Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder in Students

Brenda Brooks is a student who has not been able to concentrate on her studies. In the preschool, it was noticed by her instructor that she was not settling down and listen to anything. Brenda always wanted to play with the rest of the children. When given the assignments, she had a problem with completing them. Brenda can only sit in class for a maximum of fifteen minutes and then she starts walking around in the class. In preschool, Brenda performed very poorly thus drawing the attention of the teacher. The teacher got concerned because the rest of the children performed very well but Brenda performed very poorly. She had a poor grade in all the subjects except in art and design with a grade of an F in all the subjects except in Art and design.

On the assessment of the discipline, Brenda had a problem with socializing with the rest of the children. The child was always withdrawn from the rest of the children. She would appear doing something without talking to anyone although after a careful inquiry into what she is doing; you realize that she was not concentrating on that. The instructor found it hard to teach her as she was never interested in anything and while she is teaching her, never listened. During the class period, Brenda concentrated only for a few minutes then starts playing or losses concentration from what is being taught by the instructor. She did not only show this behavior in class but also in other areas such as in assembly where she would hardly listen to the person addressing them. During the games time, Brenda found it difficult to concentrate on the game she is playing. She did not a game which she was good at like the rest of the children in her class. She tried playing all games and did not play any particular game for long. She never used to be patient and wait for her turn to play but she would just want to play during the turn of the other children. She did not have the patience as the other children in her class and wanted to be playing all the time instead of allowing the rest of the students to play. She destroyed toys of the rest of the children's which made their parents keep on complaining most of the times.

Some of the interventions which were taken included the use of drugs by the child. The child was taken to a doctor who diagnosed a psychiatry disease, the attention deficit and hyperactive disorder. This deficiency results in the problem of a student not being able to concentrate on everything taking place. The child cannot sit down and concentrate on a particular thing and as a result, he or she will not understand. To ensure that the child understood what was being taught, the teacher always ensured that the child was under observation. The child was not let to stay alone as she would try to do a lot of things some of which would lead to loses. The child needed to be followed closely. Although the instructor thought of taking up a disciplinary case against the child in the early days, it was later realized that the child was not behaving like that because she was willing but because of the attention deficiency hyperactive disorder.

The attention deficiency hyperactive disorder puts the child at risk of poor performance in class. The child is not able to concentrate on anything she is doing. The failure to concentrate will make the child unable to follow the instructor's words. Therefore, as the rest of the children are being taught, Brenda will be playing or doing other things or she would be daydreaming. In addition, she has a problem with interacting with the rest of the students making her remain isolated from the rest. The rest of the children used to feel uncomfortable with her because she never used to talk, appeared reserved and when her moods were high, she was causing a lot of problems to them. It is for this reason that Brenda developed a sense of isolation and thus making her want to stay alone.

The child was allocated a special tutor in the preschool. The management noticed that the child had difficulties in concentrating and they decided that the child be given a special teacher so as to make her understand better. Brenda needed to get some more help otherwise she would be unable to understand. Another intervention which was taken was to inform the parents of the child. They were informed about the condition of the child and how it is interfering with the development of the girl. The parents were made to understand that the attention deficiency and hyperactive disorder makes the child be unable to do the anything with full concentration. They were informed about the consequences of the child being unable to concentrate. This was done so as to make the parents be aware of the special needs of the child.

Because of Brenda's inability to cooperate with the other children, she has developed an attitude of isolation. Brenda never interacts with the rest of the students. She has got to a point where she feels that all the people are against her. This developed because of the fact that in the beginning, no one understood that she has the attention deficiency hyperactive disorder. The other children were always disturbed by her and their parents warned them against playing around with her because she always destroyed their toys and thus creating extra expenses for the parent.

This child has a defect in the settling down and concentrating on anything. The child is not able to concentrate for long. Education requires that a person concentrates for sometime so that the instructor will pass the information. Without the concentration of the child, there is a high likelihood the child will not learn well. The teacher will need to be informed about it so that she can use better methods of training her. The children with the attention deficits hyperactive disorder have a problem with having the normal concentration like the other students. It is this disorder which makes the child not likely to understand like the other children. Interventions such as the provision of special education are necessary for the child to develop.

The child needs some considerations in the development of a proper education program which will take care of her special needs. The parents should first understand that the child has the special need and therefore must be taken as a special child. There should be a clear understanding on the part of the parents of the educational needs of the child for her to get an effective intervention. This is because they may not understand the poor performance of the child which may lead to them making Brenda more depressed by insisting that she is performing badly and thus general support is essential for her. The parents should encourage her and not to tell her that she is a bad child. They need to understand the problem and make her feel that she is a very good child. This will make the child get more encouraged thus reducing the psychological impact the disorder has on the child.

