• Has difficulty paying close attention to details or makes careless mistakes on homework or tests.
• Has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities.
• Does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.
• Does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork.
• Has difficulty organizing tasks.
• Avoids schoolwork for long periods of time.
• Often misplaces or loses assignments or books.
• Becomes distracted easily.
• Seems to be fidgeting all the time.
• Has difficulty remaining seated.

ADHD Treatment, Strategies and Recommendations:

• Suggest that your child write, scribble or even draw while reading. If your child enjoys writing, have her write while reading. Tell her not to get hung up on spelling or grammar here; she can even scribble. Encourage her to write down ideas in her own words This way she is always thinking about what she has to write. This helps her stay focused, and it helps her learn the material.
• Tell your child to subvocalize. When he’s reading a book or reading his notes, encourage him to read out loud. If he is in a place where he can’t talk out loud, tell him to “mouth” the words silently. His brain will “hear them.” This will help him learn the material, and it will help him stay focused.
• If appropriate, encourage your child to work in spurts with breaks. Encourage her to work in intervals of no more than 20 to 30 minutes at a time with ten-minute breaks in between. This will help her stay focused because as she is working, she’ll know there’s a break coming up. She needs to learn to treat herself well—after all, it’s hard for her to stay focused. Remind her to remind herself that when she is supposed to be working, she needs to stay on task. This means she needs to concentrate: think, read, write and talk.
• ADHD behavior charts. Your doctor may suggest using a behavior chart. Be sure to design this with your child. Together come up with your goals. Ex. I will play after school until 5:00. Between 5:00 and 6:00 I will do my homework (be sure to include breaks as recommended above). I will eat dinner between…, etc. Have fun creating your chart together. Then set up your goals. Ex. Your child receives a star, a sticker, or a check mark, for each accomplishment. When he has received five of them, he gets a toy or whatever you have decided together would be an appropriate reward. ADHD children need immediate gratification, so give rewards often. If a child has to wait the whole week for a sticker or for the reward, you will most likely lose his attention and this strategy will not work.
• Use a timer. When doing homework, it may keep him on task and moving at a good pace. Be careful though, because some children become anxious about being timed. Also, for some, timers are too distracting.
• Spread things out. Make it so he studies a little every day rather than a lot all at once. This way he will be more focused on a manageable amount of material every day. This will help prevent him from getting tired. It is difficult enough for children with ADD to stay focused; it is even harder when they become tired.
• Think before you read. Before your child begins doing homework or reading a book, tell her to start thinking about what she will be learning by reading this chapter or paper. At this point it is a guess just to get her engaged. Then have her refine her guess by reading the title of the chapter and sub-headings, looking at the pictures and illustrations and reading the captions under them. Have her attempt to answer the questions at the end of the chapter before even reading it. By now her guess about what the chapter is about should be close. Even if it is not, thinking about what it is about will help her stay focused. This strategy takes a little getting use to, but once she gets the knack of it, she’ll be surprised how helpful it will be.
• Stop and think while reading. While your child is reading the material, tell her to stop and ask herself what she just read, and to write down everything she can remember. If she can’t remember much, tell her to reread it and write down ideas as she goes along or draw pictures, graphs, charts—anything that will help stay focused and remember the information.
• ADHD medications. If various strategies are not successful, and your child is still having difficulty staying focused, your physician may recommend medication. With the proper choice and dosage, the improvement can be amazing.
• ADHD diet. Sometimes certain foods affect children in unpredictable ways. If you suspect diet might be an issue, consult your physician.

If you found this article useful, you’ll find a lot more useful information in our award winning book, “Why Bad Grades Happen to Good Kids.”

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Addition, DSM-IV, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is a “persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that is more frequent and severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development.” Some of the symptoms must have been present in the child prior to age seven, and some must be present in at least two settings (e.g. at home and at school). Therefore, before concluding that your child has AD/HD, parents need to consult a qualified professional.

Many parents feel that their child has ADHD, when in fact they do not. Having an attentional issue does not mean that your child has ADHD or even ADD. In fact, most people have trouble staying focused on what they are doing if the phone rings, if people are talking nearby, if traffic is rushing past the window, or if music is playing; many sounds or events can distract any person from their work. When this happens, most people may find themselves reading entire pages without having any idea what they just read. Not a clue!

If this happens to your child, it does not mean that she automatically has an attentional disorder. Actually, not only is this type of distractibility normal, it is common. In fact, it is one of the most common problems kids have when they finally sit down to study.

However, if your child is continually distracted, by even the smallest stimuli, he may have ADD. If this is accompanied by excessive activity, then he may have ADHD (an attentional problem along with hyperactivity). In either case, discuss this with your pediatrician who may treat your child, or may refer you to a neurologist or a psychiatrist. And don’t be alarmed if your child is diagnosed with ADHD or with some form of an attention deficit disorder. There are many famous people diagnosed with ADHD, and they obviously became quite successful in life even with their attentional difficulties.

