Parents Need to be Advocates for Their Children With ADHD

by Kirsten Wilcox, Ph.D. and Board Member

and co-author of Andrew's Awesome Adventures with His ADHD Brain

My son was diagnosed with the inattentive subtype of ADHD, which is more common in girls and women and is diagnosed much less often than the hyperactive subtype. It’s characterized by trouble focusing, being frequently “spacy” or distracted, forgetfulness and lack of attention to detail. This differs from symptoms of the combined  subtype, most commonly diagnosed in boys, which includes the stereotypical behaviors associated with  ADHD–fidgeting, an inability to sit still, excessive talking and frequently disruptive.

My son’s official diagnosis came a year after I had documented a “paper trail” of comments and reports from teachers with my son’s physician. Unfortunately, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding about ADHD among educators especially about the less-common inattentive subtype.

While some teachers recognized that his symptoms were related to ADHD, others thought he was incapable, or worse, lazy. 

For me, there was a lot of learning involved about what ADHD really was…it wasn’t just, you can’t focus, you can’t clean your room, you can’t put your bike away. It took me a long time to understand that. Why can’t you put your bike away? How hard is that? For someone with ADHD, it’s really hard.

It’s up to parents to be advocates for their children, and for adults with ADHD, it’s vital they learn to advocate for themselves. Stimulants were effective in helping my son manage his symptoms, but finding the right medication took some trial and error. Because every person with ADHD is different, it’s not uncommon to try a few different treatment methods before finding one that sticks. Above all, education from current, reliable sources, like The World Federation of ADHD International Consensus Statement, is key for enabling parents to help their children.

It is also very important to recognize the positive traits that coincide with ADHD.  People with ADHD truly live life. They're fearless. They take bold action. They're outside the box thinkers. These are things I didn't really know and appreciate about my son until I started researching what ADHD really was.

Parent education is key. They have to know their child; they have to educate themselves, and they have to advocate for their child and do what’s best.