ADHD Attention Deficit Disorder

If your child or teenager is diagnosed with ADHD Attention Deficit Disorder, bi-polar or any other behavioral problem, how much ought parents divulge to schools and others? One mother whose daughter has Downs Syndrome chose to speak at her school so her daughter and other kids with special problems can be understood rather than labeled as troubled teenagers or trouble makers.

It May Be Best to Talk About It

“It’s a really touchy issue,” said Nadine Briggs, founder of Social Smart Kids and mother of a 10-year-old daughter who has Down syndrome. “I do kind of go on the side of you should tell, but it’s really personal,” she said. “It depends on the situation and the child.” When her daughter was in second grade, Briggs took the unusual step of going to her school to talk with the class about Down syndrome. She’s been doing it every year since. “I wouldn’t have done it in kindergarten, no way. But once I saw that kids were noticing that she was different and treating her differently,” she thought a dialogue might help. And it did. Parents of children in her daughter’s class, she said, had not known how much to tell their kids about Down syndrome and now they had the information they needed. “It’s not taboo, it’s OK. – all that mystery is taken away,” she said.” (unknown source) By Ann Walker