Children with ADD regularly experience struggles and challenges at home, in school, and in the community. Without the help of knowledgeable, understanding, and supportive people, they often experience multiple failures and frustrations on a daily basis. Typically, they lack the self-confidence that stems from learning how to do things well. Their lack of social skills and self-control makes it hard for them to make friends with schoolmates and children they meet in program activities. By the school-age years, many of these children do not feel good about themselves. They feel lonely and ostracized. Their self-esteem sinks a little lower every day.
Staff in school-age programs are in a position to make a positive difference in the lives of children with ADD. Armed with important information and management tools, they can help reverse the cycle of failure and frustration that results in low self-esteem in these children. They can make life easier, happier, and more satisfying for children with ADD, their parents, other children in the program, and themselves.
IMPORTANT NOTE: ADD stands for Attention Deficit disorder. Many professionals refer to this disorder as ADHD, which stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Some professionals use these terms simultaneously or interchangeably. In this module, the term ADD is used to refer to the basic form of the disorder and recognizes that the basic pattern of inattention associated with ADD often includes the component of hyperactivity related to extremes in temperament.