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out just what’s going on with your child. To make matters worse, many of the symptoms associated with one issue are the same for another issue.

Many of the symptoms children who have ADHD exhibit are similar to the symptoms exhibited by children who have  an Auditory Processing Disorder, an anxiety disorder or a combination.

To complicate it even more, there are several different types of ADHD: Impulsive, hyperactive, non-hyperactive, inattentive or a combination of those.

At this point, you may need to talk to someone to help you sort this out. It may be someone you have already seen or another professional who can help you decide which is the best course of action. Be sure the professional is knowledgeable in ADHD, anxiety disorders, and Auditory Processing Disorder.

In the meantime, here’s a strategy that can help a child with any or all of these issues. It’s called “previewing.”

Previewing is simply learning a little about the topic first to make it easier for you to take in new material. It will help your child a lot if your child previews what he’ll be learning before he walks into the class.

To do this, find out what books he’ll be reading and what kinds of assignments he’ll have. What are the topics he’ll be studying? Talk about this ahead of time, not in detail but in general. Use some of the new vocabulary words so he’ll know the words when he hears them in class.

Now, when the teacher introduces the topic, he’ll be prepared. He’ll learn the material more easily, which will also help lower his anxiety.

To see how well previewing works, imagine what it would be like going to an opera without first having a sneak preview.

You’ll be looking at the chandeliers because you’ll have no idea what’s happening. Previewing the story line before seeing it will help keep your attention because you’ll be able to relate to it. It will help you follow what’s happening even if you have difficulty understanding the language.

Previewing will help your child in school whether the diagnosis is ADHD, Auditory Processing Disorder,  an anxiety disorder or a combination. Discover more tips for helping kids in positive, constructive ways in our award winning book, “Why  Bad Grades Happen to Good Kids” at http://www.drlindasblog.com/resources

Be sure to leave a comment. Let me know what works for your kids.

However, so many other really fun things are just waiting for your kids’ creative and fun-loving minds. So put the computer away and discover how to keep learning alive and boredom at bay for your kids this summer.

Tonight (Thursday, June 25 at 8:30 Eastern, 5:30 Pacific) I’ll be talking with Dr. Rory Stern about kids, summer, and ADHD. It’s one of Dr. Stern’s free TeleSeminars, and I urge you to register.  We’ll be giving you lots of good suggetions for helping your kids during the summer–even if your child doesn’t have ADHD.

I also finished up my July School Success Newsletter today.  It’s posted right here on the blog. Just go up to the top of the page and click on newsletters. Then select July 2009.  Because we’re celebrating the 4th of July, I’ ve got a bunch of fun activities for your kids to do that will also help them learn more about 1776 and the American Revolution.  Your kids won’t be memorizing boring facts history facts with these activities!

All my TeleWebcasts this summer focus on school success by learning while playing. I’ve got a whole summer’s worth of fun games and activities to help insure that you child continues to learn over the summer. You’ll want to check out these summer TeleWebcasts now. (Remember, you can listen later to the replay if you can’t make the date.)

So between Dr. Stern’s call tonight, the activities in “Dr. Linda Silbert’s School Success Newsletter,” and the “School Success with Summer Games” TeleWebcast series, there’s no reason this summer for you child to say “I’m bored.”

So many children today have a hard time focusing. They can’t stay on task. They’re easily distracted. Learning and school success are at risk. Perhaps he’s hyperactive. Or maybe she’s just “zoning out.” 

Some hyperactive kids can’t control their behavior. They act impulsively. Shawn blurts out answers at school. Brittany makes poor choices without thinking. Some of these kids have ADHD. Others don’t.

But whether your child has ADHD or just can’t focus, these strategies will help parents help their children to be more successful at school, to learn more, and to be more cooperative at home. And a note to teachers: several of these strategies will work in your classroom too. And you can certainly suggest them to parents.

