Meditation:

Meditation helps in improving cognitive and behavioral functions of an individual. People with ADHD have problems related to both these functions and thus is benefited immensely by practicing meditation regularly.

Dietary changes:

A study conducted in the year 2005 has revealed that eliminating food items containing colors, addictives, preservatives and other chemical compounds can help in reducing the symptoms of ADHD. Ayurvedic doctors however suggesting this remedy to the patients with ADHD for hundreds of years. According to theories of ayurveda, a combination of massage, yoga, meditation and dietary changes alone can help the ADHD patients to combat the problem successfully.

Exercise and massage therapy:

Commonly medications are prescribed for managing the signs of ADHD; the patients also often undergo behavior therapies for lowering the intensity of the symptoms of this condition. Although these procedures help in keeping the ADHD symptoms under control, they can never treat the disorder completely. A 2003 study showed that massage therapy and regular exercising can help in reducing the signs of ADHD in the school going patients. During the study, the researchers continued to give the prescribed medicinal drugs to all the participants. The participants were divided into three groups: a control group, a group receiving massage therapy and a group following a regular exercising regimen. It was found that massage and exercise can help in promoting behavioral modification more effectively compared to medications alone.

Supplementation:

Studies have shown that food items containing high quality of iron and zinc are beneficial for ADHD patients. Scientific studies have also identified certain ayurvedic herbs like Bacopa monniera, Piper methysticum and Pinus marinus to be effective in treating ADHD. Doctors often recommend supplementation of the above mentions herbs and nutrients for treating ADHD.

The key condition to tackle ADHD is to build a good relationship with the parents, as they are the ones who can help the child every now and then. Even during the treatment days, communicate to them about the improvement in the child’s behavior and what still needs to be improved in the behavior. If you need help, SENCO is there for you anytime.

Remember, you are there not to change the child, but its behavior. So, with this point in mind, let’s go through the problems that are caused by ADHD in the classroom and their solutions.

Special Education Needs (SEN) Code of Practice

From 1 January 2002, a revised SEN Code of Practice has been implemented, which undertakes a graduated approach. It states that SEN must be offered in the school and all teachers are SEN teachers. The goal of this code is to provide fast help to the children suffering from ADHD.

According to the code, the school has the right to demand for a statutory assessment of a child and talk to parents about the special educational provision to be given by them for their children.

Steps Prior to SEN

You can create an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for a child if you feel that he/she is finding it difficult to manage in the classroom. An IEP is necessary for SEN and must be discussed with the parents for their approval. An IEP contains the listed below information.

• The child’s goals as to what you want him/her to do or any behavior that needs to be changed
• The strategy you are going to implement to aid the child in achieving the set goals, for instance, rules and rewards
• Frequency at which the child will obtain this help and support
• Help that parents can provide at home for the child to cope up with the problem
• The day when the goals will be reviewed
• Conclusion to be filled on the date of review

Now, you might not recognize the importance of IEP and feel that this is an unnecessary step. However, IEP will be the upcoming support if there is no improvement in the child.

School Action

This is the step wherein you consult a School Special Educational Needs Coordinator to seek guidance. The SENCO will discuss with you about the different techniques to help the child and other education equipments that will support our goal. SENCO then assesses the child’s performance by physical examinations and reviews, while you end up with delivering IEP.

The need of a SENCO arises when the child is suffering from the following difficulties.

• No or slow progress below the acceptable levels
• Cannot develop skills
• Behavioral problems that do not improve by classroom behavioral management
• Communication problems
• Physical problems

School Action Plus

This comes into action when the needs of a child suffering from ADHD are not fulfilled by School Action, In School Action Plus, the SENCO contacts medical ADHD specialists such as language therapist from external health services for further examination of the child.

If even this cannot fulfill the child’s needs, the SENCO requests the LEA to provide a Statement of Special Educational Needs wherein it specifies what help the school should provide to the child in his/her education and development.

Actually, children are diagnosed for ADHD mostly when they are in the primary school and therefore, a Statement of Special Educational Needs must be given to them.

Marking the ADHD Symptoms

A teacher is mostly the primary one from among the people close to the child to spot his/hers behavioral problems. On marking an unexpected behavior for some few days, talk to the child’s parents about the problems noticed by them at home. Check whether the child is suffering from the hearing or sight problems. In children studying in the secondary school, the common symptoms of ADHD are conduct disorders and violent outbursts.

There can be many disorders that co-exist with ADHD and their symptoms overlap the symptoms of ADHD. So, it is really difficult to distinguish between the core ADHD symptoms and the other symptoms.

Caring for Medication

Legally, it is not mandatory for the teaching staff to supervise a child taking medicine. However, at your own will, you can do so. But, daily decisions regarding this will be the responsibility of the head teacher as per the DfES.

At first, if you are told by the child’s parents that he/she needs to take medicines at school, you must know about the medicines to be given, time on which medication is to be given, and who will take care in giving the medicines to him/her.

Next is to look for a way to send the child for his/her medication without opening this fact to the rest of the class. This is because this is something that a child always fears about taking medications at the school. An example to do so is to ask him/her to visit the staffroom for some work and in between to visit the school secretary or nurse for taking medicines.

Talk to parents or SENCO for your any queries or concerns. Currently, the new medicines are work until long in a day and therefore, can be given only once at home. This actually removes the above issues.

Lack of Attention/Concentration

A child suffering from ADHD cannot concentrate properly and has a low attention span. This symptom causes problems such as difficulty in listening to what is being said, working at the desk, solving a math problem, and following the instructions. To summarize, an ADHD child with lack of attention or concentration finds it difficult to perform a task or stick to it.

Therefore, he/she needs your help in learning and organizing tasks in the classroom. The catchy solutions to this problem are routine, repetition, and regularity, which can be implemented in the following ways.

• List and display clear and simple rules on the classroom wall.
• Set a daily schedule such as fixed time for stories and class work.
• Write down/List the day’s topics to be taught on the blackboard.
• Provide timetable and deadlines.
• Provide a home-school diary wherein the homework is noted down along with the deadlines.
• Maintain a good behavior diary wherein you can note down positive points of the student suffering from ADHD. Review it regularly at least once a week and discuss with the student about what positive he/she has. This will encourage the young student to be on track and achieve his/her goals.
• Provide the ADHD pupil a stress ball if he/she is fidgets. This will not disturb the remaining students and will aid the pupil in burning off his nervousness.
• Remind the class about what is to be done the next day and review the instructions when the day is about to get over. This is because ADHD children lack organizational skills.
• Provide maximum responsibilities to such students. However, this can be little difficult due to immaturity and other problems associated with ADHD. Anyways, you need to try and make the student able to accept responsibilities.
• Set a place for a ADHD child where there are least chances of distraction, such as:
  • At the front of the classroom
  • Besides the wall
  • Close to the blackboard
  • Close to you
  • Away from windows
  • Away from bright or colorful items
• Inform the child with ADHD about any changes that might take place, as he/she finds it difficult to adjust with the change.
• Divide big actions into small chunks, as this works well with a child with low attention span. This requires planning and attention from your side.
• Let the tasks be very short in duration or a set of tasks that can be completed faster to boost the ADHD child’s confidence. For example, getting crayons and drawing book from the cupboard or writing the some proverb everyday on the blackboard before the class starts.
• Stand near to the ADHD child and with the eye contact, provide shot and simple instructions.
• Make the child with ADHD to restate the instructions to ensure that he/she has understood what to do and how to do.
• Ask questions to the child in between the session to maintain his/her attention.
• Use visual aids such as images.
• Create checklists and jot them down on the blackboard.
• Monitor the child’s progress during the execution of the assigned task.
• Be with the child and work together – Assign tasks that are more challenging if you observe that the child with ADHD finds it difficult to concentrate as the day passes.
• Know the things at which the child is good or enjoys doing and include them in the assigned tasks.

