www.1001TopWords.com |
Maximizing Your ADHD Childs Performance in School.
As a parent there are lots of things that you can do to help your child with ADHD succeed in school, with friends, and in life. Here are some tips for you that just may help you in your ongoing efforts to help your child. Since we know that ultimately it is the parent's responsibility to make sure that the special needs of his/her ADHD child are met, and not the teacher's responsibility, or the school's, or the President's, we need to do what it takes daily to raise our kids. But let's make sure not to let it become an emotional crisis for us. After the initial awareness of the existence of a problem, there need not be an overwhelming feeling of helpless again! Here are some things that we can do for our kids: 1. Keep a file on hand, and a start a daily journal from the moment you first suspect or are told that there is a problem. Document what you see in your child at home, document your observations of your child at school, and document the observations of family members, neighbors, teachers, or anyone that has frequent contact with your child. 2. Keep a 3 ring binder in which to file copies of all classroom ratings by the teacher, observations by the teacher, all assessments from therapists, counselors, psychologists, or physicians. Write your own notes after each doctor visit and keep them forever. This can all be very helpful in the future. Keep lists of all medications prescribed, and note how well they worked, or what side-effects they had. Record and keep everything having to do with your child's treatment from today until your child turns 20 years old. Then give him/her the book for his future records. 3. Actively seek out a pediatrician or other doctor who is well versed in ADHD and is gifted in treating the condition. Make sure that he is willing to discuss your concerns without placing on you a false sense of guilt. Take my word for it, there are many doctors who are badly misinformed about ADHD out there. But there are also very good doctors. Take the time to find a good one! We discuss more on exactly how to do this at the ADHD Information Library. 4. Seek, join, and become active in support groups such as CHADD, CANHC, or others. These groups will help you to stay informed in changes in laws affecting ADHD in school and in the workplace. They will also offer you resources so that you can become a better educated advocate for your child. You will also make some great friends and contacts in these support groups. 5. Always ask questions. Ask everyone that you talk to, from therapists to physicians to educators, to clarify their information. Never let some professional try to intimidate you with big words. Every profession has its own jargon. Do not just let professionals throw jargon around in conversations. Make them explain everything in plain language. This will help you to learn, and as an added bonus, it will let you know whether the professional that you are talking to actually knows his stuff or is just parroting information. 6. Get to really know and understand your child's needs at a deeper level. Keep in mind the differences between real "needs" and things that you "want." Real "needs" would include resources that your child must have in order to function at acceptable levels. Have documentation to back up what you think is a need. Be able to express this information to his school, doctor, etc. 7. Ask for, and be willing to pay for, written reports. It takes time for professionals to write up these reports, and you will have to pay for their time. Keep them in your child's file. These reports should be shared openly with those from whom you seek help for this child. Keep originals and give them copies. Ask for copies of your child's records and keep them in the files. Especially test results and reports. 8. Be your child's advocate in the schools, with his teachers, in your community. This does not mean that your job is to make excuses for inappropriate or criminal behaviors. Please don't become that kind of parent. But it does mean that you are willing to take the time to assess the situation at school and come up with reasonable plans that might be implimented to help your child. We have a great resource for parents and teachers at http://www.ADDinSchool.com with over 500 classroom interventions to consider. Some of them might be very helpful for your child, and your child's teachers. 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 http://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.