The other children will also need to understand that Brenda has a problem and thus stop isolating her. The instructor shall advise the children on avoiding the isolation of the child and which will make her more comfortable. By including Brenda in all the activities, the children will be helping Brenda to recover and the sense of isolation which she has already developed will slowly fade. This will give an opportunity Brenda to interact with the rest of children and making her develop a positive attitude. The development of the positive attitude is important in the process of learning for any child. Children who have no positive attitude towards life will find it difficult to perform well in class. It makes the student appreciate that the things she is learning are interesting and get encouraged. This will also make the child develop some attention towards the education. When the child develops such attention, she will be able to have more concentration on class work as compared to the current situation which she easily drifts her attention away.

Since the child has a disorder in paying attention, she should be taught in an environment which is free from disturbance. The instructor must make sure that the child has no interruption from anything else apart from the education. The child should be in a room which has no noise or other distracters. This is because very little disturbance to the child makes her loose the concentration to the subject being taught. Reduced disturbances will reduce the possibility of the child loosing attention from what the instructor is saying, making it possible for Brenda to understand better in class.

The instructor will use a teaching method which is more demonstrative than previously. This means that the instructor will including a lot of demonstrations which will increases the ability Brenda to concentrate. The attention of the child will not drift away from the teacher since the demonstrations make the child maintain attention to her instructor. On the other hand, the failure to use demonstrations makes the child more likely to lose attention easily. Thus, for Brenda to maintain attention, the teacher will have to prepare a lesson which is full of demonstrations and the demonstrations must be interesting so as to serve as a way of attracting the attraction.

The child also had the following disorders of behavior: Conduct disorder in which the child is very stubborn and usually had her tempers flaring very quickly. She used to cheat and steal other people's things. She also had a borderline personality disorder. Brenda also had a disorder of vigilance which refers to the inability of child to concentrate and pay attention. In addition, she was not able to stay awake for a long time and thus she always wanted to be asleep, sleeping during class times. Brenda was also suffering from mood disorders she would be very low at times while other times being high. She was also having bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder. Lastly, Brenda had an obsessive compulsive disorder which might be due to the genetic determination of the two diseases.

Some of the interventions which were taken include medications, counseling and behavioral interventions. The behavioral interventions include the following: Psycho-education to the child. This was made to make the student understand how to maintain her attention. Psycho-education showed to be somehow effective. However, these were found to have short term benefits to Brenda. Family therapy was also carried out. The parents were counseled about the disease the child is suffering from. This was aimed at making them understand the condition of the child better and thus help in the recovery of the child. Cognitive behavioral therapy was also carried out. Lastly, the child was counseled on how she can react to situations which are not pleasing or which seem to be going against her wishes. This was for the reduction of her impulsive nature of action.

Medical therapy was also used in the child who included the use of medications which are either stimulant or non stimulant to the child. The child mostly used stimulant medications such as amphetamine and metadata among others. However, they appeared to cause tolerance to the drugs and thus they were changed to the non-stimulant medications which included the antipsychotic medications.

Brenda's Disability

Brenda is suffering from attention deficient hyperactive disorder. This is a neuro-developmental disorder which is sometimes accompanied by hyperactivity of the individual (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, 2004). Sometimes the child looses attention in what she is supposed to be doing and at other times, the student is hyper active. It starts before the age of seven years and usually, by the age of seven years, all the children who have the disease have shown the symptoms. It is more common in males than in females with the disease affecting four boys for every two girls. The disorder starts in childhood and continues to the adulthood. It is usually chronic and progresses with time. However, when an individual reaches adolescent or adulthood, they develop compensatory mechanisms also known as coping mechanisms which will make the person be able to compensate all or part of the impairments which they have (Dybwad, 1980).

Attention deficit hyper active disorder can occur in two ways, the predominantly inattentive disorder and the predominantly hyperactive. In the predominantly hyperactive, the child usually shows the symptoms of inability to settle down while in the predominantly inattentive, the child shows symptoms of failure to concentrate on one thing. Children with the predominantly inattentive type find a lot of difficulties in cooperating with the other children. The child is usually very quiet and seems to be doing something serious which makes it easy for the teacher to overlook the child's problem. In this case, the child does not appear to be interested in anything which the rest of the students are doing and wants to be alone. The parents may even overlook this disorder because it does not manifest in any other way. Some children may also suffer from the combined type in which they sometimes have the inattentive type and the hyperactive form. In this case, the child will show both the symptoms of inattentiveness while at other times show symptoms of hyperactivity. However, the two symptoms will not appear at the same time. One of the diseases will present in an impulse and the other presents after it. As a result, the child will be very active at some point and then be very low at other times. This is easier for the parents and the teachers or the instructors to diagnose since they can see the changes in the behavior of the child.

