Children who were once seen as "bundles of energy," "daydreamers," or "fireballs," are now considered "hyperactive," "distractible," and "impulsive": the three classic warning signs of ADD (Armstrong 4). Hyperactivity is characterized as fidgeting, excessive running and climbing, leaving one's classroom seat. Impulsivity is blurting out answers in class,

Significantly more boys appear to have this disorder than girls, although girls who have evaded detection for years are increasingly being identified (Armstrong 5). Until recent years, it was believed that children outgrew ADD in adolescence. It is now known that many symptoms continue into adulthood (Chadd).

Parenting a child who has ADD can be an exhausting and, at times, frustrating experience. Parents play a key role in managing the disability. They usually need specialized training in behavior management and benefit greatly from parent support groups. Parents often feel helpless, frustrated, and exhausted. Too often, family members become angry and withdraw from each other. Parents must work on the task of not overreacting to their children's mistakes (Chadd). Terrific temper fits, violent actions, stubborn refusal to cooperate with parental rules, extreme hostility, and moody/angry defiance obviously are behaviors which provoke the most irrational and poorly controlled of all parental responses (AAA Clinic). According to New York psychiatrist Stanley Turecki, difficult children have any combination of the following nine characteristics: high activity level, distractibility, high intensity, irregularity, adaptability, and or negitive mood (Armstrong 32).

There are between six and twenty million men, women, and children in the United States who suffer from ADD. Millions more possess the characteristics even though they may have learned to cope so well that they don't think of themselves as people with attention-related problems (Hartmann xxiii). It seems everyone knows someone whose child is on a prescription for ADD or who is being advised to consider it (Anderson, Peiper 7).

Joey kept reading. He found some behavior management techniques for ADD called "cognitive control strategies." He thought maybe he could try them himself and see if they worked. He started taking notes.

Online. http://www.addclinic.com/ADD.html

Parents seeking solutions to their child's distractable, disruptive, and inattentive behaviors may be encouraged to medicate their children before other options have been explored, and doctors and school personnel may lead parents to believe that medication is the best or, in some cases, perhaps the only answer (Anderson, Peiper 7). Medications can dramatically improve attention span and reduce hyperactive and impulsive behavior. Psycostimulants have been used to treat attentional deficits in children since the 1940s. Antidepressants, while used less frequently to treat ADD, have been shown to be quite effective for the management of this disorder in some children (Morrison 81). A small dose of Ritalin or Desedrine often produces an amazing transformation, "curing" the ADD so long as the person is on the drug (Hartmann 68). Drugs like Ritalin and Desedrine reduce both large and small motor movements and increase attentiveness, especially in structured task-oriented settin!

The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 1996

Next, Joey read about losing track of time. He knew he often tried to do too many things in one day instead of focusing on the important ones. He copied the Time-Monitoring Chart to help him see how he used his time every day.

Connecticut: Savegood Publishing Co., 1996

interrupting others, having problems waiting turns. Distractible is forgetfulness, disorganization, losing things, and careless mistakes (Armstrong 5). Such people are described as excessively distractible, impatient, impulsive, and often seeking immediate gradification. They often disregard the long-ter

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Approximate Word count = 2408
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)