Excessively Talkative and Disruptive

This problem tends to be very less in the secondary school, as compared to the primary school. Listed below are some tips to deal with these two problems.

• Provide written lists and outlines of what is to be done after instructing verbally. This will reduce the chances of the ADHD student to talk with its peers for finding out such information.
• Come up with a secret signaling rule that is not understood by the remaining students in the class. For instance, you can rub the nose to remind the pupil to remain silent.
• Ensure that noise level in the classroom low, as ADHD students are more sensitive to it.
• Set a limit to what each child can speak when discussing in a group. For example, use a timer to do so and ensure that the ADHD child is not allowed to speak beyond a limit.
• Instruct all the students in the class to speak just a sentence, and not more than that before you ask them to respond/answer/speak.
• Instruct all the students to lift their hands before speaking and wait until the teacher asks to speak.
• Make your students learn to always think and then speak. To do so, give 20 seconds to the class before listening to the answers/response. In this way, you can aid the ADHD child to talk less, but meaningfully.
• Set standard rules of interrupting and inform all the students about them. Remind them about the consequences of not following the rules – possibly list them on a wall where children can see. Do not pin point towards the ADHD children while speaking about these rules.

Problems Related to Homework

Homework issues include not doing the homework at all, forgetting about it, or doing it very late. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Provide a home-school diary wherein you can note down the homework along with the deadlines so that the parents can take care of it.
• Schedule the homework for such a child by dividing into smaller lots and allotting time for each of it.
• Motivate the child to show even a part of the homework done, even if he/she has not finished it.
• Confirm that the child with ADHD has submitted the homework. This is the secondary problem wherein when you ask for the homework and due to low attention, the child might not have submitted it.
• Tell the students to check their homework always after completing it. This becomes a habit and gives them a chance to rectify their mistakes, if any. This is because children with ADHD hardly have a habit to check their work.
• Talk to the parents for any concerns.
• See if you can provide another set of textbooks for home if within the budget.

Problems Related to Learning

These problems include reading and writing problems, which needs a specialist such as language therapist and the SENCO’s help. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Make use of visual signs.
• Provide sequential instructions.
• Provide a quite area or extra time during the exams to the child with ADHD. You can also take the test when his/her attention level is good.
• Talk with the SENCO regarding what help is available in the school, such as access to speech and language therapy programmes.
• Provide the child with the computer, dictate, or opt for oral tests if he/she has writing problems.

Problems Related to Peers

Peer difficulties include overreacting, fighting, or fear of teasing and bullying. ADHD children often feel that they cannot go along with the peers and are always misunderstood by them. This results into frustration, which in turn, stimulates aggression. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Maintain a playtime diary that contains information about play, reactions, performance, problems, and alternatives to the displayed behavior.
• Mix the child with a kind friend with whom he/she can play.
• Instruct the child what to do when he/she finds it difficult to handle a situation.
• Arrange for a ‘Circle time’. Here, for around 40 minutes, children settle themselves in a circle and discuss about the matters to understand each other views in you presence.
• Role-playing can be of great help to deal with peers.

Problems Due to Aggression

A teacher might be annoyed or frustrated while dealing with an ADHD child due to his/her intolerable behavior. You should understand that this is all due to a psychiatric disorder and should not deal with him/her harshly.

• Set unambiguous rules and display them in the class regarding the conduct.
• Control the behavior in the classroom by taking a walk around the desks and acting upon the actions. For example, if a child is putting effort in doing a task, smile at him/her or move your hands on his head.
• Praise or reward the child in front of the class on observing such behavior that you want more and more. Avoid using generalisms like ‘good work’ or well done’, instead say – “I am happy the way your are showing interest in your work”.
• Avoid punishing the whole class just because of the behavior of the ADHD child.
• Look for the actual cause of the sudden outburst of the child towards you before blaming.
• Give some more minutes to the child to think about the refusal of the punishment, if he/she tells so. Further, tell him/her that now also if he/she refuses, there will be a more serious unavoidable punishment.
• Avoid any arguments or debates.
• Make the child understand about how to deal with such situations without becoming aggressive. This is because these children cannot understand the effect of their aggressive behavior. So, in the nutshell, its certainly not their fault to be aggressive.

Sources of Support

For you, the SENCO is the first contact point for any advice or help on dealing with the difficult behavior of an ADHD child. SENCO will be with you from the stage of creating IEP until the statementing process. Further help will depend on the type of support specified in the statement. If this specified help of the statement is not sufficient, discuss with the SENCO for a review as early as possible.

Doctors, nurses, school psychologist, child and adolescent psychiatrist, and pediatrician are secondary sources of help and support.

So, treating ADHD is actually improving the behavior of the child, and not the child itself. Therefore, different therapies and medications are available for treating ADHD.

As compared to medication, therapy is a bit different from the point of view of its nature and effects. It is different in the sense that it does not effect immediately and is challenging in nature for a therapist. However, both medication and therapies aim at improving the behavior of the child by controlling the symptoms. Therapy can change the nature of your relationship with the child and other people.

According to a research, the combination of medication, education interventions, and behavioral management therapy is the best treatment of ADHD. This is because on one hand, medication controls the ADHD symptoms and on the other hand, behavioral therapy takes care of conduct and uses educational techniques to improve the academic performance. As a bonus, psychotherapy given by a psychotherapist aids in coping up with the issues due to low self-esteem and relationships.

However, determining whether your child will benefit from the therapy is at the discretion of the specialist. The specialist is a medical expert of ADHD recommended by the GP and builds a treatment plan that suits your child after he/she diagnoses ADHD. This treatment is given either by the specialist itself or by some other medical expert.

Types of Therapies

NHS provides four main therapies listed below. However, you can also opt for a private therapy outside NHS due to lot of waiting time for these therapies in NHS.

• Behavioral therapy
• Systemic therapy
• Counseling
• Psychodynamic therapy

Behavioral Therapy

Behavioral therapy concentrates on dealing with each bad behavior and problems faced by your child practically. For example, if your child has the problem of low self-confidence, the behavioral therapy might teach you some ways of boosting his/her confidence. In this situation, you will be encouraged to avoid seeing any negative aspect of your child, praise him/her upon each little good action performed, and reward your child on really good behavior to cope up with low self-confidence.

There are two behavioral approach common in this regard namely, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and parent training.

CBT

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) believes that in order to change the behavior, the thinking pattern and vision needs to be changed. Therefore, in CBT, the specialist first determines through the discussion on what basis does your child thinks and feels about different the aspects of life. Next, he/she spots the wrong or negative patterns of thinking and tries to provide the child with positive viewpoints. This can be done through providing an in-depth explanation, giving examples, and role-plays. This ultimately results in changing the vision that, in turn, changes the logic, thinking, and finally the feelings and behavior.

6 to 20 sessions will be conducted according to the needs of a child.

Parent Training

Parent training is another approach especially designed for parents having children with ADHD. A unique training session will help parents to tackle ADHD in a different manner, rather than the usual one. This is required keeping in mind that normal ways of dealing with a child are not at all effective for dealing with a child having ADHD.

Systemic Therapy

This is also known as family therapy carried out by a clinical psychologist. We all know that the environment of the family can be one of the factors in causing ADHD. This environment can further influence the intensity of the symptoms and the growth of ADHD. This therapy is based on the belief that if one family member attempts to think, act, and react differently, the others would also start adjusting to maintain the relationships and status quo.

In this therapy, the specialist treats all the family members, rather than just treating the child. Therefore, the therapists will observe how the family leads to the ADHD-related problems and based on this, how the family can change to minimize them.

