Imagine arriving home one late afternoon to find this message waiting for you concerning your son Johnny! Instead of focusing on end of work day concerns and dinner preparation, you as a parent must now focus on what may be going on with Johnny in the classroom. You already know that reading has been a learning challenge for your elementary age son, but you have allowed yourself to believe that the extra reading time he invests nightly will pay real dividends. Now, there is a suggestion that an additional problem may be interfering with his learning and work completion in the classroom. Yes, you are aware of ADHD, but not to the extent of feeling well informed about this frequently diagnosed disorder. When you finally get a chance to talk to the classroom teacher, you learn that Johnny has developed a problem with work production due to frequent off-task behavior. His teacher describes him as being too social and often more interested in other activities going on around him. Not only is he failing to get all his class work completed, but he is also showing a concerning tendency to turn in half finished work assignments. Instead of asking for help or spending more time on the work he finds difficult, he appears to be an unfocused daydreamer who uses his work time inefficiently. The painful outcome of this behavior is represented by a steady decline in his grade level functioning. Johnny's classroom teacher then brings up the question of possible ADHD involvement. While she admits that as a teacher she cannot diagnose ADHD, she mentions that she has had the responsibility of instructing a number of diagnosed ADHD students in her classrooms over the years. She describes some of Johnny's off-task behaviors to be quite similar to those observed in diagnosed and medicated ADHD students. She then mentions that she has already consulted with the school psychologist to learn that many of Johnny's current academic concerns could be evidence of undiagnosed ADHD. While she personally believes that Johnny may simply benefit from some additional academic support and strong encouragement, she feels that it would be a disservice not to advise the parents of the possibility of ADHD. This kind of worrisome phone call from a child's classroom teacher will predictably disturb the evening mealtime for just about any involved parent. Emotional reactions can swing from one extreme to the other usually ranging from anger to anguish. The most pressing question for a parent then presents: What should I do next? At this juncture, more parents commonly find themselves uncomfortably immobilized by indecision. While they want to do what is best for their son, they may feel totally unprepared to choose the next best course of action. Unfortunately, many parents may feel a tremendous sense of urgency to take some form of action ...immediately! It may surprise parents to hear that there are generally a host of interventions available to consider at this time. What may be even more surprising is the fact that many teachers may not necessarily be encouraging the pursuit of a formal evaluation with a child professional at this time. It is not uncommon for most experienced and child-invested classroom teachers to make this type of home phone call to simply inform parents of a student's performance. Most knowledgeable classroom teachers are aware that they are not ADHD diagnosticians or physicians trained to identify children with ADHD. Despite their ability to recognize the symptoms of ADHD as well as other learning interferences, they are generally wise enough to know that numerous factors could be influencing Johnny's recent under achievement. Classroom teachers generally look for parent support and involvement when student academic performance issues arise. Sometimes it is critical to solicit parent involvement so as to promote parent-child communication surrounding the performance concerns. Student motivation and effort tend to be the most basic building blocks for academic success in the classroom. Insufficient organizational and study skills can also be frequent disruptors to a student's strong academic performance. Student performance can sometimes be enhanced by simply encouraging them to seek teacher help when they are unsure about a concept or assignment. Parents are generally willing to provide the additional time and support at home to help Johnny realize greater academic success. After these first level interventions have already been tried at home by the parents, it may be reasonable to consider the next level of intervention strategies. Of course, implemented interventions need to be allowed a reasonable period time to demonstrate a positive change in student performance. Following this trial period, there remain a number of possible interventions to consider before deciding on a professional evaluation or even a consult with the pediatrician. My following chapter will describe the next level of possible intervention strategies to consider before pursuing an ADHD evaluation for Johnny. |
