Question:

My son has ADHD and is taking Ritalin. He is having problems with remembering his spelling words. He also has problems with writing the b,d & p he writes it the opposite way. He is 7 years old and attends a normal school. I had to make him repeat grade 1 because he was not coping with the work. He also has problems with math. In 2006 he progressed to grade 2.

Please help.

MALANIE

Answer:

Dear Malanie,

I am sorry to hear that your son is struggling in school. Although ADHD is not recognized as a learning disability in the California Education Code, it is a neurological condition that frequently affects learning, particularly in the area of “executive function.”

Depending on the level of severity of ADHD, medication may or may not “normalize” the child’s functioning. The Multi-Modal Treatment study, a well-known research study by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) found that given the best clinically supervised medical and behavioral intervention, about 68% of students with ADHD were normalized. Most children with ADHD do not receive state-of-the-art treatment. This means that we can expect that at least 32% of our students with ADHD require additional support to function in the general education classroom.

To explain the concept of executive function, Dr. Thomas Brown of Yale University compares the brain to a symphony orchestra, where the musicians in the orchestra represent innate talents and abilities. The “musicians” or talents are present in the brain of the person with ADHD as in the typical brain. However, the typical brain has a conductor to coordinate the musicians so that the music is played clearly and on time. The conductor respresents executive function. The brain of the person with ADHD is lacking the critical direction to function in a coordinated manner.

There are many models of executive function. Dr. Brown has identified six components of executive function. Here is a brief explanation of each of these and how they affect school performance:

As you can see, children with ADHD often have significant difficulty with memory, which is a big factor in learning arithmetic facts and spelling words. The most prevalent learning disabilities for children with ADHD are written language and mathematics.

Since ADHD is not recognized as being a disability by the Education Code, many teachers do not realize the extent to which it can impede learning. Your child may be eligible for either special education, under the category of Other Health Impaired, or for accommodations in the general classroom under Section 504 of the Civil Rights Act. You might consider requesting an assessment to determine whether your son is eligible for either of these.

As a preliminary to requesting an assessment by the school district, consider sharing information with school personnel about how ADHD can affect learning. Two articles that I have found to be informative and accessible are:

Chris Zeigler-Dendy. “Five Components of Executive Function and How They Impact School Performance”, Attention! Magazine, February 2002, pps. 26-30.

Rosmary Tannock and Rhonda Martinussen. “Reconceptualizing ADHD”, Educational Leadership, Vo. 59. #3. November, 2001.

The websites listed below will also be helpful for informing teachers:

Dr. Thomas Brown
http://www.drthomasebrown.com/brown_model/index.html

Chris Ziegler-Dendy
http://www.chrisdendy.com/executive.htm

Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD)
www.chadd.org