Interventions for ADHD include a wide variety of different treatment plans and cover both behavioral and environmental factors. Not all interventions are successful and not all children will respond well to one factor or another. However, being familiar with some of the common things parents, teachers, and therapists do and recommend can greatly help you improve life with your child.
The first thing all concerned parents should do if they haven’t done so already is speak to the child’s doctor, who can be a tremendous resource in providing information for the resources and support parents and kids need concerning health and behavioral issues. An evaluation by a qualified professional will likely be done to assess the child’s level of hyperactivity and inattentiveness, the length of the behavior, as well as what impact it has on school, family, and social life. After an evaluation has diagnosed the child with ADHD, different treatment plans will be discussed.
Below is a list of some of the different interventions commonly associated with treating ADHD:
School Interventions
Not all ADHD children have problems with school, though many often do because it requires a lot of sitting still and paying attention. Schools will vary from district to district on what programs and support training they have available. Some schools have excellent learning support and special needs programs, while others do not, depending on the needs of the district and what funding has been made available to them. While more and more teachers are being taught the necessary classroom skills to help students with ADHD, there unfortunately are just as many who do not understand the condition or what they can do to help.
An IEP, or Individualized Education Program, is a plan written after teachers, parents, and others meet to discuss the child’s needs and goals for succeeding in the school year. Any child who receives special education classes or adaptations generally should have one. Understanding an IEP can be confusing at first, but the US Department of Education breaks it down well here as well as explains your rights as a parent or your child’s rights as a student. If your school refuses to give you an evaluation or provide services, you may be able to find assistance through county or state programs or caseworkers in your area. If your child is not eligible for an IEP, you can still possibly qualify for adaptations to be made at school through a Section 504 plan.
Our list of school accommodations for ADHD students has many examples of things that can be done by schools to help provide the best learning environment as possible.
ADHD Interventions at Home
Many parents, even if the child is doing well at school with or without support or additional services, often still struggle at home. At home the key is to work on behavioral activities. Even children who are taking medications still need work on behavioral aspects at home, especially if medication is only being administered during school hours. A therapist can give suggestions for activities to be done at home that can help improve the quality of family time and home life. Many techniques will involve relaxing activities, making the environment as calming as possible, setting up ways to be more organized, learning how to deal with problems, coping with emotions, and discipline issues. Our list of 25 Activities for Children will help give you some ideas of the different therapeutic things you can do at home.
It is important to remember that all children are different and that some treatments or activities may work well for some children but not others. In general though, when parents, teachers, doctors, and therapists come together it is the most likely that the child will find the support and resources you need. When everyone comes together and discusses what works and what doesn’t work, you’ll all be able to come up with solutions that make dealing with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder much less stressful on both the child and family relationships.