The sessions of such a therapy take place once a month or even less than this.

Counseling

This is a therapy of short duration wherein parents are guided on how to tackle the problems caused due to ADHD, rather than controlling the symptoms of ADHD. This guidance can be regarding child disagreeing on medication and work issues.

The sessions last hardly for six weeks.

Psychodynamic Therapy

This therapy is analytical in nature, in the sense that it focuses on behavior analysis for improvement and is not that commonly used in treating ADHD.

Professionals Involved in Therapies for ADHD

Child and adolescent psychiatrist and clinical psychologist are the important therapy experts. Depending on your place and child needs, the specialist will decide upon an appropriate professional/therapist. Listed below are the professionals involved in the therapy of ADHD.

• Psychiatrists
  These are skilled doctors who have acquired specialization in mental health. In case of ADHD, a psychiatrist is responsible for the examination, diagnosis, and treatment. Only a few of them will offer psychotherapy.
• Psychologists
  These are not qualified, but do possess a degree in psychology. In case of ADHD, a psychologist deals with the behavioral aspect of the patient. An educational psychologist also possesses two years of experience along with a completed course in educational psychology. A clinical psychologist has taken postgraduate training and is a part of mental health service group.
• Counselors and psychotherapists
  These do not possess any professional background, but have undergone training. Only a fully trained and recognized counselor or psychotherapist is referred to treat ADHD.

• Inattention
• Impulsivity
• Hyperactivity

There are times when parents feel that there is no problem at home due to child because either the ADHD child is their only child and have no other child to compare with, or they have found out ways and means to handle their child’s behavior.

The presence of these symptoms is not enough to diagnose ADHD. In addition, their duration and frequency is also taken into consideration before concluding that the patient has ADHD. Listed below are the conditions that must exist and are necessary for the diagnosis of ADHD. The symptoms

• The symptoms must have been exhibited for six months at its minimum.
• The symptoms must be quite intense than expected according to the child’s age and intelligence (must be more than a busy tot)
• The symptoms have a negatively affect on at least two places, for instance, at home or school.
• The symptoms have been developed before the child is seven.
• The symptoms are not due to other medical conditions such as anxiety, depression, conduct disorder, or autism that overlap the symptoms of ADHD.

Inattention

Inattention refers to lack of concentration and low span of attention that makes it difficult to perform or achieve something. Listed below are the ADHD symptoms placed under this category.

• Paying poor attention to explanations
• Making careless mistakes in homework and daily activities
• Feeling difficult to maintain attention
• Seeming not listening while speaking on a one-to-one basis
• Failing to follow instructions
• Failing to complete an assigned task
• Feeling difficult in organizing tasks and activities
• Disliking tasks wherein sustained mental focus is necessary
• Forgetting things required for tasks or activities
• Getting distracted easily
• Forgetting things while performing a task or activity

Impact on Social Relationships and Self-esteem

The child might make silly mistakes, forget the game rules, answers meaninglessly, and forget what to do next when being in a group with other children. So, other children would ignore such an ADHD child, would never want him/her in their team, and would bully him/her on the ground or in park. Due to this, the child starts feeling that he/she is useless, which in turn, lowers his/her self-esteem. As a result, he/she need lots of support and assurance for boosting self-confidence.

Impact on Parents

Your child might misplace things, forgets things, does not answer, spoil the task; which all can be frustrating. Initially, you yell at your child and even give her negative comments. Afterwards, you end up feeling guilty, as you realize when you cool down that it was not the fault of your child. This is because it was not intentionally done.

Impact on Education

Your child would feel it difficult to remember concepts, principles, and rules. He/She would also feel difficult to write, present properly, confused by different teachers in different lectures, or do two tasks simultaneously. Due to inattention, it is further tough for him/her to organize things and do homework.

Due to the above problems, your child cannot perform up to its fullest and would acquire low marks or grades, might even fail in exams, and might not even like to go to school or spend very less time there.

Impulsivity

Impulsivity refers to the state of being restless and hotheaded. Listed below are the ADHD symptoms placed under this category.

• Bursting out the answers, not even waiting for the question to complete
• Failing to await his/her turn when in group or play
• Interrupts others or interfere with others

Impact on Social Relationships and Self-esteem

If your child is highly impulsive, then he/she might speak without any prior thinking and interfere in the games of others. In addition, the child tends to change moods so frequently that others cannot make out what he/she will do next and burst out if frustrated.

Such behaviors will make her socially inept and therefore, he/she might start to feel rejected. Not only this, others will further take advantage of your child’s aggravated state and ignite him/her by bullying and pushing. This will further make your child aggressive. Repetition of such instances obviously results in low self-esteem of your child.

The worst part of this is that your child can be easily inclined towards alcohol, drugs, and other such addictive substances. This is because your child cannot think before acting and until the time he/she understands, it is already too late.

To overcome all these situations, the only need is of constant monitoring, counseling, and true unconditional love towards your child.

Impact on Parents

Your child tends to speak in such a manner that it might hurt or embarrass you. The fact that he/she is unable to wait for anything will lead into frequent interruption such that it might become intolerable for you. This can strain your relationship.

Calm, steadiness, patience, and true unconditional love are the sweet medicines for your child.

Impact on Education

One common behavior with regards to impulsivity is that your child interrupts frequently when the teacher teaches and tends to burst out with the answers. This applies brakes to his/her knowledge and understanding that results in low marks in tests. This will make her go down the progress line, which can further motivate her to burst with the answers even more.

Hyperactive

Listed below are the ADHD symptoms placed under this category.

• Fidgeting with hands or feet
• Fidgeting on the seat
• Leaving the seat frequently in the classroom
• Runs about excessively
• Feels difficult to playing quietly
• Talks too much

Impact on Social Relationships and Self-esteem

• Goes on and on about a topic
• Takes over a conversation
• Acts silly in a group in desire to obtain attention
• Damages other children’s belongings without any reason
• Hurts other children
• Lacks motor skills (for example, cannot throw a ball)

Following are the effects of the above behaviors.

• Makes him/her bossy, silly, clumsy, and rough to others
• Makes him/her appear the reason due to which the team will loss the game
• Becomes an entity of rejection and ignorance by others
• Reduces self-esteem of the child
• Forces him/her to bully to avoid being bullied

Impact on Parents

It might be wearing for you to keep looking after your child for his/her safety. Further, you might worry that it is my mistake due to which my child’s behavior is not as that of the other children.

If your child hurts you or damage some items, you might be just frustrated and yell at him like anything. Everything is likely to worsen your relationship with the child.

Impact on Education

Due to fidgeting, your child can miss new things and can become impatient to behave with teachers. This would result in stagnant knowledge that can affect the overall growth and development.

• Impression of the self on others
• Physical development
• Difference of opinions with parents about decisions (specifically with the mother)
• Exams’ tension
• Career decisions
• Mixing up with friends and peers (problems related to clothes, behavior, mood)

Teens without ADHD suffer from low self-esteem, which is not a problem for the teens without ADHD. According to a research, conflicts tend to occur more frequently between the teen with ADHD and his/her mother, as compared with the teens without ADHD.

Let’s help our teens to cope up with ADHD by going through some common issues and some guidelines.

Medication

Medication has the power to control the symptoms of ADHD to a great extent. The problem with the medication is that your teen might not be taking it, forget to take it, or feel embarrassed to take it at school.

• Ask him the reason for not taking the medicine and sort out the problem with an appropriate solution. For example, if your teen does not like the taste at all, talk to the GP of other ways of giving the medicine that can mask the taste such as giving it with the teen’s favorite drink.
• If your teen is forgetful, find out a way to remind him/her. For example, ask your teen to set an alarm in the wristwatch.
• If your teen is embarrassed to take the medication at school due to the presence of his/her peers/friends and the fear of them coming to know about the medication, ask GP about a sustained-release form. This will result in only one time taking of the medicine in the morning and will prevent your teen to the medication at school.

