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Diagnosing ADHD

When to Seek Help

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It may be difficult to know when to make that first call for help with your child’s behavior. You may wonder if his/her behavior is just a phase, whether it is normal for a child of his/her age, or if his/her inattention is severe enough to warrant a diagnosis. If any of the following 6 situations sound similar to your experiences, you may want to consider getting help for your child’s potential ADHD.

  1. You have noticed that your child displays greater activity, inattentiveness, and impulsivity than other children for the past 6 months or longer.
  2. You expend more energy and time than other parents in keeping your child out of trouble and under control.
  3. For the past 6 months (or more) other parents have told you that your child is less controlled, more impulsive, and less attentive when with his/her peers.
  4. You have painstakingly viewed or have been informed that other children do not want to play with your child due to his/her active, impulsive, or aggressive behavior.
  5. You lose your temper often with your child or feel exhausted or depressed due to the time and energy that your parenting involves. You may also feel as though you’re on the verge of harming your child with physical discipline.
  6. A teacher or daycare staff member has told you that your child has behavioral issues.

You may be wondering where to seek help for your child. The first step is to make the phone call to begin a diagnosis process and, eventually, a treatment process. Contact Dr. Gordon, a neuropsychologist, for a comprehensive ADHD assessment.

Contact Dr. Gordon for help with your ADHD. We have treatment and solutions available online, by phone, and in our offices.

Get Started

written by:
 Brianna Malinowski, 
Jay Gordon, Ph.D

Barkley, R. (2013). Taking charge of ADHD: The complete, authoritative guide for parents (Third ed.). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Picture retrieved from: http://www.zenlifesolutions.com/do-you-know-what-you-want/question-mark/ on Sept. 24, 2015

ADHD - Child - Father

Investigating the Father-Child Relationship

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Mothers often comment that their child with ADHD behaves better with his/her father. Children with ADHD do tend to be less negative and more likely to stay on task when with their fathers rather than with their mothers. The cause of this interaction is unclear but may be due to a few explanations.
Oftentimes, the mother stays at home more than the father, resulting in the mother assuming the role of disciplinarian. Of course the child will have a more stressed relationship with the disciplinarian of the household. Another explanation resides in the manner in which males and females communicate disapproval. Mothers are more likely to express disapproval of her child’s actions through verbal explanations, which may not resonate with children whose ADHD limits their language skills.  Fathers, on the other hand, are more apt to express disapproval with immediate punishment and fewer verbal explanations, which may lead to better parent-child compliance. Also, the typically larger and more imposing size of the father may elicit better behavior from a child.
Due to this difference in behavior, many fathers believe that the mothers have a problem with disciplining the child as apposed to the child having disciplinary problems. Usually, if the father begins to take responsibility for the daily management of the child, the family begins to realize that the issue of noncompliance is not directed toward one specific parent or gender.

Contact Dr. Gordon for help with your ADHD. We have treatment and solutions available online, by phone, and in our offices.

Get Started

written by:
 Brianna Malinowski, 
Jay Gordon, Ph.D

Barkley, R. A. (2013). Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.
Image retrieved from: http://cliparts.co/father-and-child-images on Sept. 9, 2015

children with ADHD

Talking to the Teacher

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School is overwhelming with distractions for children with ADHD. Your child’s teacher is most likely not specially trained in assisting children with ADHD. Here are some ideas that you, as a parent, can communicate to your child’s teacher in order to help them succeed:

  1. Ask the teacher for an extra set of textbooks to be kept at home. Despite effort to remember, many distractible students forget to bring home their proper materials.
  2. Encourage the teacher to seat your child near the front and center of the classroom. This should not be done in an embarrassing or punishing way. Instead, seat him/her in the front using a “random” seat assignment. This way, there are not many students in front of the child to distract him/her.
  3. Communicate your child’s strengths to the teacher. If your child learns better by creating mnemonics or rhymes or by visual learning, the teacher may be able to tweak the lesson to help.
  4. Ask for extra feedback on your child’s behavior. Feedback should be given to the student and to the parent via email or take-home messages. Remind the teacher that children with ADHD especially need to celebrate their progress often.
  5. Tell the teacher that directions should be repeated and written for your child. Oftentimes, when the directions are stated once, they go in one ear and out the other. Repeating gives your child a second chance to catch the directions. Writing directions on the board or assignment gives your child the opportunity to look back at the directions as much as needed.
  6. Encourage the teacher to ask you for help! Express to the teacher that you realize that he or she is not an expert on ADHD. The teacher may have questions for you or for your child about what he or she can do to help. Also, if a school psychologist or guidance counselor is available, remind the teacher that help can be obtained from these resources as well.
  7. Ask if your child can share notes with another student. Taking notes quickly is difficult for students with ADHD. By sharing notes, your child can get the information that he/she missed during class.
  8. Ask for extra time on tests and quizzes. Even if your child does not meet the legal criteria for receiving extra time, the teacher may be willing to provide it regardless.
  9. Ask the teacher to set up a buddy system in which each student has a few phone numbers of classmates in the case of forgotten homework assignments.