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Peer Pressure - Five Ways to Help Teenagers Beat Peer Influence Young people generally want to fit in to their various social groups so peer approval is a significant driver for their behaviour. For a young person resisting peer influence can mean isolation or instant ostracising so it sometimes takes great strength of will to refuse to follow the crowd. CAMP INJURIES- 7 Things You Must Know WHEN AN INJURY HAPPENS AT CAMP, HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Long Journey Home Once upon a time, I thought I had it all. I had a child, a career, the world at my feet. Or, so I thought. How Fathers Can Step Up to Fathering When our oldest son was 2, my wife went out of town for a weekend. When a friend of hers called and I told her she was out of town, she said Mothers Day Tribute As Mother's Day approaches I would like to give a different perspective to ponder. Elephants and Teenagers Something eerily familiar happened in KwaZulu-Natal's Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park in Africa recently. Are Public Schools A Menace To Your Kids? -- 11 Danger Signals Parents, do you have children who do poorly in school, or are bored or frustrated with their classes or teachers? In contrast to what most public-school officials will tell you, in most cases the problem lies with the schools, not with your children. Helping Your Children Develop Their Self-Discipline We want our children to do the right thing, especially when they are out with their friends. We want to believe in them, but somehow, we don't feel certain that they would. The Ten Most Common Poisons Among Kids For parents, keeping our kids safe is a constant top priority. But even with the best intentions it's possible to overlook some potentially harmful household poisons. According to the National Academy of Poison Control Centers, 92 percent of all poison exposures occur in the home, and 52 percent of poison exposures occur in children under the age of 6. Monitoring Your Teens for Drug Use Without Appearing to be Spying Even if your teenagers do not use drugs, you still need to keep an eye on them. It is much better to realize that things could change, and anticipate that your teen COULD become a user. Essentially, it is not wise to make assumptions about topics such as drug use. Also, having been a high school teacher afforded me the opportunity to witness peer pressure, and how even good kids could be convinced to try drugs - just to fit in. It is important that you play a proactive role in ensuring that your teenagers and the rest of your family remains drug free. Diagnosing ADHD in Children, an Introduction Everyone in a private practice setting who works with children or adults is going to have their own opinion on how Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - ADD or ADHD - should be diagnosed. Some clinics take the perspective that "more is good," and will recommend a large battery of tests, often costing many thousands of dollars. Other clinics, typically with hurried physicians, will simply give a brief rating scales to the parents and then make a quick diagnosis and prescribe treatment, usually a medication. Parents Need to Vent Anger! Try These 4 Steps to Serenity Parents are losing their self-control to anger. A friend called me today and told me a very troubling story. She told me on a T.V. news program she heard of a mother who was driving with her four year old child. The mother became angry with her child and couldn't cope anymore with her child's misbehaving. Finally the mother abruptly braked, stopping the car on a busy highway. She pulled over to the side of the highway, opened the door and pushed her child out of the car, slammed the door and just drove away! Luckily, someone saw this poor kid on the side of the highway, stopped and spoke to the child, had the police come by and the mother was eventually found. Unbelievable ? dropping your child off on a busy highway because you can't cope with a four year old's misbehaving or with your own anger! War Declared On Instant Messenger: How to Stop Your Child from Wasting Their Life Away Online Hey Parents! I hate to tell you, but there is no such thing as "useful instant messaging". Your crafty child might try to take advantage of your lack of "Techie" know how when they say in that whiney voice... "But Mom?I'm IMing my friends about homework." Don't buy it! They are simply playing up the school is important bit so they can get you off their back. Parenting Your Teenager: The Teenager and the Gorilla Q: A parent writes in to ask, "You write a lot about the difference between controlling and managing teenagers. What's the difference........., and how do we do it in our family?" A Man and His Baby When a couple steps forth with a baby in tow everything in life is stable and normal. People hold open doors, hard shopkeepers "chuck" and go all gooey before catching themselves and generally life is an easy ride. But gentlemen, when he who dares to step-out with a baby in tow (minus the wife) life becomes a series of obstacles that never ceases to surprise. Back to School Care Packages! I am crying tears of joy mixed with great sadness as my oldest daughter prepares for her freshman year of college at the University of Maryland in the fall. She has already told me I am to send care packages. A Guide To Help You Teach Your Children Positve Self-Image Through Fitness Raising a pre-teen or teenage daughter (or son) is not easy and can cause any parent a lot of stress. There's so much to worry about ? dating, drugs, alcohol, sex, school grades, just to name a few. But one crucial element often gets overlooked until it manifests itself in extreme ways (like through an eating disorder). I'm talking about self-image. It's extremely important that parents ensure that their children have a positive self-image, especially in relation to their body. People of the Century by Dan Rather Dan Rather made a significant and tactical error and got involved in politics where he should not have gone. I personally and millions of American's lost complete respect for him and he left the news media under a cloud of darkness while disgracing his family name and negating so much of his earlier work. But alas I cannot deny one of his books and specifically the sincerity of his voice before he lost any good sense he had. I would like to recommend his audio tape, as it does enlighten us as to just how great we are as a nation and lists some superstars in the last century, many of which should be honored in this way and are still amongst us today. I therefore recommend: The Three Best Alternative Treatments for ADHD There are a LOT of alternative treatments for sale out there for people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder who would rather not have to use a strong medication such as Ritalin. Some of these are good, some are fair, and some are bad. Is Your Child Having Trouble in School? Did you know that the school system is only able to meet 50% of student learning needs? |
© Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |