Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/45361
ABOVE: Professor Stephen Brock leads a discussion with psychology students at CSU Sacramento, including Da Her. Most youngsters with ADD/ADHD display symp- toms by age 7 for a period of at least six months, and are often identified by second grade, says Stephen Brock, a member of the California Faculty Association who coordinates the CSU Sacramento program for future school psychologists. Teachers are usually the first to notice that a student has poor concentration and diffi- culty sitting still in a way that is outside the developmen- tal norm for that age group. Then parents are consulted, and the child is assessed by a school psychologist, physi- cian or mental health professional. There is no single test that can determine whether a child has ADD/ADHD. Children who are fidgety or inattentive don't always have ADD/ADHD. "It's important to look at the whole child," says Brock, past president of the California Association of School Psychologists. "There may be other reasons why a child has trouble focusing or sitting still. The child may be experiencing emotional problems or worried about something." It's not unusual for children to have other learning disabilities in addition to ADD/ADHD, which makes diagnosis "tricky," adds Brock. Only the most extreme cases enter the special edu- cation system, and 27 percent of all students in special education programs nationwide have ADD/ADHD, says Brock. Classroom interventions are the first recourse after diagnosis, and if those don't work, families may consider medication. WHAT GOES WRONG IN ADD/ADHD Doctors aren't sure exactly what goes wrong in ADHD. But they think that the behavior problems are linked to the way that the frontal lobe of the brain works. Cerebrum • Studies suggest that this part of the brain works more slowly in children with ADHD than in other children. • Children with ADHD may have an imbalance in the neurotransmit- ters in the front part of the brain. Some doctors believe they don't have enough of a neu- rotransmitter called dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, which is a chemical that helps messages pass between brain cells and other cells. Without enough dopamine, the front part of the brain cannot deal with and react to information in the way that it should. Frontal Lobe Brainstem Cerebellum Spinal cord Source: Bradley JD, Golden CJ."Biological contributions to the presentation and understanding of attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder: a review." Clinical Psychology Review. 2001; 21: 907-929. October 2011 / www.cta.org 13