World-Renowned ADHD Expert Offers Research to Help Public Schools, Tri-Valley Parents

By Peter J. Dragula, M.Ed.

Dr. Stephen Hinshaw, a world-renowned expert and researcher on the subject, discussed a variety of topics related to ADHD: its reality, how it manifests across the age span, how it looks in girls and women, and evidence-based treatment strategies.

The lecture was well attended and significant because according to the research presented the cost to public schools is over $100 Billion nationally to school students with ADHD from 4-17 years of age and costs the nation over an estimated $200 Billion for adults with the condition due to loss of work, unemployment, increased prevalence in sickness, injury and early deaths.

In regards to public school instruction, Dr. Hinshaw pointed out that the first documented cases of ADHD corresponded with the commencement of compulsory schooling. A correlation has been found with changes in increased educational policies that increase “teaching to tests” cultures in schools and the rise of ADHD diagnosis in the United States. Contributing to the challenges of public schools has been federal government reauthorized IDEA, but not providing funding for the mandates it places on local school districts to implement Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE).

According to Hinshaw, many school districts across the country have fallen into a practice of “gaming the system”, in which teachers and parents are encouraged to have problematic children diagnosed with ADHD, placed in Special Education. As a result, students were more likely to be medicated and their poor test scores were not included in the state test scores that would hurt the districts’ test performances by lowering their average scores.

Hinshaw cited research that suggested “few with ADHD have excellent outcomes”. Research is ongoing into what can be done and what is effective, however, Dr. Hinshaw pointed out that it is a mixed bag approach to improving individual outcomes to those that suffer with ADHD.

Of all the intervention strategies studied, Dr. Hinshaw cited those with a combination of consistent behavioral tracking, medication, school and parental support as the most effective. However, he warned that in several studies, intervention research showed that most individuals regressed to previous behaviors within a few months if intervention strategies were discontinued.

“ADHD is like diabetes. Diabetics are fine as long as they are taking their insulin, but if they stop taking it, their symptoms will return”, Dr. Hinshaw pointed out.

What can public schools do? When asked if Dr. Hinshaw had the opportunity to suggest one thing public schools could do to improve ADHD student achievement in schools, he recommended that they attempt to work with their local community colleges and work out a relationship with undergraduate students in psychology that could earn credit for hours spent in the schools helping to track behaviors and interventions. He also pointed out that community college students would make great aides in public schools and provide support to the public school systems which are typically underfunded and with scarce resources.

What can parents and teachers do? Symptom relief can come from medication. Skill building with combination of multimodal treatments offer hope, but require careful monitoring and tracking. Additional interventions may be required for individuals that have other associated challenges, such as depression, anxiety, learning disorders, etc. Create manageable goals.

“A Rome wasn’t built in a day approach is required and gradual fading of extrinsic rewards is the best approach,” according to Hinshaw.