In childhood, attention deficit hyperactive disorder can be treated. However, if it is not treated, it can affect the brain areas of a child which deal with the control of impulses, understanding of the actions of other people, the planning of things which are ahead and solving of problems. Children who have attention deficit and hyperactive disorder are likely to have difficulties in solving some problems (Leal, et al 2002). The subjects, which may require use of skills to solve problems will be difficult for the child. For example, the child will be unable to solve problems in mathematics as the rest of his or her colleagues do. In interaction with others, Brenda will become very much annoyed when someone does something petty to her and will react excessively to such a thing. This is because, in attention deficit hyperactive disorder, the part of the brain which interprets actions of other people is affected. On the same note, the child will act on impulse. Anything which happens, the child will not be able to control her emotions and she will just act without first considering the implications of such an action (SAI, 2003).

Before attaching the attention deficit hyperactive disorder to a child, the American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry considers that the following are very important findings to qualify it. First, these symptoms and behaviors must have appeared in the child at an age before seven years. As mentioned earlier, attention deficit hyperactive disorder tends to appear in a child at the age which is less than seven years (Learning Abled Kids, L.L.C, 2003). Children with this psychiatric disorder will show the signs of attention deficit and hyper activity or of any of them before she becomes seven years. If the child does not show the signs before seven years, then she cannot be said to be suffering from the attention deficit hyperactive disorder of the childhood. These behaviors must have continued for a minimum of six months. If the child has not been observed for six months, it will not be possible to brand the child as to having attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Thus, it is important to observe the child closely for six months. This is all the children will have this symptoms at some point in their lives and they resolve. They do not take six months or more. However, if the symptoms persist for six months or more, then the child can be said as to be having the attention deficiency hyperactive disorder of childhood.

The symptoms should also make the child become handicapped in either two of the following: in classroom where the child performs very poorly as compared to the rest of the children which is because of the child's inability to concentrate on what the teacher is saying for a lot of time. The child will also be handicapped in the field; she will not be able to participate. At home, the child may appear not to be able to perform the duties which she is supposed to perform. She will do her duties badly and will not do them to perfection. Even if she is told how to do the duty, she will still make a mistake which she keeps on repeating. In the social setting, she will be withdrawn from the rest of the children, preferring to stay alone away from the rest of the children (Carol, & Brynes, 2007).

There are other reasons where the child can show the above symptoms. These include the following: the child might be suffering from seizures which have never been diagnosed. This will present in the same manner and thus thorough investigations for such must be done. An ear infection such as chronic otitis media may result in symptoms similar to attention deficit hyperactive disorder. The child will not have good hearing and thus may find it hard to concentrate; making the people thinks that she has attention deficiency hyperactive disorder. In child abuse, such presentations are common. Abused children will show signs of withdrawal from the rest of the children. They will not be able to interact with the rest of the children and this will make them appear like they are suffering from that disease. When the child experiences death of a family member, she may become withdrawn and appear not to be paying attention to anything being said. This will lead to inability to concentrate on anything. Anxiety can also cause these symptoms in many children. Children who have other learning disabilities will definitely feel withdrawn and will not want to associate with other children. They will perform poorly also. Lastly, insufficient sleep for the child can also result in symptoms similar to attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Therefore, in the evaluation of a child for a possibility of attention deficiency hyperactive disorder, it is important to evaluate the presence of these diseases because without diagnosing them, it is hard to treat the child effectively.

The diagnosis of the disease is made by the signs and symptoms of characteristic of attention deficit hyperactive disorder (Kamla, 2008). It is however hard to define these signs and symptoms because there is no a clear distinction between the normal people and the abnormal ones. Normal levels of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity are not clearly defined. This presents a challenge in the diagnosis of this disease and sometimes it may be missed or misdiagnosed in children. The diagnosis requires that the children are diagnosed in two settings which are different and then disease symptoms should have appeared for as minimum of six months for them to qualify to be suffering from the disease. The symptoms can be divided into three classes. First is the predominantly hyperactive, second is the predominantly attention deficit while a third class is the combination of both classes (Boyse, 2009).