Behavior Management

Behavior management techniques do not work that well for teenagers as they work for children. This is because teenagers feel bored using common behavior techniques such as star charts and reward systems. Further, they tend to fight back for any technique, which according to them involves intentional manipulation.

Enforcing rules is one of the best ways in children to control behavior. However, in teens, it is not that good, as they are likely to rebel if there is a huge list of home rules. Therefore, the ideal way is to explain things to them and negotiate with them to make them accept the rules spontaneously to avoid any break up later. If you are able to do so, your teen will also learn how to cooperate and compromise. Listed below are certain guidelines to control unexpected behavior from teens.

• Avoid concentrating only on the negative behavior. Find out what he/she is good at and praise such behavior.
• Try implementing humor in your speech and actions.
• Explain your teen about the consequences of bad behavior so he/she understands the effect of it and decides what to do and what not to do.
• Avoid battlefields between you and your teen by ignoring small issues and focusing only on big issues. Otherwise, you will argue constantly that will make him/her violent towards you.
• Provide him/her with different options. This will give him/her a feeling of being an adult and will be inclined to do what is expected.
• Check your expectations to confirm that they are they reasonable in nature. Avoid any perfection demanding ones.
• Judge your own opinions and assumptions. Never think that the teen is doing something intentionally to irritate you for fun. Never assume that he/she will do this or behave negatively, as in the long run, this will only invite negative expectations.
• Be calm and discuss the problems together. Negotiate and look for a set of solutions that is applicable for everybody at home. This should also include what will happen if the decided solutions are not followed or implemented. It would be ideal if this results in a rational consequence such as turning the music player off while studying.
• Communicate with your teen as frequently as possible. In this, always listen to him/her, do not enforce your ideas, keep eye contact, and express anger without the use of any harsh or rude words.
• Take the help of GP if any of you are having problems with managing temper.

Friends and Peers

If your teen is impulsive and has a habit of speaking without thinking about how others will feel or react, he/she gets socially isolated, rejected, and bullied by other teens and their parents. This is because other parents feel that teens with ADHD cannot make and sustain friendship and want to avoid their children to get into problems.

ADHD teens act as if they are perfect in certain matters that are interesting, which can make their peers frustrating, tiresome, or bore.

Due to your teen’s silly actions to gain others’ attention, other teens might bully them, make fun of them, or consider him/her as mad. For example, this happens when your teen acts as a joker to gain focus. Listed below are certain guidelines to control overcome these problems.

• Ask your teen to invite friends at home frequently to encourage friendships.
• Impart social skills in your teen such as reading what is going in the front person’s mind by its body language. This will aid your teen to determine what went wrong by asking why to his/her friends.
• Ask your teen to think about others feelings and reactions before he/she acts or speaks. Tell him/her to do so by taking a long deep breath before responding/acting.
• Admire your teen for his/her good behavior frequently and especially, to increase his/her confidence and improve self-esteem.

Drugs and Alcohol

According to a research, teens with ADHD are more vulnerable to drug and alcohol addiction at an early age. Friends who use drugs and alcohol and aggressiveness can initiate addiction and can spoil your teen’s rest of the life. Listed below are certain guidelines to control overcome these problems.

• Obtain thorough basic knowledge about your teen’s friends and encourage friendship with those who like staying away from alcohol or drugs.
• Control your teen’s aggressive behavior with the advice and help of GP, if required.
• Track the signals of substance abuse. These include spending more amount of money, lying, secretive behavior, abrupt mood changes, loss of hunger, and lack of interest in school or work.
• Educate your teen about substance misuse, but do not scare them.
• Implement the following actions if you come to know that your teen has started using drugs or alcohol:
  • Avoid pestering or panic.
  • Tell him/her that you still love him/her and are worried about him/her. It’s just the behavior that you want him/her to get rid of.
  • Obtain professional help to do away with addiction.

Relationships

Talk with your teen frankly about the relationship with the opposite gender. Explain him/her about the necessary precautions to be taken while being with the partner. For example, he/she should not hurt him/her or become so impulsive that it leads to a force on him/her to accept or do something. This is because this might put a strain on the relationship.

Other Help Sources

Listed below are some sources of help for you and your teens.

• Parentlineplus
  A national charity group that extends help on variety of issues to parents
• Frank
  A government Website for children, teens, and parents on drugs
• Adfam
  A charity group to extend help to those having drug and alcohol issues

If you feel discouraged at this point of time, remember that many great people such as Edison also had certain learning disabilities. However, they did not bother for it and developed their own positive vision to gift the world with unique discoveries.

Similarly, the stated likely problems do not put you off from gaining high qualifications. It just that you have to apply some techniques to study in a different manner and take care in choosing a college or university. Remember – “A successful person does things differently, instead of doing different things”. So, let’s go through some considerations and guidelines for choosing a course and studying efficiently and effectively.

Selecting Your Course

There are several reasons or factors based on which you opt for a course. Listed are those reasons or factors.

• Interest
  You must be interested in doing that course.
• Job Prospects
  You believe that it provides better job prospects.
• More Degrees
  You want more qualifications.
• Change in Career
  You want to change your career line and so require a different qualification.
• Company Requirements
  Your company where you are working requires this qualification.

Good news for you is that most colleges and universities consider your learning disabilities and provide you with a disability statement. This statement contains information on the support services that you will get to aid you in your studies despite of learning difficulties. So, whenever you decide for a college or university:

• Visit the place on a weekday when it is open and see the place, tutors, and other people already doing the course.
• Ask for the disability statement.
• Ask for the prospectus.
• Ask who can help you with the application (look for disability/learning support coordinator for this support).

Your next problem might be whether to take the course full-time or part-time. This is again dependent upon certain factors. Mostly go for full-time courses. Full-time college courses are a blend of self-study and the following planned periods:

• Tutorials
  Refers to one-to-one sitting with a tutor influenced by the minimum attendance rules.
• Seminars
  Refers to group sitting with a tutor influenced by the minimum attendance rules.
• Lectures (optional)
  Refers to teachings communicated to a large group of students.

If you are an employed person and simultaneously want to take up the course, your this decision depends upon your job and its flexibility. You need to talk to your employer about this and look for time during which you can study. Ask the employer if you can work flexibly enough to leave early for the classes.

If you cannot make any settlement at job for the part-time course, you need to try for a distance-learning course.

Now, comes the critical problem of funding. Depending on the area wherein you live and type of course you want to pursue, there are different sources of funding from where you can seek for help. Listed below are these sources from where you can obtain the required funds.

• Access to Learning Fund (England)
• Mature Students’ Bursary Fund (Scotland)
• Assembly Learning Grant (Wales)
• Education and Library Board Bursary (Northern Ireland)
• Student loans only for Higher Education (HE) courses (a course that provides qualification higher than the A-level such as first degree course or Higher National Diploma – HND)
• City and guilds (http://www.city-and-guilds.co.uk)
• Career development loans (the Department for Education and Skills is responsible to pay your loan’s interest)
• Disabled Student Allowances (DSAs only for higher education courses and are not means tested)
• Your employer if the course is a part of your job

Dealing with the Learning Abilities while Studying

Listed below are the places/events where you face learning difficulties along with certain tips to minimize them and their effects.

At College/University

Lack of organizational skills can throw you far away in your study and attending the lectures and seminars, as you would tend to forget their timings. Further, this will further intensify your problem when you need additional time to complete your assignments/projects from the tutor, as your tutor will not be helpful to you due to your very low attendance in lectures. To avoid these problems

• Use timetables daily so that you know when are your lectures
• Create a ‘to do’ list to organize your day – what books you require, what equipments you need to take, what’s the assignment and when it is to be completed, what is expected in that assignment and so on.

