PATRICIA QUINN, MD: I think the most important thing for a child with ADHD -- because of their internal disorganization -- is to have an orderly, organized home, that they follow a routine. And I think parents can be of importance here in setting up routines at home. Routines for doing homework in the evening. Getting out of the house in the morning and remembering everything that you need to bring.
So the parent and child can work together either with a therapist or with the teacher on setting up some of these assignments. There are school psychologists available, or private counselors, who can help them set up some of these routines in the home.
Setting up a routine for taking medication in the morning is important. What we'd like to do is have schedules that are written out for these children, and then allow them to check off as they do each one of these tasks in the morning. So it organizes them and -- brushing your teeth, taking medication, checking your backpack would all be part of that. The child would then check off each one. And have a list of what they need to do, instead of always running around in the morning, disorganized and/or late, or not being able to find something, because they don't have this list.
It's very important to set up these structures and supports at home, and the parents are really the ones that need to help the kids to do this. And then follow through. If a parent is struggling with organization, they need to get help in that area. Or if the parent has ADHD as well, they need to get help for their own ADHD.
