FORT BRAGG, N.C. - KayLynn Sutton took notes during the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder workshop Wednesday at the Soldier Support Center, which was open to individuals who have a Family member with ADHD or attention deficit disorder.
Sutton attended the workshop, which was presented by the Exceptional Family Member Program, to gather more information about raising a child with ADHD.
ADHD is a psychiatric condition that includes symptoms of inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsivity or a combination, said Dr. John Lesica, a child psychiatrist and former Army pediatrician.
ADD can often be confused for laziness, he said. It may present in a child who is overly worried, has had trauma or may experience anxiety and sadness.
For a diagnosis of any disorder to be made, some dysfunction must exist, Lesica said. Dysfunction exists when the child does not do as well as he or she can.
The workshop was helpful, said Sutton, an Army wife and mother of a 7-year-old son with different medical issues, including ADHD. She urged other parents to take advantage of EFMP classes.
"I think a lot of parents see the classes, but are afraid to go or are embarrassed," said Sutton. "We, as a parent, we are our child's advocate, and we need to become educated on the diseases and disabilities that our children have."
ADHD or ADD cannot be diagnosed through blood tests or X-rays, Lesica said. Co-morbidities, or a combination of diseases, can exist in children with either disorder. They include learning, oppositional defiant, anxiety and conduct disorders.
"ADHD is not a single thing. It's really a conglomeration of things," said Lesica. "It's a real disease, but there is no black and white."
Treatment options include teaching parents, patients and educators about the disease and issuing short and long-acting stimulants to curb behavior.
"Your child is labeled as having a disability. That doesn't necessarily mean that he can't learn and go forth in life," she said. "I think our kids can do anything they want as long as we support them, love them and praise them."
Lisa Carver serves as lead psychologist with the Cumberland County Schools. She said parents of children with ADHD and ADD need to know that the teacher is critical to getting the correct intervention.
"The teacher who is working with your child, children or student - that's the person you want to have good communication with," Carver said. "The state of North Carolina gives prescribed procedures that put intervention in place."
Those interventions include developing a plan for organizational strategies such as the use of timers and picture schedules for younger children and a token system or behavior contract for older children.
The help of a student service team could be enlisted to make recommendations for more intensive interventions. The SST consists of school personnel from across different disciplines and could include an administrator, reading coach, psychologist or social worker, Carver added.
The SST could decide to refer the student to an individual education plan for evaluation. An IEP helps determine if the child is eligible for special education services based on 14 disabling categories. If the child is not eligible, he or she could be referred for a 504 Individual Accommodation Plan.
The 504 plan mostly pertains to a set of accommodations in the classroom, said Natasha Scott, executive director of Student Services for CCS.
"(The 504 plan) is civil rights legislation for people with disabilities, designed to prevent any type of discrimination for students with disabilities," Scott said. "The intention is equity. The intention is to create a level playing field for students with disabilities."
Accommodations could be interventions such as preferential seating, extended time to complete assignments or allowing the student to take a test in a separate room, Scott said.
It was all information that seemed helpful to Lynn Deveaux, an Army spouse with three children potentially affected by ADHD/ADD.
"I'm new to the ADHD diagnosis. (The class) gave me good information on how to deal with the schools," Deveaux said.
With 50 people registered for the workshop, Rachel Kiwaha, EFMP program specialist, said she was pleased with the turnout and had already received requests from professionals to hold another at a later date.
"I think there's a real need for it," said Kiwaha.
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