing what to expect next.

Here is the link..

http://www.helpforadd.com/add-impact-on-siblings/

I was surprised to read that the siblings were supposed to be like their brother's caretakers. I wouldn't imagine parents being able to put that on their children knowing it could cause them much more stress than they need. But at the same time, maybe they don't want the stress either. It's a tough situation. I'm not sure how I would handle it if I was to be in that kind of situation?

The strategies on how to deal with their siblings are a tough thing to handle. I'm not sure how I would be able to handle it, but fighting back does not seem to be the right way to go. I might choose to try to accommodate to my sibling or maybe try different things so the aggression did not happen as often.

There is also an article on this same website about ADHD in girls. I didn't even realize that most cases it was boys. I will have to look into that as well.

As I was researching about the evaluation process for children with ADHD I came across an article that was specifically about what needs to be done if a child has been identified and is working to get an IEP. I found it interesting since I did not know what exactly needs to be done to get a child on an IEP with ADHD.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_ADHD_Evaluation/

It specifically explains that a child there are two laws that protect the rights of children with disabilities. If a child with ADHD does not meet the requirements for IDEA they might meet the requirements of section 504.  I don't have much experience with IEPs and this process is very quite interesting in reading about what a parent and teacher have to do to help a particular child.

I had a child in my classroom on an IEP for ADHD and I was able to attend two of his conferences. I was not there for the actual IEP meeting which I see as a disadvantage for me to learn more about what exactly his IEP entailed. I actually plan on interviewing his mother in the next week or so.

Anyway, this particular article mainly focuses on IDEA and section 504. It explains which each of them do and how they can help a child with ADHD get an IEP. I found it very informative and useful in learning about IEPs in general as well.

I hadn't really thought about the process and screening of children who might have ADHD and how doctor's are able to determine a diagnosis for children. Monica brought up a good point and I have began to look into a website she posted on another post.

www.addresources.org/?q=node/375


Right when I began reading this article I was surprised to see that an ADHD evaluation can take just an hour to determine a diagnosis. It also says that many professionals take hours for this assessment. Reading further, it states that there are 18 symptoms of ADHD. I would think that an evaluation might take longer than just an hour to determine these characteristics for a child. There are many different aspects that can go into an evaluation that a child and the family need to make sure that all of the possible testing is completed.

I love the closing to this article...

"Finally, keep in mind that when children leave school they are not asked their weakest subject and most annoying behavior and then assigned a job involving both for life. In fact, it is just the opposite. We accomplish our goals in life through our strengths and assets. For me, an evaluation considering ADHD in a child must also place equal focus on defining and understanding that child's strengths and abilities."


I fully believe that as a teacher, we should be focusing on a child's strengths and challenging them in the classroom. We should also not judge children or anyone for their weaknesses, but see what we could do in the classroom to accommodate and help student's still be successful. 


Thanks for the information Monica! I think I will be looking more into this on my next post as well. 

I found this informative article about ADHD in a child as they get older. This also explains some of the effects on the family and community.

http://adc.bmj.com/content/90/suppl_1/i2.full

I tend to keep thinking of the child I had in my classroom all year when I read these articles. I can see a lot of these tendencies that are explained in the classroom as well. In the beginning of the article it explained ADHD in a child who is in preschool, I have never had much experience with ADHD in young children and I think back of working at a preschool for almost two years, remembering some of the children and wonder if they have now been diagnosed with ADHD based on some of the behaviors they showed at school.

As I was reading to the school age child it talks about how mother's with a child with ADHD can become depressed. With all of the conferences and back and forth I have experienced with a particular family this year, I can see how that could happen. The family that I was able to have an experience with this year has stayed VERY positive. I feel they have gone above and beyond for their child and I hope that at home some of these behaviors I have read about don't get them down as a family.

In the classroom if I have a child that is diagnosed with ADHD or if I begin seeming some of the signs that could potentially lead to that, I would be sure to include this child as much as I could and help make them feel comfortable in the classroom setting. I know how it feels to not feel included or uncomfortable and in my classroom, I would make it a point for none of my students to feel that way.

In the conclusion of this article, it states "ADHD is a disorder that may affect all aspects of a child's life." From all of the different information I had researched and from my experience of having a child with ADHD in my classroom, I have seen first hand many different aspects of the child's day that may not be the same as a typically developing child.

At first when I began to search for ways to regulate moods in children with ADHD I thought that I would be finding medications or different dosages of medications. One of the websites I found actually explained various physical things you could do with your child.

http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/3268.html

I enjoyed reading these and although they seemed to only be referring to using these techniques at home, I'm wondering if they could be implemented into the classroom as well?

Where they said that parents and adults need to model these for the children are exactly right. How is a child supposed to do these things if you aren't going to do them either? They might believe it really isn't important and not want to control it.

The child that I am familiar with we tried to some strategies with him, but it seemed as if sometimes they would work and other times they did not. One strategy others had even suggested to us was to let him use a stress ball. We wanted to do that, but if he did not have someone constantly watching him or sitting next to him, that stress ball would be torn to pieces. No matter how many directions we gave or told him not to do something, if we turned away or even if we didn't turn away he did it. He has this impulse that he can not control. This is frustrating and interesting to me. I think because at the same time I don't completely understand it.

While I was looking up side effects of ADHD medication in children, I actually came across an article about tips to reduce the side effects of these medications.

http://www.webmd.com/add-adhd/guide/reduce-side-effects-adhd-medications

In this article I found some of the strategies to be interesting and wondered how well they worked if you already have your child on a schedule.

Some of these tips I felt would have been useful for the child that I had in my classroom that was on medication. One of the main concerns his mother expressed during conferences were his loss of appetite and how he was losing so much weight and she was worried about his growth. These tips say that the medication should be given right after breakfast, this avoids giving the medication on an empty stomach and they have eaten a substantial meal to start the day. It also said to have a big dinner when the medication is beginning to wear off and I wonder if a child is supposed to take the pill twice a day if they could also take that after dinner as well.

These tips seemed to be easy solutions to avoid some of the common side effects but I'm not sure if this is for all of the ADHD medications or just for some of them. I couldn't imagine all of the various medications to have the same side effects, but maybe similar.

Keeping track of their mood and how it changes seems to be a major concern when on the medication. I also noticed this in a particular child when changing his doses and taking him completely off of it. In this article it states to notify your doctor about this. If the mood changes are important to keep track of to let the doctor know, I wonder what the doctor could do to try to regulate the child's mood?

I will be looking further into that next post...

Initial questions

While working in a 3rd grade classroom for my internship, there was a child in my classroom that has been identified with ADHD. Throughout the year, my mentor teacher and I tried many different strategies that would help motivate him to learn and participate in the classroom. Some of these strategies would not work at all, or maybe for a week or two. 

I've been wondering how medication and how much the dose could affect a child with ADHD?

Are there studies to prove that children with ADHD respond to certain strategies better than others?

How does the family play a part in how the child with ADHD could be successful in a school setting?

Is there more sibling rivalry?

These are just some beginning questions that I will be looking into to find more information that could be helpful in learning more about ADHD and it's affects on more than just the child.