WE NEED HELP!
Written by Cynthia Hammer, MSW
Our small non-profit, the Inattentive ADHD Coalition, wants to achieve something big—that children with inattentive ADHD are diagnosed by age 8—and we’ve been told the way to do that is to focus on just one thing. Our board decided that we would focus on educating teachers and parents of children in K-5 about Inattentive ADHD.
To make the symptoms be more than words, we plan to create comic books—one geared to teachers and one geared to parents. The comics would show how the nine symptoms might appear in the classroom and in the home.
What we need are examples for each symptom--- for the classroom and for the home ---so we can choose the most graphic ones for the comic books.
When submitting your entry at Comments on our website, please note symptom number and whether for the classroom (c) or home (h)
For example: a child asks to leave the classroom for the bathroom but doesn’t return for 1 hour. (6c) Or the child has the chore at home of emptying the wastebasket but leaves it by the backdoor and disappears. (4h)
Here are the nine symptoms of Inattentive ADHD:
Often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork, at work, or with other activities.
2. Often has trouble holding attention on tasks or play activities.
3. Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.
4. Often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork, chores, or duties in the workplace (e.g., loses focus, side-tracked).
5. Often has trouble organizing tasks and activities.
6. Often avoids, dislikes, or is reluctant to do tasks that require mental effort over a long period of time (such as schoolwork or homework).
7. Often loses things necessary for tasks and activities (e.g. school materials, pencils, books, tools, wallets, keys, paperwork, eyeglasses, mobile telephones).
8. Is often easily distracted
9. Is often forgetful in daily activities.
We welcome all submissions.