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Schools do not diagnose ADHD - that's left to medical professionals. However, schools can help provide intervention and, hopefully, a helping hand. Teachers can improve ADHD-diagnosed students' learning using a variety of measures.

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Click on photo to enlarge

Metro Graphics

Approximately 5 to 8 percent of school-aged children have ADHD. The rate for South Carolina students is slightly higher, between 7 and 8 percent, according to 2003 Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures.

WALHALLA — The myths surrounding ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) infuriate Susan King. She hears them too many times. “It’s just a lack of discipline.” “These kids are troublemakers.” “This isn’t really a disorder.”

And then there’s the one that floors King the most: “It must be the parents’ fault.” Having raised an ADHD child herself, she knows the self-blame that goes with the journey all too well.

“Most of these parents are thinking they don’t know how to parent and probably a lot of people give them that feeling,” King said.

Inspired by the hardships she and son Jason King, now 28, went through, King has organized a seven-session series to train parents with ADHD children. The first class meets Oct. 19 (see box for more information).

“These are valuable, valuable kids that have a medical problem, but if we don’t reach out and help them and understand them, they can end up in jail because of impulsive mistakes,” King said.

Approximately 5 to 8 percent of school-aged children have ADHD. The rate for South Carolina students is slightly higher, between 7 and 8 percent, according to 2003 Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures. In addition, 2 to 4 percent of adults are believed to suffer from the disorder.

Symptoms include forgetfulness, being easily distracted, hyperactivity, difficulty focusing, carelessness and poor listening skills.

“In ADHD, there’s a lack of dopamine in the brain, and dopamine is like a conductor of an orchestra,” King said. “When an orchestra is tuning up, it's all raucous sounding, maybe even bad sounding. That doesn’t mean everyone can’t play beautifully. What’s missing in the brain of a person with ADHD is the conductor, dopamine. Over the years, we’ve learned ways to help children replace their conductor.”

King, a retired banker, received her ADHD training through the Parent to Parent organization. Her upcoming series will offer strategies and interventions to strengthen family and educational relationships.

Schools do not diagnose ADHD — that’s left to medical professionals. However, schools can help provide intervention and, hopefully, a helping hand. King gave an example from the life of her grandson — and Jason King’s son — Jonathan King, a second-grader in the Greenville County School System. When Jonathan became bored in class, he would get sidetracked with drawing all over his schoolwork. When it came time to turn in the paper or study from it, the material was impossible to read. Working with Jonathan’s teacher, King helped devise a plan to keep Jonathan better focused on his work.

Teachers can improve ADHD-diagnosed students’ learning using a variety of measures. The adaptations are just as unconventional as the youths they are intended to help: using music as a learning tool; hand signals to communicate boundaries crossed; instructors moving in close proximity of ADHD children during a lesson.

The strategies are out there, but King emphasizes parents must be proactive.

“They have to start the conversation with schools and try and create a team,” King said.

Although ADHD can present educational challenges, those afflicted can thrive in the workplace — iconic inventor Thomas Edison is often cited as an example of this.

“These are very intelligent human beings,” King said. “A lot (of children with ADHD) grow up to be entrepreneurs, but if it’s not recognized, a child gets behind and develops low self-esteem. That’s when they get into trouble.”

ADHD medication — a subject not free from controversy — will also be addressed in King’s classes. From her experience, there is better living through chemistry, but it can be elusive. As a youth, Jason was prescribed Ritalin. But because the dosage was too high, the meds put him in a stupor. Eventually King discovered dosage must be frequently updated to maximize benefits and minimize side effects.

“There is a correct dosage, but most people only try one time,” she said.

Beyond school headaches and pill confusion, ADHD can rupture family life to the core. In fact, King said difficulties and confusion arising from Jason’s condition led to the breakup of their own family.

“We simply didn’t understand this 28 years ago,” King said. “It put a lot of stress on our relationships.”

A Walhalla resident, King said real-life ADHD bruises and victories would inform her upcoming classes.

“I’m not just a person who gets up there and talks. I’ve lived through this.”