The Academic Impact of AD/HD

[Janice Adamson]

Children with ADD are at considerable "risk" for school failure...

While ADD may once have been considered a minor problem, we now know better. Follow-up studies published document the too-often tragic outcomes of the mismatch between needs of students with ADD and the typical school environment. A few highlights:

-90% of children with ADD underachieve in school
-Half are retained at least once
-An estimated 20% have reading difficulties
-60% have serious handwriting difficulties
-30% drop out prior to the completion of high school
-A mere 5% go on to complete four years of post secondary education

In social-emotional areas, the picture is at least as bleak: of these children in the various studies (who would have been diagnosed initially only as having ADD using current criteria) more than halfexperience serious social problems, including marked difficulty in making and keeping friends; 60-70% develop enough behavioral problems to be labelled as having "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" (ODD) in childhoood; 30% or maore developp even more serious "conduct disorder"; contact with police is twice as common as their peers, substance abuse is two to three times more frequent.

Unless the school environment is altered to make it match the unique needs presented, negative outcomes will continue.Three to five % of the school population have ADD in some degree. Thus, on average, one child per classroom has ADD.

For students with ADD school often starts with failure experiences which, in turn affects self-esteem.

Elementary age children with ADD cannot consistently follow the first set of expectations which teachers communicate to their classes: "Stay in your seat until given permission to get up, raise your hand before talking, listen and follow directions when I talk, and do the work I give you (even if it is not inherently interesting) for the amount of time I consider appropriate."

The situation worsens for secondary school students with ADD. "Independence" and "self-direction" are big themes, and these are operationalized by requiring large scale, longer term projects. Frequent class changes occur, calling for constant adaptations to new physical environments, with different combinations of visual and auditory stimuli, in addition to varying personalities of teachers, who often have contrasting sets of rules. Combine these factors with normal development (i.e. hormonal) changes experienced by all adolescents, and the mix for students with ADD may be especially problematic.

Impusivity, hyperactivity, inattention, distractibility, short attention span, disorganization, and deficits in rule governed behavior and executive function, combined with lack of knowledge and education make for a nightmarish situation for these children.

As promised as time permits I will elaborate on acedemic areas affected and of course the positives and strengths related to this disorder.

[AspieMum]

(01-17-2010 05:52 AM)Janice Adamson Wrote:  Children with ADD are at considerable "risk" for school failure...

While ADD may once have been considered a minor problem, we now know better. Follow-up studies published document the too-often tragic outcomes of the mismatch between needs of students with ADD and the typical school environment. A few highlights:

-90% of children with ADD underachieve in school
-Half are retained at least once
-An estimated 20% have reading difficulties
-60% have serious handwriting difficulties
-30% drop out prior to the completion of high school
-A mere 5% go on to complete four years of post secondary education

In social-emotional areas, the picture is at least as bleak: of these children in the various studies (who would have been diagnosed initially only as having ADD using current criteria) more than halfexperience serious social problems, including marked difficulty in making and keeping friends; 60-70% develop enough behavioral problems to be labelled as having "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" (ODD) in childhoood; 30% or maore developp even more serious "conduct disorder"; contact with police is twice as common as their peers, substance abuse is two to three times more frequent.

Unless the school environment is altered to make it match the unique needs presented, negative outcomes will continue.Three to five % of the school population have ADD in some degree. Thus, on average, one child per classroom has ADD.

For students with ADD school often starts with failure experiences which, in turn affects self-esteem.

Elementary age children with ADD cannot consistently follow the first set of expectations which teachers communicate to their classes: "Stay in your seat until given permission to get up, raise your hand before talking, listen and follow directions when I talk, and do the work I give you (even if it is not inherently interesting) for the amount of time I consider appropriate."

The situation worsens for secondary school students with ADD. "Independence" and "self-direction" are big themes, and these are operationalized by requiring large scale, longer term projects. Frequent class changes occur, calling for constant adaptations to new physical environments, with different combinations of visual and auditory stimuli, in addition to varying personalities of teachers, who often have contrasting sets of rules. Combine these factors with normal development (i.e. hormonal) changes experienced by all adolescents, and the mix for students with ADD may be especially problematic.

Impusivity, hyperactivity, inattention, distractibility, short attention span, disorganization, and deficits in rule governed behavior and executive function, combined with lack of knowledge and education make for a nightmarish situation for these children.

As promised as time permits I will elaborate on acedemic areas affected and of course the positives and strengths related to this disorder.

Based on the fact Ritalin has changed my son with ADHD and AS from being a child who often needed 3 adults to deal with his behaviour and was constantly running off and nearly had to got to a special school where they keep the doors locked all the time including for his Secondary education to being a child who has just got a brilliant report with lots of good effort grades and many good attainment grades too I would say ADHD can make an enoromous difference to a child's education. He's a bright child but he was getting virtually no education because of his difficulties and behaviour- he has improved several hundred percent since taking ritalin.