• If appropriate, encourage your child to work in spurts with breaks. Encourage her to work in intervals of no more than 20 to 30 minutes at a time with ten-minute breaks in between. This will help her stay focused because as she’s working, she’ll know there’s a break coming up. She needs to learn to treat herself well–after all, it’s hard for her to stay focused.
• Remind her to remind herself that when she’s supposed to be working, she needs to stay on task. This means she needs to concentrate: think, read, write and talk.
• ADHD behavior charts. Try using a behavior chart. Be sure to design this with your child. Together come up with your goals. For example: I will play after school until 5:00. Between 5:00 and 6:00 I will do my homework (be sure to include breaks as recommended above). I will eat dinner between . . .  etc. Have fun creating your chart together. Then set up your goals. Your child receives a star, a sticker, or a check mark, for each accomplishment. When he has received five of them, he gets a toy or whatever you’ve decided together would be an appropriate reward. Since ADHD children need immediate gratification, they’ll respond positively to frequent rewards. If a child has to wait the whole week for a sticker or for the reward, you’ll probably lose his attention and this strategy won’t work.
• Use a timer. When doing homework, it may keep him on task and moving at a good pace. Be careful though, because some children become anxious about being timed. For others, timers can be distracting. Look for timers that don’t tick.
• ADHD medications. If various strategies are not successful, and your child is still having difficulty staying focused, your physician may recommend medication. With the proper choice and dosage, the improvement can be amazing. But be sure you’re consulting a doctor who’s knowledgeable about ADHD stimulant drugs. Most pediatricians are not as they receive little training in neuropsychopharmacology. Ask for a referral to a child psychiatrist. You want to make sure your child receives the best drug and in the proper amount.
• ADHD diet. Sometimes certain foods affect children in unpredictable ways. If you suspect diet might be an issue, consult your physician. Make sure your child eats a healthy diet. Too much sugary, processed food and not enough protein can cause your child to act in ways that might make you think she had ADHD. A healthy breakfast is a must.

Now pick one of these strategies at time. And since good parenting involves getting the kids involved, let your child pick the one they think they’ll like the most. Gradually add another activity from the list. You’ll soon find what works and what doesn’t. Teachers, you can also pick a strategy or two that will work at school to help those ADHD kids in your classroom.

What ADHD strategies work at your house? Please share with our readers.

Parents often ask me if I think their children have ADHD since they just can’t sit still.  ADHD certainly is common enough.  Running around instead of sitting still, however, isn’t the only symptom of ADHD.

Attention deficit disorder in children, also referred to as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, refers to children who often have difficulty focusing their attention. They have trouble listening, remembering things, staying still, and/or waiting their turn. Their school success, education, and learning are affected.

Psychologists and psychiatrists use the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Addition, DSM-IV) to diagnose ADHD. According to the DSM-IV, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is a “persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that is more frequent and severe than is typically observed in individuals at a comparable level of development.”

Some of the symptoms must have been present in the child prior to age seven, and some must be present in at least two settings (e.g. at home and at school). Because several conditions mimic ADHD behavior, parents need to consult a qualified professional to determine just what’s going on.

When a child isn’t hyperactive but still can’t focus and may act impulsively, the precise term is “ADD.”  However, “ADD” and “ADHD” are often used interchangeably.  “ADHD” is most commonly used today to refer loosely to all “ADHD” and “ADD” symptoms.  For that reason, this article uses “ADHD” to refer to both “ADD” and “ADHD.”

Many parents feel that their child has ADHD, when in fact they do not. And teachers sometimes feel that all the kids in their class have ADHD. But having an attentional issue doesn’t mean that your child has ADHD. In fact, most people have trouble staying focused on what they are doing if the phone rings, if people are talking nearby, if traffic is rushing past the window, or if music is playing. Many sounds or events can distract all of us from our work.

And it’s even harder to focus if we didn’t get enough sleep, are stressed out, or skipped breakfast. Worse yet, if we replaced breakfast with a donut and a can of pop.

So if your child can’t stay on track, it doesn’t mean that she automatically has an attentional disorder. In today’s busy world, a certain amount of distractibility is normal, if not common.

However, if your child is continually distracted, by even the smallest stimuli, he may have ADHD. Discuss this with your pediatrician and ask for a referral to a psychiatrist if your pediatrician suggest stimulant drugs. (Pediatricians are not specialists in these drugs; psychiatrists are.)

And don’t be alarmed if your child is diagnosed with ADHD or with some form of an attention deficit disorder. There are many famous people diagnosed with ADHD who have became quite successful in life despite (or maybe because of) their attentional difficulties.

ADHD Symptoms:

• Has difficulty paying close attention to details or makes careless mistakes on homework or tests.
• Has difficulty sustaining attention in tasks or play activities.
• Does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.
• Does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork.
• Has difficulty organizing tasks.
• Avoids schoolwork for long periods of time.
• Often misplaces or loses assignments or books.
• Becomes distracted easily.
• Seems to be fidgeting all the time.
• Has difficulty remaining seated.

In order to make a diagnosis of ADHD, the DSM-IV lists even more symptoms and requires a “yes” answer for at least six behaviors in a list of nine. Obviously it’s a complex diagnosis. Because your child doesn’t pay attention to his homework, or she can’t seem to organize her desk probably doesn’t indicate ADHD.

Good parenting suggests helping your child with homework and organizing skills before assuming he’s abnormal or has a disorder.