by Anna Hill

Created on: April 25, 2008   Last Updated: April 29, 2008

Aidan stares blankly at the white board, while students around him are busy working on their big book pages. He smiles a brilliant apologetic smile when I prompt him to get down to business, but within a moment's time he is absorbed in advancing the lead of his automatic pencil to its outermost point, then pushing it back in only to start the process over again.

As an educator, I have seen first hand the struggles of students with attention deficit disorder. Despite their best intentions, they struggle to perform tasks essential to their academic success- tasks like reading along in their text, listening to others during class discussions, following directions, organizing their materials, and finding homework. If unchecked the downward spiral that can result from these manifestations of ADD leaves students hating school and feeling like failures. To prevent students from erecting these
mental barricades against the schooling that is so important to their success as adults, it is essential that they be diagnosed and treated as early as possible.

Schools vary in their procedures for flagging students suspected of having attentional disorders. Teachers are often in close contact with the parents of at risk children. This may initiate parental inquiries about the disorder at pediatrician visits. A series of questionnaires are then completed by both teachers and parents to determine if a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is appropriate. In other cases, teams of teachers may work together to write out referrals which describe and document student behaviors and responses to intervention. When several interventions have been attempted with little success, students may then be tested by school psychologists or guidance staff.

Diagnosis of a disability such as ADD or ADHD provides two benefits to the student. First, diagnosis will often result in the creation of a 504 or an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) which provides the student with protection from discrimination and which guarantees accommodations for the challenges this student faces due to their condition. Second, a formal diagnosis initiates treatment which may help ease some of the difficulties these students experience. However, there is no silver bullet, and as students grow, the levels of medications they take may require tweaking to see continued benefit.

Students want to feel successful in the classroom. Diagnosing and treating their ADD will help to ensure that they wake up each school day with a positive outlook, that they will get the most out of each day, and that they will reach their full academic potential.

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