OPUSD hosts seminar to discuss AD/HD

GOOD ADVICE— Moorpark’s Mountain Meadows teacher Risë Tyloch talks about her three children, all of whom have attention deficit disorder, during a lecture on supporting children with AD/HD held recently at the Oak Park Library. Tyloch suggests preparing a “bag of tricks” filled with rewards and items to occupy your child. JANN HENDRY Acorn Newspapers The Oak Park Unified School District hosted a meeting last week for parents of children with attention deficit disorder (AD/HD) to discuss treatments and programs available for dealing with the complicated neurobiological disorder.

The meeting was sponsored by the Special Education Advisory Council and the Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disoder (CHADD) organization.

CHADD assists parents, professionals and adults with AD/HD by giving them access to information and by hosting support groups. It has over 20,000 members.

“Every student in the district is capable of having success if they are given the proper tools and motivation,” said Risë Tyloch, a mother of three children with AD/HD and a CHADD member.

The statistics regarding AD/HD are startling. Between 3 and 5 percent of all school children and 2 to 4 percent of all adults in America suffer from the disability, which experts consider to be a disease.

People are often debilitated by the disease because of the fact that they look normal and are expected to behave normally. While their illness may not be visible, people with AD/ HD suffer from an imbalance in the section of their brain’s frontal lobe responsible for attention.

There are three subtypes of AD/HD: primarily inattentive (formerly known as just ADD), hyperactivity, and combined. Children with primarily inattentive AD/HD won’t act out, but will be incapable of focusing their attention, while children with AD/HD will often appear restless and will have trouble sitting quietly in their seat.

Afflicted people often suffer from inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. These traits drastically affect a person’s ability to perform in the classroom and the workplace. Among school children who have AD/HD, 50 percent are likely to repeat a grade, 35 percent will never complete high school, and 11 percent will be expelled from school, according to CHADD statistics.

Tyloch said the odds can be overcome through adequate treatment. Specialists recommend various ways to tackle the problem. Parents are encouraged to continuously seek out information about the illness, to get psychological as well as medical treatment, to encourage good behavior through a rewards system, and to join a support group.

“Parents are often the ones who need the most psychological help,” said Tyloch. “Therapy will change the way parents deal with the stress that is caused by bad behavior.”

One of the most dangerous aspects of AD/HD is that children with this ailment frequently suffer from low self-esteem. Because children often are unable to focus, they are constantly scolded for not completing tasks correctly or for zoning out.

“Kids with AD/HD experience negative after negative after negative,” Tyloch said. “It’s been estimated that kids with AD/HD often receive 20 negatives for every single positive comment they’re given. It’s vitally important that parents encourage their kids in order to lift their self-esteem.”

Children with low self-esteem are more likely to find solace in substance abuse and to behave inappropriately in order to receive attention, experts say.

“A lot of children with AD/HD also suffer from conduct disorder because they crave any type of attention, even if it’s negative attention,” Tyloch said.

Specialists insist that parents notify teachers if their child suffers from AD/HD. This will allow the teacher to make learning more accessible to the child by utilizing approaches such as shorter work periods and individualized instruction.

“Teachers in Oak Park have a deep sense of commitment to all of the children in their care and work to ensure their success,” said Tony Knight, superintendent of the Oak Park Unified School District.

Once a child is diagnosed with AD/HD, school district administrators have a number of options available to help the child learn.

“We intend to invite Tyloch to come and make a presentation to teachers on this topic so that we can continue to improve in meeting the needs of these students,” said Knight.