Effective Methods for Treating Adhd

Effective Methods for Treating ADHD for Teachers and Parents Using Various Interventions and Instructional Strategies Instead of Prescription Drugs

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, commonly known as ADHD, affects three to five percent of all school-aged children in the United States (Strickland, 2001). Excessive activity, an inability to concentrate, and impulsive behavior characterize this disorder. As a result, teachers and parents alike are far too eager to accept the use of prescription medication, such as Ritalin, as a cure all for the problems associated with ADHD. Many of the medications prescribed for ADHD have documented adverse side effects. Furthermore, these prescription medicines only control the symptoms; they are not a cure. When the medication is withdrawn the symptoms return, having made no measurable gains in solving the core problems. Parents and teachers, however, can help ADHD children by implementing effective methods of interventions and instructional strategies that can help ADHD children that have positive, lifetime results without using prescription medications that can have adverse side effects.

At present, ADHD is a diagnosis applied to children and adults who consistently display certain characteristic behaviors over a period of time. The most common behaviors fall into three categories: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity (Strickland, 2001). First, people who are inattentive have a hard time remaining focused on any one thing and may get bored with a task after only a few minutes. They may give effortless, automatic attention to activities and things they enjoy. But focusing deliberate, conscious attention to organizing and completing a task or learning something new is difficult, if not impossible. Secondly, people who are hyperactive always seem to be in motion. They cannot sit still. They may dash around or talk incessantly. Sitting still through a lesson can be an impossible task. Hyperactive children may squirm in their seat, roam around the room, touch everything, or noisily tap their pencil. Hyperactive teens and adults may feel intensely restless. They may be fidgety or may try to do several things at once, bouncing around from activity to another. Thirdly, people who are over impulsive seem unable to curb their immediate reactions or to think before they act. As a result, they may blurt out inappropriate comments at inappropriate times. Their impulsivity may make it hard for them to wait for things they want or to take their turns in games. They may grab a toy from another child or hit when they are upset (Strickland, 2001).

ADHD has had a dramatic rate of increase since it was first discovered over 25 years ago. It has grown to epidemic proportions from 500 thousand in 1985 to between five and seven million today (LD Online, 2005). An ADHD diagnosis has become popular for many reasons. Many children lack parental supervision in today's American culture and fast paced society, it is likely that both parents work. Furthermore, in today's society because many more parents work outside the home, they are less involved in their children's education. This lack of involvement by the parents has placed the burden on the school system for a child's lack of achievement. The parents seek answers from the school when their child is not achieving academically and or socially. The school seeks relief from the child's behaviors and underachievement by diagnosing the child as ADHD (Swanson, 1991). As a result, the child is medicated just to control the undesired behaviors.

Although American culture has changed over the years, parents today still want what is best for their children. However, many parents are allowing their children to be medicated, suffering adverse side effects in order to find a solution and treat the ADHD. Parents need to be informed of the potential side effects of these drugs and alternative treatments for their ADHD child (Swanson 1991). In the Journal of the American Medical Association, Fred A. Baughman writes about the danger and addictions of Ritalin. "Ritalin and all amphetamines cause growth retardation, brain entropy, seizures psychosis, tics, and Tourette's Syndrome." Baughman further writes about three cases he was consulted upon where the patients died of cardiac arrest, due to Ritalin treatment of ADHD. These three cases were of an 11-year old girl, a 14 and a 9-year old boy. Of the 2,993 adverse reactions to Ritalin reported to the FDA from 1990 to 1997, there were 160 deaths and 569 hospitalizations. One hundred twenty-six of these adverse reactions were cardiovascular (Baughman, 1999). The results of Ritalin therapy are not what one would expect. In fact, using Ritalin causes brain entropy and thus a decrease in the students' academic performance which quite the opposite of the intended results (Zaslow, 2005).

Instead of using prescription drugs to treat ADHD, parents and teachers can use effective interventions and instructional strategies. Parents can work with their child to create a plan to target each event in their child's life including homework, fun, and family, then work with their child to stay on track (Bicard 2002). Parents should also maintain a regular schedule and be consistent at home, after schools and on weekends. Parents should encourage their child to participate in after school activities. After school structured activities use energy constructively and build social skills to bring success in and out of school. Parents should recognize each individual success their child achieves by reviewing the child's progress regularly and celebrating accomplishments, small and large (Carney 2005).

Since teachers must deal with ADHD children on a day-to-day basis, they must use various instructional strategies and successful behavior interventions. The teacher must first get the attention of the ADHD students in order for the student to achieve academically. The teacher can ask an interesting, speculative question, show a picture, and tell a little story (LD Online). Students of all ages love to hear stories, especially personal stories. It is very effective in getting attention. Next, after getting the student's attention, the teacher must focus student's attention. Then the teacher can employ multi-sensory strategies when directions are given and a lesson is presented, maintain visibility, project voice and make sure she can be heard clearly by all students, and incorporate demonstrations and use hands-on presentations into teaching whenever possible (Greenbaum, 2001). Since most ADHD students are unable to sit still for any length of time, the teacher should incorporate activities into her daily lessons that allow the students to be out of their