Adhd and Learning Environments

Mike Carey

Professor Rinearson

K306

18 April 2013

ADHD and Learning Environments

Definitions/Characteristics

There is a significant amount of definitions and characteristics that are correlated with ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. First, ADHD is defined by IDEA as a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or using language. A child with ADHD may have a difficulty in mastering listening, thinking, speaking, reading, writing, spelling, or doing mathematics. ADHD is a disorder that affected an estimated 4-12% of school-age children. Males outnumber females 3-to-1 in having ADHD. A child with ADHD has difficulty paying attention to various details and tends to make careless errors in school, schoolwork, and other activites that they partake in. A child with ADHD has trouble following instructions provided to them. They have problems with organization of materials and various items. A child with ADHD is often fidgeting or squeamish, they have trouble staying in their assigned seat, are constantly moving around, excessive talking, difficulties interrupting or taking turns, and they also have trouble waiting their turn or waiting in line. For a child with ADHD to be diagnosed, a child must display the behaviors presented above before the age of 7, these behaviors need to be more noticeable and severe compared to the other children/students in the classroom, and finally, these behaviors must be noticed for a total amount of six months. ADHD is caused biologically and not the result of poor parenting. There is no cure for ADHD but it can be managed in the child’s life. According to Kids Health, ADHD is best treated with a combination of medication and behavior therapy. Finally, according to Kids Health, experts that research ADHD recommend parent education and support groups to help all family members to become more familiar with ADHD and learn how they can help their child with ADHD become the best civilian that they can become. Encouragement and support are extremely important for children with ADHD and parents need to become better educated in ways that they can help their children and others. Staying positive is also very crucial because children at a young age can sense what their parents, teachers, and peers are feeling and their behavior and mood is impacted on what others are feeling. Always staying positive is a tremendous way to impact a life of a child with ADHD.

Family Support Resources

The organization found that would also help families have a better understanding of all aspects of ADHD. The organization is called CHADD, or Children and Adults with Attentions Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. According to its website, CHADD is a non-profit organization providing education, advocacy, and support for individuals with ADHD. CHADD also provides many printed materials to keep members and professional current on research advances, medications and treatments affecting a child with ADHD. CHADD helps families have a better understanding of what ADHD is, causes, evaluations, and treatment. CHADD also helps you to get connect with other’s experience ADHD issues and problems. CHADD helps find local groups that could become a beneficial support system for families. CHADD is a tremendous organization that just wants to keep families, parents, and teachers informed, while also providing a support group that will help individuals through the ups and downs. Finally, the last website found on the internet was provided by Kids Health. This website gave me a better understanding of what ADHD is and how I can make a better classroom with a child with ADHD as a future educator. The most helpful piece of information was, again, different behavioral strategies that should be implemented in the classroom. Kids Health provided ten different strategies, with an explanation of each with how that certain strategies could be implemented into the classroom. This website is not only great for parents to gain a better understanding of ADHD and how different classroom strategies can help them, but it benefits teacher as well.

Socio-Emotional/Physical/Learning Environments

Socio-Emotional, physical, and learning environments are quite crucial in the life of a child with ADHD. To meet the socio-emotional needs of a child with ADHD, educators need to model, support, and teach appropriate behavior. Educators also need to provide a lot of positive feedback to reinforce the appropriate behavior. A student with ADHD needs to hear this positive feedback because they need learn which behavior is appropriate in the classroom and which behavior isn’t. Parents should also encourage their child to be the best that they can be. According to a scholarly