Hello,
My name is Jillian Risavi. I am a junior at Omaha Central High School in Omaha, Nebraska and i’m researching and writing a story on Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in adolescents in school focusing on the students in the honors program and how they cope with the social affects for my school newspaper the Register. (Nationally known for its third straight win for overall best in show for high school newspapers and for wining first in best specialty magazine for the first year of it being published, The Edge). I was wondering if someone would take the time to respond back with any information you would be able to give me on this matter. Enclosed in this message are some general and some extensive questions that i would appreciate being answered if you do not mind.
If you have any information or thoughts whatsoever that you think may be of use(doesn’t even have to be regarding any of the answers to the questions below) i would greatly appreciate being contacted as soon as possible.
1. What is your proper name and title? (Please Spell your name by how you would like to be referred to as
2. What is your profession?
3. How long have you been doing this?
4. Could you explain the internal affects of ADD and ADHD one may have to deal with?
5. What are some of the social barriers someone with ADD or ADHD may have?
6. What is the behavior of someone with ADD or ADHD?
7. Is it common for many people in school with ADD and ADHD to have lower grades then someone who doesn’t suffer from these disorders?
8. What extra things need to be focused on more in a child who has ADD or ADHD?
9. How should a teacher handle a student with ADD or ADHD?
10. What are some of the behavioral and manner problems someone with ADD or ADHD may experience in a social setting?
11. Do you have anything else to add?
Thank you for taking the time to read through my e-mail and possibly answering any of the questions i have asked. If you are able to provide me with any information or answers i would greatly apprectiate it. if i aquire a response and the information and answers i obtain work into my story i would like to contact you again for details and quotes on certain questions if you would be willing. Also i would like to know if you would be okay with me using you name and title as a source of reference in my story? Thank you for your time.
~Jillian Risavi
Omaha Central High School
Register Staff
hey mike,
watch it with the alcohol…my dad did it for years…he was ADD now he is a recovering Alcoholic with a bad liver and no relationship with his family. In addition, my several of my brothers repeated the same thing..they both drink but one ended up going to prison twice for meth and self medicating with other street drugs…Once he got out of prison he turned to Alcohol and has a 502, so now he can’t legally drink as part of his parole and staying clean and sober.
Stay with the “legal” stuff through a Doctor’s prescription. That is the safest way to medicate…Self medication with alcohol is so dangerous…Don’t do it you are young and have your whole life ahead of you messing with alcohol is like messing with a loaded gun and playing russian roulette, it will catch up to you eventually.
Re: hey mike,
two thing about having this that I hate the most. One is that we can’t be “normal’ and do things that most people can do well. The other is having people ask me not to drink or do drugs. It’s the only way to relax when ya can’t handle so much at one time. The bad part is that it is also a depressent.
Mt sister is in the same place you are and I here it from her all the time. Most people who have some kind of thing going on in their head take meds. and some are street drugs to.
Thanks for replying.
Re: hey mike,
I undestand what you are saying, Mike, I’m ADD, but I don’t do alcohol or street drugs, I exercise, take medication and get counseling when I need it. I have seen way too much damage in lives from people being out of control and trying to self-medicate from alcohol and street drugs. Getting a Dr.’s prescription for legal stuff to help the crazy stuff going on in an ADD mind, accompanied by behavior mods and being under a Dr.’s supervision is the way to go.
I sincerely hope that you listen to your sister, it sure hurts when someone you love is ends up in prison and they have no idea how they could have gone that far. My brother said, it happened one little step at a time, and eventually it caught up to him and regrets his addictive personality and what he did but didn’t think at the time when he was doing it that it wouldn’t hurt him but it has–big time.
Thanks for listening and thinking about this.
Re: information
Jillian
Congratulations on the success of your school newspaper! You have selected an important but complicated topic for your article. Normally I do not become involved in the discussions on the our bulletin boards but I thought I would take time to answer some of your questions. In addition you can learn a lot more by reading the comments from individuals who have ADHD.
I am the Director of LD OnLine. I have been working in this field for over 25 years-including almost 15 years working with psychiatrists who specialize in treating ADHD in children and adolescents. I have also worked in the schools as a school psychologist and in private practice. Additionally my dissertation research was in the area of ADHD. I also am a member of the Department of Psychology at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. where I teach courses in child and adolescent development.
You will find a lot of the answers to your questions on our site and in our recently sent newsletter. If you go to LD InDepth and click the button you will find a lot of articles about ADHD.
http://www.ldonline.org/bulletin_boards/tsadhd.html
If you go to the button that says to receive a free newsletter and then click on the newspaper archives you will see the list of newsletters. Go the the May 2002 and you will find an extended section on ADHD.
http://www.ldonline.org/newsltr/may02_newsltr.html
You can also find a discussion of the impact of ADHD on teens in the recent Additude magazine (www.additude.org).
You can also find an interesting discussion by a teacher who works with children with ADHD. Here is a video of an excellent teacher who works with children with ADHD.
http://www.ldonline.org/teaching/index.html
I hope this helps.
Kathleen Ross-Kidder, Ph.D.
Director, LD OnLine
Hay their,
I have A.D.D. and have had it my whole life. I read you questions but I could not ansaw all of them write now. The problem is, most people ask Dr’s. about it but we know more then them about it mentaly whats going on and if they don’t have it then they don’t. I’ve written a 7 page story about what it’s like to grow up with this, if that might be a help to you I can E-amil it to you next week. It’s hard to havd this but it’s like andthing else to deal with, you get use to it after a while. Most of us drink coffee all the time and take med’s. to help. I drink beer all the time to help me relax also. Some of the smartest who made history have had this or something like it. I fould that being an E.M.T. where I have to have a ton of things going on in my mind was great. Datting is hard because they don’t understand what is going on in our minds. I found one teacher that made the difents in my life and all she did was beleive in me and give me a chance. If you go into a “resource room” and watch what is going on it will help you alot and it might scare the sh** out of you.
Good luck,
Mike Stephen