Identifying Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Classroom: Eight Things Teachers Should

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the phrase that is used to describe children who have significant problems with high levels of distractibility or inattention, impulsiveness, and often with excessive motor activity levels. There may be deficits in attention and impulse control without hyperactivity being present. In fact, recent studies indicate that as many as 40% of the ADD kids may not be hyperactive. Research shows that there are several things happening in the brain of the ADHD child which causes the disorder. The main problem is that certain parts of the Central Nervous System are under-stimulated, while others may be over-stimulated. In some hyperactive kids there is also an uneven flow of blood in the brain, with some parts of the brain getting too much blood flow, and other centers not getting as much. Certain medications, or other forms of treatment can be used to address these problems. Often the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder child has special educational needs, though not always. Most Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder kids can be successful in the regular classroom with some help. Teachers can find over 500 classroom interventions to help children be successful in school at http://www.ADDinSchool.com. As a teacher ask yourself these questions: 1. Can the child pay attention in class? Some ADHD kids can pay attention for a while, but typically can't sustain it, unless they are really interested in the topic. Other ADHD kids cannot pay attention to just one thing at a time, such as not being able to pay attention to just you when you are trying to teach them something. There are many different aspects to "attention," and the ADHD child would have a deficit in at least one aspect of it. 2. Is the child impulsive? Does he call out in class? Does he bother other kids with his impulsivity? These kids often cannot stop and think before they act, and they rarely think of the consequences of their actions first. Impulsivity tends to hurt peer relationships, especially in junior high school years. 3. Does he have trouble staying in his seat when he's supposed to? How is he on the playground? Can he wait in line, or does he run ahead of the rest of the class? Does he get in fights often? 4. Can he wait? Emotionally, these children often cannot delay gratification. 5. Is he calm? They are constantly looking for clues as to how they are doing. They may display a wide range of moods, which are often on the extremes: they act too sad, too angry, too excited, too whatever. 6. Is the child working at grade level? Is he working at his potential? Does he/she stay on task well? Does he fidget a lot? Does he have poor handwriting? Most ADHD kids have trouble staying on task, staying seated, and many have terrible handwriting.

7. Does he have difficulty with rhythm? Or the use of his time? Does he lack awareness about "personal space" and what is appropriate regarding touching others? Does he seem unable to read facial expressions and know their meanings? Many children with ADHD also have Sensory Integration Dysfunctions (as many as 10% to 20% of all children might have some degree of Sensory Integration Dysfunction). SID is simply the ineffective processing of information received through the senses. As a result these children have problems with learning, development, and behavior. 8. Does he seem to be immature developmentally, educationally, or socially? It has been suggested by research that children and teens with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may lag 20% to 40% behind children without ADHD developmentally. In other words, a ten year old with ADHD may behave, or learn, as you would expect a seven year old to behave or learn. A fifteen year old with ADHD may behave, or learn, as you would expect a ten year old to behave, or learn. There is a lot to learn about ADHD. Both teachers and parents can learn more by visiting the ADHD Information Library's family of web sites, beginning with ADDinSchool.com for hundreds of classroom interventions to help our children succeed in school.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disordes

Identifying Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Classroom: Eight Things Teachers Should

Identifying Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the Classroom: Eight Things Teachers Should

Identifying Attention Deficit Disorder In Your Child

Kids will be kids and all of them are different. Kids get excited about different things, and get very excited about things that adults may find to be only mildly interesting, if interesting at all. So how do you know if your child has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or is simply being a normal kid?

Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD, also sometimes known as ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is difficult to diagnose accurately. In many ways it is a subjective option of the doctor since there is little scientific evidence to definitely state whether or not a child has ADD or ADHD. But at the same time, the reported cases of ADD are rising rapidly, which scientists do not understand. If the child has a broken leg, this can easily be determined and verified, and all would be in agreement that the child's leg is broken. But with ADD and ADHD, no such concrete evidence or even scientific testing exists to make that same conclusive determination.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disordes

In the past, cases of ADD and ADHD were treated with prescription drugs to effectively slow down the afflicted child, but with the growing concern over stuffing our children full of prescription drugs for every ailment that MIGHT be present, parents are now starting to resist this approach and demanding a new approach.

Identifying Attention Deficit Disorder In Your Child

Many of the new approaches, and many of which show great promise, is to train the afflicted person to pay more attention to what his brain is telling him. This applies whether the child is playing, doing homework, or just resting, but it is a behavioral change that the child needs to be old understand to understand and comprehend. In the case of ADD and ADHD, the child's brain has not yet completely processed the last set of information presented to it, and in the meantime is already telling the child to go do something else. Hence, the typical view is that children afflicted with Attention Deficit Disorder are unable to concentrate on the task at hand, which is entirely accurate.

The one thing that shows up in ADD/ADHD affected children that differs compared to the same tests run on non-ADD/ADHD children is that the brainwaves are different. To be more exact, the ADD/ADHD children typically show excessively slow brain wave activity in the alpha and theta ranges, compared to their non-ADD/ADHD counterparts. As the child gets older and grows into his teen years, there is some scientific evidence to suggest (although not confirm) that patients who are thought to have ADD or ADHD have about 400% more traffic tickets, car accidents, and are almost four times more likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease.

Your doctor can explain to you that accurately diagnosing Attention Deficit Disorder is never simple. Rather, it requires a thorough investigation and study of the child over time, to see how the child reacts to different circumstances compared to others in the same age group. But like anything else, diagnosis of the ailment as early as possible is very important to understanding it, working with it effectively, and making compromises to accommodate the affliction.

Identifying Attention Deficit Disorder In Your Child