Doing Coursework

While doing the coursework, low span of attention, a basic symptom of ADHD, would invite problems for you. You might lose the track or forget the methodology of doing a task. Listed below are the problems that you can face due to this symptom.

• Difficulty in noting the instructions and deadlines in lectures and seminars
• Difficulty in following the instructions
• Difficulty in paying attention in tasks
• Difficulty in completing the assignments or projects
• Forgetting items required for projects and seminars

Attempt to implement the following tips to resolve these problems.

• Prepare daily schedules to sort out your studies.
• In case of assignments, be sure that you are aware of what is to be done, what you need, and until when you have complete. Maintain a list of all this information.
• Divide the assignments into small sequential tasks and specify time for each of these tasks. For example, some tasks could be doing a research in the library, creating a rough copy, and finalizing the fair work.
• Highlight important text of notes and tasks such as using a color or underlining it.

At Exams

Listed below are certain tips that can help you in your exams associated with the course and qualifications.

Maintain a Timetable

Create a timetable for revising the notes related to a subject. Make sure that you set up a real timetable wherein you consider all subjects, job timings, family responsibilities, relaxing time, and free time.

In addition, ensure that the timings assigned for each revision are not too long or too short such that you feel unsatisfied after the revision.

Take Down Proper Notes

Follow the below tips to write effective notes.

• Apply word association, images, or try drawing things to remember concepts and procedures.
• Use mnemonics while memorizing things. For example, if there is a bulleted list of items such as features, advantages, disadvantages; pick the first letter of each item and merge the letters together to form a meaningful word.
• Divide the information into smaller sections with each section having a suitable title.
• Convert paragraphs into bullet lists/tables/images. Remember the number of item in the list and then go into the details of each item.
• Record your notes in a tape for memorizing.
• Read aloud your notes.
• Rewrite your notes again without looking into the original one.

Practice Exams

Follow the below tips to prepare for examinations of your course.

• Get past years’ papers for the subjects, which every student does for preparation; as there are high chances of repeating questions every alternate year.
• Ask the tutor for any practice exam papers and try to solve them.
• Determine what types of questions are asked often and prepare accordingly.
• Solve sample and past question papers within the stipulated time and without looking into your notes.

Follow the below tips while giving exams of your course.

• Read the exam instructions carefully before writing and avoid haste. Remember, if you do not read, you might end up answering too many/few from a single section that is similar to putting water on an effortful drawing.
• Underline words with which you find it easy to follow the questions correctly, such as describe, contrast, or list.
• Avoid panic when you see others picking up their pens directly without reading the instructions.
• Spend first 10 minutes in reading the paper and last 10 minutes in reading the answers. The left time is what you should divide among the questions that you need to attempt.
• First, answer those questions, which you know or you like to attempt.
• Mark the questions whose answer you do not know or you will give after finishing the ones you know. This way you will not forget any of the questions.
• If you find it difficult to proceed further while you are already writing an answer, leave that without utilizing any time in thinking and go to the next question. Mark it and come to it later so that your time is not wasted.
• Write a short summary in pencil that contains the main points of an essay-type question. This is because if you do not have time to complete that answer, you still get marks for the main points.
• Try to write a list of main points for all the questions first so that you do not have rethink or recall later.

Sources of Help

Listed below are some more sources of help.

• The student union (has its own disability support structure)
• Your personal tutor
• The continuing adult education department (for mature students)
• Department for Education and Skills (www.des.gov.uk and www.direct.gov.uk)
• SKILL, the National Bureau for Students with Disabilities (www.skill.org.uk/info/infosheets.asp)
• Learning disability helpline – 0808 808 1111 available 24 hours a day
• Disability or learning support office in your college or university

The disability or learning support office in your college or university is also known as Disability Services and offer elp when you:

• Are facing difficulties in studies
• Require additional time for completion of assignments
• Need support in exams such as arranging for a computer to give answers

Self-esteem affects the way in which we see ourselves among others and how much do we value our strengths. It is required, as it makes children proud of what they can achieve and what they actually are. Self-esteem in children:

• Makes them believe in their capabilities.
• Gives courage to accept new challenges.
• Makes them to respect themselves so that others can respect them.

Some people tend to have high self-esteem, while some have a low self-esteem.

If you have a high self-esteem, you are aware of what your strengths and weak points are and will never allow the weak points to weaken the strengths. As you know your strengths and weaknesses, you know how to achieve your goals well.

If you have a low self-esteem, you will mostly feel that others are quite deserving and are better than what you are. In addition, you are not able to perceive your own weaknesses and strengths and do not have confidence in facing challenging situations. Further, you feel embarrassed when someone praise you and deliberately accept negative comments as that is what you feel for yourself too. Such symptoms indicate that you are undergoing from the state of inferiority complex wherein you do not like yourself, nor others like you.

Self-esteem and ADHD

ADHD greatly results in low self-esteem in a child, adolescent, adult. However, apart from ADHD, there are certain biological and environmental factors that form self-esteem in your child:

• Thinking pattern of your child
• Expectations from the self
• Thinking and feeling of family, friends, and teachers about her

Children with ADHD face difficulties with teachers and peers in school and siblings and family members at home. Common people mostly fail to understand their problem and offer negative comments and punishments to them. All this makes an ADHD child feel good for nothing; think that he/she is stupid, bad, and hopeless; and leaves him/her with no confidence, but only frustration. This always results in low self-esteem that makes it strange for an ADHD child to think or act well.

Criticisms and negative judgments occur due to the following problematic behaviors of the children.

• Difficulty in making and maintaining friendships
• Acting without logical or proper thinking, which makes the child seem selfish
• Bursting on others frequently on small issues due to short-tempered
• Damaging the belongings of others
• Bullying other children in the fear of being bullied

Due to these problems, it is obvious that such a child is ignored, rejected, or bullied. In adults, this is not the case, rather low self-esteem affects the relationships at family, workplace, and other social events.

We know that the symptoms of ADHD are inattentiveness, hyperactive, and impulsivity. Children themselves cannot cope with these, but teachers dealing with such children might opt to exclude them from the classroom. This actually can play an important role in having a reduced self-esteem.

Attending events such as birthday parties and get-togethers are a part of life. However, the inviters are always worried about your children bad behavior and hesitate to give you an invitation. Therefore, after academic exclusion, your child rarely is excluded even socially due to fear of bad behavior. Such exclusions can make your child feel low and reinforces the thinking of being bad or naughty.

Treating Low Self-esteem

While diagnosing ADHD, the patient’s self-esteem is also assessed that act as a further clue in deciding the appropriate treatment. Listed below are the treatments for improving self-esteem that includes a few methods wherein the victim itself has to practice certain ways of thinking and acting.

• Medication
• Psychotherapy
• Cognitive therapy
• Behavior management strategies
• Assertiveness training courses
• Parent’s Efforts

As a part of the treatment plan, the counselors and therapists suggest some methods to perceive things in a different manner. Listed are some of these ways.

• Instill new skills.
• Improve skills that you already have in you.
• Try to give a thought on what unique you can do to bring about a positive change in yourself or in some another person.
• Learn to be concerned about others
• Learn to talk to them in a way that will make them feel worthy of themselves.

To track where the problem lies in your thinking, the counselor or therapist will ask you about the situations or events of your past wherein you thought negatively or might have lost confidence.

The base of the treatment of low self-esteem is to perceive or look at things, situations, people, and life differently, actually in a positive way. Such a technique is referred to as reframing wherein you view everything with a different vision and understand each entity in a positive manner including yourself.

