Treatment for ADD, Does Your Child Have ADD?

The ADD Answer: How to Help Your Child Now
by Frank Lawlis, Ph.D.

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An Imaginative State

Tune in to the internal dialogues of two children in geometry class. Jane's brain is in a normal state, conducive to learning. Jill's is in an ADD mode. As the geometry teacher explains how to find the area of a circle, Jane follows the teacher's process of calculation without being distracted: I see the circle and I can visualize that there is a line crossing through the center. That is called the diameter, and half of that is called the radius. OK, I understand the diameter and radius, and all I have to do to find the area inside the circle is to multiply the length of the radius by itself, and then multiply the result by pi (?), or about 22/7. I just do that to get the answer. I got it!

But if you were to tune in to Jill's internal dialogue, it might sound like this: I see the circle, and the circle reminds me of that ring I saw on Molly's finger. I wonder where she got it. That reminds me, I have to get a new top to wear to Joe's party. Oh yeah, Joe is sitting over there and he is looking at me. I wonder if I am looking stupid again. Oh darn! The teacher is looking at me. I probably missed the lesson again, and she is going to call on me. Oh darn! Let's see. Radius squared times pi. What was pi again? Maybe it is called pi because it looks like a pie. That reminds me, I am getting hungry...

Jill, the child with ADD, is in an imaginative state. But it is not the proper time to be creative. It is the time to focus and learn in very precise steps. If Jill misses a step, she becomes anxious. She then tries to focus and regain lost ground, but she is unable to break free of the free-associative state. This inability to control mental tracking explains why a child with ADD is forgetful, cannot concentrate, becomes bored quickly, and is easily distracted. Since most of us do not have trouble focusing our minds, we assume a child who is so easily distracted is simply inattentive, lazy, or lacking in self-discipline.

Treatment for ADD

When your child has a neurological problem, you might expect that you'd find a doctor who could assess the problem and prescribe a treatment plan to remedy it. A parent might also expect that teachers would have specific methods for helping children with memory and concentration problems, since it is estimated that 3-6 percent of all students have a form of this problem. In most areas of medical treatment and in most schools, there are specific therapies and organized programs for helping children with special needs. But as parents of ADD children have discovered, specific therapies and organized programs too often do not exist for them. No wonder there is so much anger and frustration expressed by families dealing with ADD.

Does Your Child Have ADD?

Parents of children with ADD can become exasperated very early on because it is often difficult to determine if a child truly has attention deficit disorder. According to a widely accepted checklist, ADD should be considered if the child often

• fails to pay close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork or in other activities

• avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to engage in tasks that require sustained concentration and effort

• does not seem to listen when directly spoken to

• does not often follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties

• has difficulty organizing tasks and activities

• loses things necessary for tasks or activities

• is forgetful in daily activities

These recognizable symptoms have been accepted as indicators of ADD for a number of years now as part of an effort to standardize the diagnosis. I've used them in my practice as a clinical psychologist. However, the same symptoms also relate to the following conditions:

• delirium, dementia, amnesic and other cognitive disorders
• mental disorders due to a medical condition
• disorders related to substance abuse
• schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders
• mood disorders (including depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disorder)
• anxiety disorders
• dissociative disorders
• sleep disorders
• adjustment disorders
• personality disorders

I do not want to imply in any way that your child is suffering from a mental disorder. The point I'm making is that ADD is merely a name assigned to a long list of dysfunctional behaviors. It does not refer to any specific cause for the behavior. The paradox of scientific medicine is that a diagnosis does not guarantee a cause-and-effect. All children have these symptoms at times, especially during high-stress periods. What child hasn't become distracted and lost concentration at one time or another? Every boy and girl is forgetful at times. Every child has experienced difficulty getting organized, following instructions, or focusing on the task at hand. And that is exactly why identifying and treating children who are truly afflicted with ADD is such a challenge. Far too many children are labeled as suffering from ADD without scientific justification. In fact, very few students ever get assessed with anything more than a behavioral checklist similar to the one I just provided. The symptoms in that checklist can apply to a whole host of kids who may just be slow to mature or have poor stress management skills.

There is a very real possibility that your child was checked off as a troublemaker by a teacher faced with the daunting task not only of educating each student to her full potential, but also of meeting the political goals of the school system and its standardized-achievement testing system. There are many demands on teachers, and most teachers have too few resources. They are often pulled in opposite directions. As an educator myself, I respect dedicated teachers and I place a high value on the educational system.

Still, I'm afraid that many teachers mislabel young people as having ADD because they don't have the time or the resources to develop real expertise. When a teacher is trying to educate thirty-five students and one of them is working against her by acting out, the understandable temptation is to apply a label, to solve the problem by categorizing the offending student's behavior. But it is dangerous to label a child without a scientific basis for the diagnosis, and too often the treatment that follows treats only the symptoms and not the person afflicted.

In the pages that follow, I will give you tools and direct you to resources that will help you get a much better handle on your child's deficits and the treatments that are available for it.

© 2005 Plume, a division of Penguin Putnam, used by permission.

About the Author

Dr. Frank Lawlis is a renowned psychologist, researcher, and counselor with more than thirty-five years' experience working with families. He is the cofounder of the Lawlis and Peavey Centers for Psychoneurological Change and was named a fellow by the American Psychological Association. Dr. Lawlis is also the chief content adviser for the Dr. Phil Show.