ADHD - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Conservative estimates indicate that AD/HD affects between three to seven percent of school age children, and between two to five percent of adults” (Freer, 2004). This is how one author defines the disorder and its prevalence; although there has been a more recent interest in adult ADD and AD/HD, the disorder is primarily associated in the media and in most existing articles with children and adolescents. This means that the disorder is also aligned with the educational system in this country. At the same time, there has been a federal concentration on outlining programs that are relatively sensitive and malleable and do not reflect federalization in dealing with the problems brought up by special situations of AD/HD.
In terms of the symptoms that they show, generally the individual with AD/HD, “Fails to pay close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork… has difficulty sustaining attention, does not seem to listen when spoken to, does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish, has difficulty organizing tasks… avoids or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained mental effort, loses things… easily distracted… forgetful” (Dreher, 1998). These symptoms could be seen as simply shortcomings in attention span or irresponsibility, so in many cases the student or child is blamed for their condition, when it is really the brain chemistry that deserves the blame, not the individual. This is why teachers and parents need to give children with AD/HD more tools to overcome the symptoms: they often have trouble writing neatly, so teachers could advocate early use of word processors. “Children with ADHD are sometimes poor spellers, so let them use a spell checker to edit their stories. Wherever possible, let kids use checklists - to assess key elements of their stories during the revision process, to determine whether theyve followed important steps” (Weaver, 1998). Symptoms of ...Download file to see next pagesRead More