If self-esteem improves, it is a good sign indicating that ADHD is improving.

Assertiveness Training Courses

Assertiveness training courses help in increasing confidence and feel positive. You can obtain information on these training courses through the following mediums:

• Internet
• GP
• Library
• Citizens advice bureau
• Education colleges in your residing region

Parents’ Efforts

As a parent, you can help to boost your child’s self-esteem in the following ways.

• Praise and RewardsHere, your goal is to bring positive thinking, vision, and look in your child. Therefore, praise your child even for little good thinking or behavior wherever possible. This encouragement can be verbally or through some materialistic things. For example, if she made something creative out of clay, tell him/her, “I am proud of you for making such a unique item”. If he/she helps you cleaning up the kitchen, tell him/her, “You really to know to take care of others” and provide a cup of ice cream of his/her favorite flavor.
• Love and TrustLet your love be unconditional for your child. Make him/her believe that you love him/her the most irrespective of what he/she actually is. Let your child know that you have full trust on him/her and that you have full confidence in him/her. For example, if your child breaks something at home, do not shout; rather explain not do that again politely and taking him/her in your lap. If your child going to participate in a sport, tell him/her that you are sure for him/her to win.
• GoalsSet goals that your child can achieve that in turn can boost confidence.
• Sports and HobbiesIf your child is interested in a sport or has a hobby such as swimming, dancing, singing, drawing, or cooking; make him/her join classes or clubs wherein he/she can develop the possessed skills. This will make your child proud of some thing that he/she can do spectacularly and will improve his/her self-esteem. Remember, a child with ADHD can stop continuing with the hobby or a liking activity. So, do not let this happen to your child. Boost it before it lits off.
• Positive ApproachMake your child to write down what she can do, can think and provide ideas, and what she likes. Stick this paper on the wall in his/her room where daily it can be viewed. Ask your child to add to this list whenever possible.

Managing Criticisms

Low self-esteem simply means that your child does not have confidence at all in what he/she does and think. Whenever he/she is successful, it is more likely that he/she feels that this is due to luck or capable people involved in it.

You will be amazed to know that criticisms are one of the ways to make your child feel as being cared and loved. To make a criticism a sweet medicine, your caring words and a polite tone are necessary. In this way, the child will learn to accept criticisms. For example, if your child is not able to complete its homework, tell him/her – “I like the way you did the part of your homework, but avoid leaving it incomplete as the teacher might punish you for this. So, tell me where your problem lies.” This is a better way to deal instead of saying – “You are hopeless – why can’t you complete your homework?”

To criticize such that is affects positively on the child, innovative ways are inevitable as it is in art. One way is to make use of ‘I’ rather than ‘You’. You also need to make your child to learn how to accept criticisms. This requires teaching him/her how to remain calm and control temper. This will aid your child not only in accepting criticism, but also on focusing on the positive things to say.

Sometimes, criticisms act as a stimulant to boost your negative thinking about yourself. For example, if the child thinks that he/she is not good at studies and someone says that to him/her, that goes without any bad response. Further, unfair criticisms, if any, will make your child realize that everybody dislikes him/her.

Face criticisms in the following ways.

• Listen carefully when somebody says negative about you.
• On facing an unfair or unjust comment, you can raise an issue against it calmly with a proper explanation as to why you feel unfair. Role-play is an ideal option to practice this.
• Admit mistakes and ask for sorry.
• Agree if applicable.

If you have low self-esteem and still go ahead to criticize others, just think on how you will feel it if you were the front person. So, to avoid criticisms for others:

• Be just
• Remain cool
• Accept the facts
• Avoid attacking on the front person’s character
• Speak politely even if you have to trace mistakes. For example say, “I worry if you do not come home on time from play”; instead of saying, “You are careless and do not want to follow discipline.”

The key condition to tackle ADHD is to build a good relationship with the parents, as they are the ones who can help the child every now and then. Even during the treatment days, communicate to them about the improvement in the child’s behavior and what is still wrong in the behavior. If you need anytime help, SENCO is there for you.

Remember, you are there not to remove the child, but its problematic behaviors. So, with this point in mind, let’s go through the problems that are caused by ADHD in the classroom and their solutions.

Special Education Needs (SEN) Code of Practice

From 1 January 2002, a revised SEN Code of Practice has been implemented, which undertakes a graduated approach. It states that SEN must be offered in the school and all teachers are SEN teachers. The goal of this code is to provide fast help to the children suffering from ADHD.

According to the code, the school has the right to demand for a statutory assessment of a child and talk to parents about the special educational provision to be given by them for their children.

Steps Prior to SEN

You can create an Individual Education Plan (IEP) for a child if you feel that he/she is finding it difficult to manage in the classroom. An IEP is necessary for SEN and must be discussed with the parents for their approval. An IEP contains the listed below information.

• The child’s goals as to what you want him/her to do or any behavior that needs to be changed
• The strategy you are going to implement to aid the child in achieving the set goals, for instance, rules and rewards
• Frequency at which the child will obtain this help and support
• Help that parents can provide at home for the child to cope up with the problem
• The day when the goals will be reviewed
• Conclusion to be filled on the date of review

Now, you might not recognize the importance of IEP and feel that this is an unnecessary step. However, IEP will be the upcoming support if there is no improvement in the child.

School Action

This is the step wherein you consult a School Special Educational Needs Coordinator to seek guidance. The SENCO will discuss with you about the different techniques to help the child and other education equipments that will support our goal. SENCO then assesses the child’s performance by physical examinations and reviews, while you end up with delivering IEP.
The need of a SENCO arises when the child is suffering from the following difficulties.

• No or slow progress below the acceptable levels
• Cannot develop skills
• Behavioral problems that do not improve by classroom behavioral management
• Communication problems
• Physical problems

School Action Plus

This comes into action when the needs of a child suffering from ADHD are not fulfilled by School Action, In School Action Plus, the SENCO contacts medical ADHD specialists such as language therapist from external health services for further examination of the child.

If even this cannot fulfill the child’s needs, the SENCO requests the LEA to provide a Statement of Special Educational Needs wherein it specifies what help the school should provide to the child in his/her education and development.

Marking the ADHD Symptoms

A teacher is mostly the primary one from among the people close to the child to spot his/hers behavioral problems. On marking an unexpected behavior for some few days, talk to the child’s parents about the problems noticed by them at home. Check whether the child is suffering from the hearing or sight problems. In addition, you can talk to the child’s playschool or nursery to check whether the child had behavioral problems before.

There can be many disorders that co-exist with ADHD and their symptoms overlap the symptoms of ADHD. So, it is difficult to distinguish between the core ADHD symptoms and other symptoms.

Caring for Medication

Legally, it is not mandatory for the teaching staff to supervise a child taking medicine. However, at your own will, you can do so. But, daily decisions regarding this will be the responsibility of the head teacher as per the DfES.

At first, if you are told by the child’s parents that he/she needs to take medicines at school, you must know about the medicines to be given, time on which medication is to be given, and who will take care in giving the medicines to him/her.

Next is to look for a way to send the child for his/her medication without opening this fact to the rest of the class. This is because this is something that a child always fears about taking medications at the school. An example to do so is to ask him/her to visit the staffroom for some work and in between to visit the school secretary or nurse for taking medicines.

Talk to parents or SENCO for your any queries or concerns. Currently, the new medicines are work until long in a day and therefore, can be given only once at home. This actually removes the above issues.

In the Classroom

A child suffering from ADHD cannot concentrate properly and has a low attention span. Therefore, he/she needs your help in learning and organizing tasks in the classroom. The catchy solutions to this problem are routine, repetition, and regularity, which can be implemented in the following ways.

