School-Based Services for Children with ADHD

This research update focuses on an overarching question: what predicts school-based services received by children with ADHD? The first study examined specific factors related to receiving school-based services for children with ADHD, and the second study investigated school service use for children specifically with the inattentive presentation of ADHD. School-based interventions have been shown to…

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Teaching Executive Skills in Middle School

The Barriers & strategies protocol In 2019, based on thousands of opinions from community members, parents, teachers, and students, the York Region District School Board in Ontario, Canada, formulated a multi-year strategic plan. While these plans can be difficult to achieve, the board recently piloted a classroom approach that moved both teachers and students in…

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Supporting Successful Transition to High School

The STRIPES Peer Coaching Program Experts tell us that ninth graders who struggle with ADHD are at an increased risk for failing classes, not finishing school, and a host of other negative outcomes down the road. They also tell us that a number of these students are not being effectively reached at school. In an…

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Replace Suspensions with Reset Rooms

A restorative practice innovation Have you spent more time in the principal’s office as a parent of a child with ADHD than you ever did as a student? ADHD is difficult to manage in school, for students and teachers. Parents dread discipline calls from school—the ones where the school notifies you that your child is…

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Tailored for Young Learners: SMARTS Elementary

HOW DO WE EMPOWER CHILDREN to tackle difficult problems and achieve personal goals, both in school and in life? Lynn Meltzer, PhD, president and director of the Institutes for Learning and Development, says one possible way is to immerse them in a school culture that values, fosters, and celebrates metacognitive awareness. “Metacognitive awareness is the…

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Building Relationships in the Classroom

Building Relationships in the Classroom

SCHOOL CAN BE A VERY LONELY PLACE for children with ADHD or learning differences. Thanks to programs like Sanford Harmony, their school lives may soon feel far more welcoming. Sanford Harmony is an innovative, social-emotional learning curriculum that provides classroom teachers with tools and strategies that help all students feel they belong and have something…

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The Challenging Horizons Program and School Success

THE CHALLENGING HORIZONS PROGRAM is a school-based treatment model for middle- and high-school students with ADHD. The CHP specifically targets the social and academic challenges many of these students experience. Students participating in the CHP meet with staff several times during the school week and learn organization skills, study strategies, and social behaviors. Unlike some…

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ADHD Treatment in School-Aged Youth

THIS RESEARCH UPDATE focuses on two related questions about youth and adolescents with ADHD. The first study aims to identify rates of ADHD treatment (in general and related to demographic and clinical factors) in a national survey. The second aims to summarize and integrate recommendations from multiple studies of school-based services across developmental levels. Which…

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SMARTS: Creating a Culture of Executive Function Strategy Users

IMAGINE MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS teaming up with their students to create a culture that values, celebrates, and continually reinforces the use of executive function strategies not only to do better in school, but also to do better in life. It would be a dream come true for kids with ADHD and other learning…

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ADHD and Criminal Justice, Part One: The Punishment Mindset and School Discipline

INDIVIDUALS WITH ADHD or similar disorders have brains that function differently, in some respects, from the brains of neurotypical individuals. To many readers of this magazine, that is well known and understood. These are our children, our students, our siblings, our parents, and even ourselves. But there are many people who interact with individuals with…

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