Remember that the more you help the teacher understand your child, the more he/she can help your child!
Contact Dr. Gordon for help with your ADHD. We have treatment and solutions available online, by phone, and in our offices.

Get Started

written by:
 Brianna Malinowski, 
Jay Gordon, Ph.D

Bernstein, J. (2007). 10 days to a less distracted child: The breakthrough program that gets your kids to listen, learn, focus, and behave. New York: Marlowe & Company.

Photo retrieved from: http://www.longislandeyedoctor.com/2014/04/vision-therapy-kids-failing-school/ on Aug. 24, 2015

adhd coaching

Organization Tips

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For young people, staying organized in school is essential. But things can easily get disorganized with papers from different classes, take-home notices, homework, and trash. Here are some tips for keeping organized for school and home:

  • Label everything! Label each notebook and textbook with the subject name. Use color-coding to further distinguish different school materials. A green science notebook should match a green book cover, etc. Also include the student’s name in case of losing the items.
  • Do a daily 15-minute cleanup of the child’s room, work, and play area. Limiting the time will keep from overwhelming the child and will also prevent a massive and lengthy cleanup at the end of the week or month.
  • The child should dump his/her entire backpack onto the floor or table in the same spot every day. This helps them find “lost” objects and papers and allows them to sort through their papers and trash from school.
  • Sort through lose papers stuffed into notebooks and textbooks. Should the papers be thrown out? Should they be hole-punched and put into a binder? A binder may be better than a folder as the papers can be easily flipped through and organized into sections.
  • Create a place for important papers. Use a labeled box or office paper trays to save a place for completed tests until they are no longer needed.
  • At the end of the school day, the child should look at his/her planner to make sure that the correct books and papers are brought home for homework and studying.

 

Contact Dr. Gordon for help with your ADHD. We have treatment and solutions available online, by phone, and in our offices.

Get Started

written by:
 Brianna Malinowski, 
Jay Gordon, Ph.D

Sleeper-Triplett, J. (2010). Empowering youth with ADHD: Your guide to coaching adolescents and young adults for coaches, parents, and professionals. Plantation, Fla: Specialty Press, Inc.

ADHD diagnosis

ADHD Symptoms Depend on the Situation

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Children with ADHD tend to behave better under these certain circumstances:

1. New and unfamiliar settings. When situations are exciting and new, children with ADHD behave better. This is because boredom, which causes a decrease in behavior control, has not set in. For example, during the first exciting days at school with a new teacher and a new classroom, children with ADHD behave much better than when the school year becomes routine. Boredom during the school day can be reduced by using bright and colorful school materials and textbooks, which may help children with ADHD work better in school.
2. Immediate rewards for behavior. Children with ADHD pay better attention to tasks in which they are given immediate and frequent feedback and rewards.
3. One-on-one attention. Children with ADHD tend to behave better when they interact individually with others. For example, the child may seem less active and impulsive during one-on-one meetings with grandparents or friends. This also means that group situations are a difficult environment for children with ADHD.
4. Tasks in the morning. Children with ADHD often work better in school and on homework in the morning than they do later in the day. Unless a child is on extended-release medication, homework may be completed more efficiently in the morning than in the evening.

Contact Dr. Gordon for help with your ADHD. We have treatment and solutions available online, by phone, and in our offices.

Get Started

written by:
 Brianna Malinowski, 
Jay Gordon, Ph.D

Barkley, R. A. (2013). Taking charge of ADHD: The complete, authoritative guide for parents (3rd ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.