• List and display clear and simple rules on the classroom wall.
• Set a daily schedule such as fixed time for stories and class work.
• Write down/List the day’s topics to be taught on the blackboard.
• Provide timetable and deadlines.
• Remind the class about what is to be done the next day and review the instructions when the day is about to get over.
• Set a place for a ADHD child where there are least chances of distraction, such as:
  • at the front of the classroom
  • besides the wall
  • close to the blackboard
  • close to you
  • away from windows
  • away from bright or colorful items
• Specify a clear system of tracking he work. For example, use a different color for various subjects or label the work done as ‘finished’ or ‘pending’.
• Inform the child with ADHD about any changes that might take place, as he/she finds it difficult to adjust with the change.

Excessively Talkative and Disruptive

At primary, chitchatting and interrupting the teacher frequently when he/she is teaching the class is the most familiar problem of an ADHD child. A major cause of sudden interruption is the medication taken by the child in the school. So, check whether the child has taken medication. Actually, a sudden interruption is the indication that the child has taken his/her medicines. However, it is believed that these two tend to fade as the child grows in age. Listed below are some tips to deal with these two problems.

• Set a limit to what each child can speak when discussing in a group. For example, use a timer to do so and ensure that the ADHD child is not allowed to speak beyond a limit.
• Instruct all the students in the class to speak just a sentence, and not more than that before you ask them to respond/answer/speak.
• Instruct all the students to lift their hands before speaking and wait until the teacher asks to speak.
• Make your students learn to always think and then speak. To do so, give 20 seconds to the class before listening to the answers/response. In this way, you can aid the ADHD child to talk less, but meaningfully.
• Set standard rules of interrupting and inform all the students about them. Remind them about the consequences of not following the rules – possibly list them on a wall where children can see. Do not pin point towards the ADHD children while speaking about these rules.
• Establish and implement a reward system, which is apparent to the child. For example, use color-coded cards wherein an ADHD child needs to get through the session devoid of the red card. On doing so, he/she is rewarded a star; or else, he/she is aware of the consequences.

Lack of Attention/Concentration

This symptom causes problems such as difficulty in listening to what is being said, working at the desk, solving a math problem, and following the instructions. To summarize, an ADHD child with lack of attention or concentration finds it difficult to perform a task or stick to it. Listed below are some tips to deal with these two problems.

• Divide big actions into small chunks, as this works well with a child with low attention span. This requires planning and attention from your side.
• Let the tasks be very short in duration or a set of tasks that can be completed faster to boost the ADHD child’s confidence. For example, getting crayons and drawing book from the cupboard or writing the some proverb everyday on the blackboard before the class starts.
• Stand near to the ADHD child and with the eye contact, provide shot and simple instructions.
• Make the child with ADHD to restate the instructions to ensure that he/she has understood what to do and how to do.
• Ask questions to the child in between the session to maintain his/her attention.
• Use visual aids such as images.
• Create checklists and jot them down on the blackboard.
• Monitor the child’s progress during the execution of the assigned task.
• Be with the child and work together – Assign tasks that are more challenging if you observe that the child with ADHD finds it difficult to concentrate as the day passes.
• Provide handouts that contain a summary of key concepts or terminologies before starting a lesson. Following are certain guidelines on preparing a handout:
  • Write in large font size.
  • Use a simple page.
  • Restrict to 1-2 activities on a page.
  • Try to provide images that depict the action or are related with it.
  • Underline core directions and vocabulary.
  • Draw borders to organize and highlight blocks of text.

Problems Related to Homework

Homework issues include not doing the homework at all, forgetting about it, or doing it partly. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Provide a home-school diary wherein the homework is noted down along with the deadlines.
• Inform the parents about the homework.
• Motivate the child to show even a part of the homework done, even if he/she has not finished it.
• Confirm that the child with ADHD has submitted the homework. This is the secondary problem wherein when you ask for the homework and due to low attention, the child might not have submitted it.
• Tell the students to check their homework always after completing it. This becomes a habit and gives them a chance to rectify their mistakes, if any. This is because children with ADHD hardly have a habit to check their work.
• Talk to the parents for any concerns.
• See if you can provide another set of textbooks for home if within the budget.

Problems Related to Learning

These problems include reading and writing problems, which needs a specialist such as language therapist and the SENCO’s help. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Make use of visual signs.
• Provide sequential instructions.
• Provide a quite area or extra time during the exams to the child with ADHD. You can also take the test when his/her attention level is good.
• Talk with the SENCO regarding what help is available in the school, such as access to speech and language therapy programmes.

Problems Related to Peers

Peer difficulties include acting silly, overreacting, fighting, or fear of teasing and bullying. Listed below are certain guidelines to deal with this problem.

• Maintain a playtime diary that contains information about play, reactions, performance, problems, and alternatives to the displayed behavior.
• Mix the child with a kind friend with whom he/she can play.
• Arrange for a ‘Circle time’. Here, for around 40 minutes, children settle themselves in a circle and discuss about the matters to understand each other views in you presence.

Problems Due to Difficult Behaviors

A teacher might be annoyed or frustrated while dealing with an ADHD child due to his/her intolerable behavior. You should understand that this is all due to a psychiatric disorder and should not deal with him/her harshly.

• Set unambiguous rules and display them in the class regarding conduct and interruption.
• Control the behavior in the classroom by taking a walk around the desks and acting upon the actions. For example, if a child is putting effort in doing a task, smile at him/her or move your hands on his head.
• Praise or reward the child in front of the class on observing such behavior that you want more and more. Avoid using generalisms like ‘good work’ or well done’, instead say – “I am happy the way your are showing interest in your work”.
• Avoid punishing the whole class just because of the behavior of the ADHD child.
• Give some more minutes to the child to think about the refusal of the punishment, if he/she tells so. Further, tell him/her that now also if he/she refuses, there will be a more serious unavoidable punishment.

Sources of Support

For you, the SENCO is the first contact point for any advice or help on dealing with the difficult behavior of an ADHD child. SENCO will be with you from the stage of creating IEP until the statementing process. Further help will depend on the type of support specified in the statement. If this specified help of the statement is not sufficient, discuss with the SENCO for a review as early as possible.

• Case coordinator
• Health visitors
• GPs
• Teachers
• Child and adolescent psychiatrists
• Pediatricians
• Educational and clinical psychologists
• Speech and language therapists
• Occupational therapists
• Nurses
• Social workers

Psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists, nurses, and social workers are a part of Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). It is a part of NHS that provides mental health services such as psychological assessment and treatment for children.

A medical professional who has taken proper training must only diagnose ADHD in children. Such experts include a child and adolescent psychiatrist or a pediatrician.

Case Coordinator

One of the necessary conditions for proper assessment and treatment of ADHD is clear, unambiguous, and constant communication among the involved professionals. An ideal way to make this sure is to appoint a single person as a case coordinator or key worker, who can be:

• Community pediatrician
• Educational psychologist
• Social worker

The case coordinator performs the following duties:

• Developing a reliable relationship with the family of the child
• Synchronizing the inputs of the involved professionals that includes even documenting the sittings with you and your child
• Stimulating clear communication among the child, family, and involved professionals

In real, the communication among the child, family and the involved professionals might be informal and might vary drastically. To standardize this and many other issues, the Children’s National Service Framework is putting their efforts in developing national standards across the NHS. The goal of these standards is to make sure that smooth access to services and easy improvement through them is offered any time to children.

Health Visitors

These people help in detecting developmental problems even before your child starts going to school. Therefore, they can be the first ones to trace the initial symptoms of ADHD in your child.

