Attention Deficit Disorder
As stated in the course, the medication may regulate the symptoms of ADHD to various degrees, however not eliminate the disorder. Therefor, even if the student was taking the medication, there would still be a need for accommodations, appropriate classroom strategies which would continue to be beneficial in increasing the students' classroom functioning and academic success. Also, we are to provide reasonable accommodations based on the (proven) existence of a disability, while the management of that disability is part of the student's personal plan not for the faculty to decide what therapeutic practices the students should be engaged in. However, having said that, as instructors invested in our student's success, and as caring human beings, if we see a student struggling academically, mentally emotionally, I would feel it not only appropriate but necessary to inform the student of available student supports through the school's student services or outside agencies.
If medication exists that helps cut down on distractions and attention problems, shouldn't students with ADHD be required to take that medication? Why should we provide accommodations if they aren't doing their part?
Chris ,
You aren't likely to know which students with ADHD have/have not been given medication. As you suggest here, it really is irrelevant to you, as an instructor. It is a private choice for the student to make.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
I hope that medication is not the answer to all our problems, I do believe in some situations it is needed but is all to easily recommended prematurely by doctors. If I knew a student who was not taking the medication and was supposed to be, I would try my best to work with that students disability any way I could medication or no medication.
Robert,
You have found one of the first coping strategies often suggested for people with ADHD -- find a way to focus your attention, and multiple modality input is one of those ways.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
Wayne,
I used to think that, too -- until the first time I saw a child who was SO hyperactive that he was LITERALLY climbing the walls (picked him off the top of my bookcase three times in 20 minutes, as he used the shelves like steps on a ladder). I think, as a society, we are sometimes too quick to look for chemical solutions. But I don't discount the possibility of the problem being very real.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
I have found that handing the students something constructive to inspect and play with related to the information at hand works well!
Let’s medicate our young children so they “focus†while in school, then we can’t figure out why they always look for the easy way out as they get older. This “disability†seems to be more of a result of poor parenting than anything else.
Scott,
That's a possibility. In fact, the drugs that are used to help control the symptoms of ADHD for children have a very different impact on the mature nervous system, so even those students who continue with medication may have a change in the type or amount of medication prescribed. The important thing to remember is that taking medication is neither a crutch nor a sign of weakness... it is a tool in the management of ADHD symptoms.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
In some cases, I think it is possible that meds for a youger child can be useful to help them start to deal with there disorder. Then at an older age be taken off of them when they have a better idea of how to deal with the disorder they have without the meds.
Joel,
That's always been one of our key findings -- that the things we do that are critical for students with disabilities are often just good teaching strategies for ALL students. And you are right -- having ADHD is not like being pregnant (there is no such thing as being "a little bit pregnant"). One can be a little ADHD or a LOT ADHD!
Dr. Jane Jarrow
The level of ADD in some fields is greater than in others. Using methods to break up the learning environment is a big key to creating beneficial learning. State changes work well will attention deficit disorder students and general population students also.
Andy,
Sounds like you have already determined some strategies that you can offer that will help ALL students -- and are potentially *necessary* for students with some disabilities. This is a great example of how what is needed for students with disabilities often amounts to nothing more or less than good teaching!
Dr. Jane Jarrow
I have some lectures that are long & necessary, one of the tactics for students that have trouble focusing is to give them something else to do that is productive but not disruptive during the lecture. they can usually keep up with both & do well
Pietro,
I think I missed something here. Are you saying that if it is a child, and the parents want them to take medication, they should? That may be true, but that wasn't the question. The question was whether it was appropriate to insist that a student at the college level be required to take medication if they want accommodations. I would be careful, too, about using negative terminology (like "mental malfunction") or trivializing the experience of disability by suggesting it is a function of bad diet.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
if the person was in grade school and the parents wanted them too then yes. i have read many of the post and agree. It is a label. Personally i attribute all the mental malfunction to improperly grown food.
As for the far accommodations there are many ways in which an instructor can keep a student actively learning in the classroom. these strategies are learned as class goes forward since everyone is different.
Ben,
Wow! I wish I had teachers like you. I applaud both your enthusiasm and determination to focus on Abilities, rather than DISabilities.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
Our society is over medicated as it is without creating mandates for people to take medication to "solve" their "problems". If the student does not wish to take medications perhaps we can shift the focus to their strengths; that is if our goal is to benefit the students and not just make the job of the instructor easier. People with ADHD can be excellent multitaskers. As a culinary instructor I find that many people struggle with monitoring and performing several tasks simultaneously. If harnessed and used correctly a mind with ADHD can be a valuable tool. Providing accommodations is the duty of the education system. The focus should be on helping the student turn disabilities into strengths.
Autumn,
I don't disagree with your thoughts regarding over diagnosis/medication so much as I have learned not to assume that is what I am seeing when I have limited contact with an individual child. One of the first things I learned as the parent of a child with a disability is that all the great advice you get from professionals working with your child must be balanced against the fact that they see your kid in only one setting for a brief period of time. The parent lives with the child, and the consequences of the disability, 24-7. What the parents know and have seen may provide a very different picture of the child's performance and needs.
Dr. Jane Jarrow
I really think ADD is over diagnosed and definitely over medicated. I have seen several children in the public schools almost like zombies on their medication. I do see a need for these medications but I do think that sometimes the problems can be solved without them. Therefor I think medication should be a last resort, after everything else is exhausted. As educators this takes more patients and understanding but sometimes that may be all it takes
