A Guide for Parents and Teachers about How to Manage Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

By Wayne Siegel

To most people, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a medical condition of unknown understanding. This book delves deeply into the history, causes, effects, and treatments of ADHD and contains a “Homework” section of suggestions for better understanding of this little known and little understood medical conditions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781645314073

Book preview

cover.jpg

A Guide for Parents and Teachers about How to Manage Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Wayne D. Siegel

Copyright © 2019 Wayne D. Siegel

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2019

ISBN 978-1-64531-406-6 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64531-407-3 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

History

Genetics

It Makes a Difference

Making Classrooms Work for Children with ADHD

Organizing Homework Assignments

To Merle, who provided the love and support for me to have the courage and fortitude to complete this project.

History

Medical science first documented children exhibiting hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattentiveness in 1902. Since that time, the disorder received numerous names, including attention deficit disorder with or without hyperactivity, hyperkinetic reaction of childhood, and minimal brain dysfunction. With the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) classification system, the disorder has been renamed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The current name reflects importance of the characteristics of the hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention of the disorder.

Much confusion has arisen over the name ADHD due primarily to the inclusion of hyperactivity in the name of the disorder. Children, adolescents, and adults, who have the psychological features of this disorder—such as distractibility, inattention, and shifting activities—but lack hyperactive or impulsive features still considered having ADHD. To understand better, the reader needs to know the history of the changes behind the terminology (Wilens 1998).

The name and breakdown of specific subtypes of ADHD has undergone a number of changes over the last several decades based on increased knowledge of the disorder. In the first half of this century, people thought that brain dysfunction and damage led to a group of problems and symptoms characterized by academic problems, fidgetiness, impulsivity, and overactivity. They referred to it as minimal brain damage or minimal brain dysfunction (Wilens 1998).

The 1960’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-II) stressed the overactive and physically motoric symptoms of this disorder and called it hyperkinetic reaction of childhood. In 1980, the medical community renamed this disorder in the DSM-III attention deficit disorder and emphasized inattention as its core feature. This grew out of observation that hyperactivity itself was not a great indicator of the severity of the illness, other problems, or what would occur over time. Additionally, growing evidence indicated that attention problems often continued into adolescence or adulthood and caused significant impairment, whereas the hyperactivity appeared to decrease over time. The medical community classified ADD as being with or without hyperactivity, which included individuals who had marked difficulties secondary to the psychological features of the disorder, but did not have problems with hyperactivity or impulsivity. With the emergence of information suggesting more similarities than differences in the distinction of ADD with versus without hyperactivity, experts in the field decided that there was a need for a rename. In 1987, with DSM-III-R, the disorder was renamed attention deficit disorder. Emphasizing both hyperactivity and inattention as equally important core features (Wilens 1998).

Although the name of ADHD remained the same in the DSM-IV, depending on what symptoms were most common, DSM-IV recognized three subtypes of ADHD: a predominantly inattentive subtype, a predominantly hyperactive-impulsive subtype, and a combined subtype. Therefore, previously referred to ADD with or without hyperactivity now classified under the larger umbrella of ADHD (Wilens 1998).

Many people are concerned with maintaining the consistency of the diagnosis through the changing names. If changing names previously diagnosed using the older qualifications of ADD with or without hyperactivity or ADHD, do they still have the disorder using the newer child diagnosed with ADD with or without hyperactivity would also qualify for ADHD. Similarly, we found children diagnosed with the older definition of ADHD, according to the DSM-IV definition. However, the converse may not be true: a child diagnosed with the inattentive subtype of ADHD by DSM-IV may not always fulfill full criteria by DSM-III-R (Wilens 1998).

Causes

Diagnosis of ADHD

Determining whether a child has ADHD is a multifaceted process. Many biological and psychological problems can contribute to symptoms similar to those exhibited by children with ADHD. There is no single test to diagnose ADHD. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation is necessary to establish a diagnosis, rule out other causes, and determine the presence or absence of coexisting conditions. Such an evaluation requires time and effort and should include a clinical assessment of the individual’s academic, developmental level, and emotional and social functioning. A careful history needs to be taken from the child, parents, and teachers. Clinicians often use checklists for rating ADHD symptoms and ruling out other disabilities