Predominantly inattentive will present with the following symptoms: The child will be distracted easily. Therefore children suffering from this type of diseases will easily miss details of instruction and they will easily forget (Thompson & Thompson, 1998). They switch from one activity to another very fast making them unable to do one thing for a long time. An instructor will give some work to the child and in a few minutes, she will find the child has stopped doing the assignments but is doing other things. The child will have some difficulties in focusing on one task. She will be found to be doing so many tasks at once. This makes her unable to just concentrate on a particular task and finish it before starting another task. When the child is doing a task, she will be easily bored quickly than the rest of the children. It is only when the child is doing an interesting task that she might concentrate and not be bored for a long time. the child will have a lot of difficulties in learning new things or finishing a task. A teacher will realize that the child is not able to finish her assignments even if she is given enough time. When speaking to the child, she will seem not to be listening to what she is being told. The instructor or the parent will often realize when talking to the child, she is not willing to listen. The child will move slowly and she will be daydreaming most of the times and they easily get confused as they do some tasks. In processing information, they will have a lot of difficulties as opposed to the rest of the children. They will not be able to process the information accurately and thus will appear to be handicapped in learning. Lastly, the child will find very difficult to follow instructions which can be interpreted by the teacher or parent as being naughty (Fuchs, 2003.

Children who have the predominantly hyperactive and impulsive disorder will display the following characteristics. These children will talk throughout without stopping to listen because of their hyperactive disorder. They will react to something very small and will tend to fight for petty issues. They also have problems in doing tasks which require quietness thus they like being involved in tasks in which there are a lot of noises. They are always moving and they can settle anywhere thus can be referred to as being restless than the rest of the children. The children will always be walking around and touching everything they meet on the way. They cannot see something and ignore it since they always want to touch it or move it. They are also impatient and they act very quickly without waiting for instructions. If the parent is telling them on how to do something, they will take into action before the actions are over. In the games where the children are playing in turns, they will not be able to wait for their turn to play. This puts them in conflict with the rest of the children during play times. Lastly, the children get emotional very fast and they act without taking into considerations the consequences of what they are doing. The combined type children show both the symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactive-impulsive disorder.

Development of IEP Components

The most recent results of the child have not been good. Brenda scored a fail in all her subjects in the most recent exams. This made her parents to be very frustrated and thus chose to seek intervention for the child. The source of the information was her teachers. The child undergoes a continuous evaluation by the teachers which helps in the identification of the academic position of the child. In addition, the teacher reports indicate that she is not a good student/. The teacher argues that she is not a good student and cannot listen to the teacher while in class for a long time. This is one of the factors which the teacher claims has contributed tpo the poor performance of the child. The student is however good in artwork which may be because she likes things which are interesting and have pictures. This is the only subject Brenda performs well. The parents concerns are that she is failing in most of the parents and they wish that something will be done to ensure that the child performs well (Lubar, 1995).

The attention deficiency and hyperactive disorder in Brenda has made her not able to concentrate on the teachings she is given by the teacher. Brenda is not able to fully concentrate as the teacher is teaching the students. She also forgets very easily what she has been told by the teacher. She cannot easily recall what she was told. Another problem which is affecting Brenda is her inability to fully listen to the instructions from the instructors. She cannot listen to all the instructions which are being given to her and this makes her not to follow them. The failure of the student to concentrate in her work has also contributed to her poor performance. The child is not able to sit down and do all her assignments. As a result, the teacher cannot be able to evaluate her fully and ensure that she knows the academic position of the child. The child also cannot receive instructions from the instructor. Brenda also has a problem of isolating herself. She sometimes does not want to be associated with the rest of the students and thus make her unable to learn with the rest of the students.

The attention deficiency hyperactive disorder is also affecting the child in other activities. For example, Brenda cannot play with the rest of the students. At times she does not want to take part in the games which are involving all the children. She prefers to stay alone far away from the other children. Therefore, when the children are playing, Brenda always hides herself and does not participate in the games. At other times, Brenda is very active to the extend that she wants to be the only person who is to play the game alone. When they are playing in turns, Brenda wants to play before her turn comes. This makes the rest of the children unhappy with her and they choose to play without her. Brenda can also not concentrate in the sports activities when she is playing. She makes very many mistakes which make her group loose in the game. As a result most of the children do not like playing with her.