GPs

GP is the first point of contact to seek help and support when parents suspect their child’s behavior. On doing physical assessment of your child, the GP might provide referral of a specialist depending upon the assessment results. This specialist can be either a child and adolescent psychiatrist or a pediatrician who have knowledge about ADHD.

Apart from referring your child to a specialist, your GP can agree to work with the specialist to treat ADHD. In this case, the GP will:

• Prescribe medicines suggested by the specialist.
• Monitor your child during the treatment.
• Consult the specialist if there are any concerns regarding the treatment.

Sometimes, the specialist might prescribe and monitor medication without the presence of GP. In this case, the specialist needs to inform about it and changes from time to time to the GP.

Specialist

A specialist will conduct various tests and ask different questions to you and your child before deciding whether your child is having ADHD. For example, a specialist can test certain development skills such as catching a flying pan or hopping. He/She can also questions related to your child’s past medical conditions and treatments, family background, behavior in school and so on.

After diagnosing ADHD in your child, the specialist will develop a treatment strategy according to your child’s needs. This might also include the entry of other specialists such as clinical psychologist, which is taken care of by the ADHD specialist in agreement with the GP. The specialist might also give in writing about the prescribed medicines to be given in school for the school teacher.

Lastly, but not the least, the specialist might decide whether your child needs psychotherapy. He/She might do this therapy for your child or might refer a clinical psychologist.

Clinical Psychologists

A clinical psychologist might function on a one-to-one basis with your child or in a group. He/She offers two therapies listed below.

• Psychotherapy
  Aids in coping up with emotional difficulties and challenges of daily life as a part of ADHD.
• Behavioral Therapy
  Aids in improving the overall behavior of your child.

Educational Psychologists

Clinical and educational psychologists both have degrees in psychology. Then, what’s the difference between the two? Well, a clinical psychologist takes postgraduate training and is a part of mental health service group, while an educational psychologist takes two years of classroom teaching experience. An educational psychologist:

• Helps children and young people cope up with learning, emotional, and behavior problems.
• Advices parents and teachers regarding the application of behavioral strategies.
• Prepares a statement of Special Educational Needs (SEN), which specifies about the help your child needs to learn and educate.
• Is a part of local education authority.

Psychiatrist versus Psychologist

A psychiatrist is a skilled medical doctor, who can prescribe medicines. On the other hand, a psychologist cannot prescribe medicines, as he/she is not qualified to do so.

Teachers

It is the teacher or a school health team who will ask you to take your child to an ADHD specialist. During the treatment, the teachers of your child have a say in the evaluation of his/her behavior. In this ongoing assessment, the teacher rates the varied characteristics of your child’s behavior using an appropriate rating scale, which is similar to a questionnaire. This provides a conclusion as to whether the prescribed medicines are effective. Further, the teachers:

• Might apply techniques to improve your child’s academic performance and self-confidence such as teaching learning skills and boosting its morale to perform a specific task
• Apply behavioral therapy in cooperation with parents and other professionals to tackle problematic behavior for better conduct of your child

Children with ADHD study in an ordinary school, but receive special training.

Speech and Language Therapists

Children with ADHD are more likely to have speech and hearing problems. To tackle these problems, your child might need a speech and language therapist. Such a therapist might take help of parents and teachers to improve your child’s communication skills.

Occupational Therapist

An occupational therapist deals with co-ordination problems and other difficulties such as dressing, eating, and handwriting. He/She will usually coordinate with the child’s school too to overcome these problems.

If you have a high self-esteem, you know what are your strength and weak points and that you will never let the weaknesses overcome your strengths. As you know your strengths and weaknesses, you can plan to achieve your goals well.

If you have a low self-esteem, you will mostly feel that others are quite deserving and are better than what you are. In addition, you are not able to perceive your own weaknesses and strengths and do not have confidence to achieve your stated goals or face challenging situations. Further, you feel embarrassed when someone praise you and deliberately accept  negative comments as that is what you feel for yourself too. Such symptoms indicate that you are undergoing from the state of inferiority complex wherein you do not like yourself, nor others like you.

ADHD Affecting Self-esteem

ADHD is the one of the major causes of low self-esteem in children, adolescents, and adults. Low self-esteem is the outcome of improper or no social skills and famous as a bad character in the minds of others. Criticism is one more factor that results in low self-esteem. This actually takes place due to the following reasons.

• Children suffering from ADHD feel difficult to make and maintain friendships.
• Such children act without any proper thinking and therefore, might seem to speak meaningless.
• They are short-tempered and might just burst on others.
• They might also damage the belongings of others.
• They might be bullying other children in fear of them being bullied.

Due to above behaviors, it is natural that such a child mostly faces ignorance, rejection, bullying. In adult life, this is not that common as among children, but rather it affects the relationships at family, workplace, and other social events. The causes or symptoms of low self-esteem that can create difficulties in relationships are:

• Feeling it tough to complete a task
• Disorganized way of handling things
• Poor socialization

Actually, ADHD starts right away in your childhood. As a child suffering from ADHD, you must have faced ignorance to such an extent that you have an in-depth feeling that you are good for nothing. This negative state further worsens in the adulthood state when you fail to get a job or do not obtain the desired project at a job.

Treating Low Self-esteem

Evaluating the patient’s self-esteem is one of the critical assessments while diagnosing ADHD. Listed below are the treatments for improving self-esteem that includes methods wherein the victim itself has to practice certain ways of thinking and acting.

• Medication
• Psychotherapy
• Cognitive therapy
• Behavior management strategies
• Assertiveness training courses

As a part of the treatment plan, the counselors and therapists suggest some ways of encouragement for differently perceiving yourself. Listed are some of these ways.

• Inculcate innovative skills.
• Improve skills that you possess.
• Try to give a thought on what unique you can do to bring about a positive change in yourself or in some another person.
• Learn to be concerned and always think about others to talk to them in a manner in which they feel worthy of themselves.

To track where the problem lies in your thinking, the counselor or therapist will ask you about the situations or events of your past wherein you thought negatively or might have lost confidence. The key of the treatment of low self-esteem is to perceive or look at things, situations, people, and life differently, actually in a positive way. Such a technique is referred to as reframing wherein you view everything with a different vision and understand each entity in a positive manner including yourself.

A plus point of this treatment’s success is improved condition of ADHD.

Assertiveness training courses are designed to recover the lost confidence and feel positive for yourself. You can obtain information on these training courses through the following mediums:

• Internet
• Library
• Education colleges in your residing region

Managing Criticisms

Low self-esteem simply means that you do not have confidence in your own abilities and capabilities. Whenever you face success, you tend to give its credit to luck or other senior or capable people involved with you.

When somebody criticizes you, because of low self-esteem, you simply are not embarrassed. Further, it acts as a support to your negative thinking about yourself. Criticism is a cause and boost for low self-esteem. Unfair criticisms, if any, will make you feel that the entire planet dislikes you.

Face criticisms in the following ways.

• Listen carefully when somebody says negative about you.
• On facing an unfair or unjust comment, you can raise an issue against it calmly with a proper explanation as to why you feel unfair. Role-play is an ideal option to practice this.

If you have low self-esteem and still go ahead to criticize others, just think on how you will feel it if you were the front person. So, to avoid criticisms for others:

• Be just
• Remain cool
• Accept the facts
• Avoid attacking on the front person’s character
• Speak politely even if you have to trace mistakes. For example say, “I worry if you do not come on time to catch the train”; instead of saying, “You are a late comer and do not value time.”

Do you know that you can make criticism a good medium for your child to improve his/her self-esteem? Yes! It just about the manner in which you speak and what words you use. For example, if your child finds it difficult to do a drawing, tell him/her – “I am happy that you are able to do much of the drawing. Tell me your problem and let’s think on its solution together”. This is a better approach rather than saying – “You cannot draw this much?”