The child will need to be counseled to see if she can change for better. In addition, the teacher needs to closely observe her and ensure that she concentrates. The poor concentration in the child will need to be addressed so as to ensure that she gets all what the instructor wants. The close observation of a child with the attention deficiency ensures that the child is concentrating on what the teacher is saying. There are several ways of ensuring that the child concentrates. These methods include the following: First, the instructor will ensure that the child sits in front in the class so as to be able to observe her closely. When the child looks like she is not concentrating, the instructor can call her name and bring back her attention. The other way is ensuring that he mentions the students name frequently which will make her attention to remain in the class. When she looks like she is withdrawn from the rest of the group, the teacher will give her some present to encourage her do the task better.

The child will also need some private tuition after the other children have been gone home. This will give the child an opportunity to understand better what the child had not understood and thus make her be the same as the rest. When the teacher dedicates sometime to the child, it will possible to address the child alone and ensure that the child concentrates effectively. When the child is alone with the teacher, the individual needs of the child will be met and thus improving the performance of the child. The child's attention will be maintained by the instructor as he is the only child being taught. This helps in the ensuring that the child understands all the instructions given to her.

The following goals will be set: First, the child will be supposed to improve from a fail to an average. It will be expected that the child will improve at the end of the year evaluation. The current performance of the child is a fail at the moment. After being taught like that for a whole year, she will be expected to improve to get an average grade. The purpose of this is to ensure that the child fits in the general system. After two years, it will be expected that the child will improve to above average. The child will increase her performance with time until it is expected that the child will be performing very well in class.

In games, the child is expected to improve her performance. She should be able to learn the particular games which the rest of the children can do. In the assessment of the performance of the child in the games activities, several factors will be considered. These factors will form the assessment for the child and know whether the child is improving. First, the child should be able to relate with the rest of the children in the games. The child will be evaluated on whether she will remain isolated or not. Secondly, her participation in the games will be evaluated to see whether she can concentrate in the games. One of the problems with the child is that she is not able to concentrate fully in the activities she is doing. Thirdly, the child will be evaluated on whether she will be able to be patient in the games. The child has a problem of being inpatient and thus creating problems.

The parent will also report to the teacher how the child is doing. The parent will evaluate how the child is doing and how she is concentrating on her work. The number of the activities which the child will be involved in will be counted by the parent. She will then indicate the number of times she has made a mistake as she was performing her duties. This will help in the establishment of whether the child is improving. The parent will then check whether the child is improving and thus will act as a method of evaluation for the child (Heinrich, 2004).

In the class, the teacher will use more of illustrative methods of teaching than the normal methods which she has been using. The child has been concentrating in art works which she finds interesting. To improve her concentration in other subjects, the instructors will use of demonstrations. Computer can be used to project pictures and images which the instructor will use to draw the attention of the child and thus make her be able to understand what is being said by the teacher. The attraction of the attention of the child is important as it will ensure that the child understands what the teacher is doing. The instructor should also establish a system of rewarding of the child. Rewarding the child will encourage her to be very attentive o that she can get some reward. In this case, the teacher will be able to make the child be interested in what the instructor is doing. This will enable the child to perform her duties to perfection. It will form a very good way of rehabilitating the child. The child will improve significantly after she receives some reward for something.

The Brenda's progress will be assessed by periodic reporting. All the people who are directly involved in the management of Brenda will make reporting on intervals of three months. Every three months, the complete evaluation of the child will be done to ensure that there is some progress in Brenda. The parents will provide the results which she has got from the evaluation of the child. The teacher will give the assessment results to establish whether Brenda is progressing in both class and other activities outside the class such as games. This will help in the evaluation of whether the child is progressing or not so that appropriate measures are taken. The results will be compared with what has been set as the goal. If the objective has been achieved, the teacher can continue with his strategy. However, if the objective has not been achieved, other appropriate measures will be taking and thus ensure that the child improves.

If the child is not improving in her performance after the evaluation, she will need to undergo special education. The child who is not improving should not be subjected to the stress of reading with the other children if she is not at the same level with them. However, the child should be removed from the general population unless the instructors are convinced that the child cannot improve under the current condition. The policy of education for the special education dictates that the child should first be allowed to go through the system which the rest of the children are going through unless the instructor believes the child cannot be able to learn with the other students.

Positive behavioral interventions will be established so as to try and correct the behavior abnormalities of the child. The child will be taken through the process of behavioral change. This is because the behavior of the child is interfering with her performance. For example, the child is not able to interact with the rest of the students which makes it impossible for the child to be comfortable when interacting with the rest of the children. To make the child mix with the rest of the children, she will be taken through behavior change. This is aimed at making the child adapt to living with other people. Some of the children feel that no one cares for them and thus develop feeling of loneliness. To correct that, the child will be taken through rehabilitation to make her appreciate the rest of the people and this will make her be able to mix with the other children.