whether it's having difficulty completing assignments in class test taking anxiety or even a learning disability academic challenges have a profound impact on our children and this impact is not only on the grades it's also on social interaction with their friends the family Dynamic at home and the overall self-esteem of your child on the next episode of ask the doctor I'm going to highlight some of the warning signs that will tell you that your child is struggling academically we'll talk about resources that are available treatment options and evaluation I'll answer all of your questions regarding academic difficulties and ADHD on the next episode of ask the doctor send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allhealth go on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com welcome to ask the doctor a show where we encourage you viewers to send in your questions so that I can answer them in real time I'm Dr Scarlet constant and I'm a pediatrician here in Miami and I'm here to answer a couple of questions about ADHD and academic difficulties here's our first question from the allhealth tv.com this question is from Pamela I've always been called hyper by my family and friends and it's true that I have a lot of energy but my baby girl actually she's s years old has been diagnosed with ADHD and I'm freaking out I have a ton of questions what kinds of medications should she take well Pamela thank you for your question and please don't freak out there's nothing to be concerned about your child was diagnosed with ad because you or her teacher had a concern about her behavior and perhaps about her academic performance the diagnosis of ADHD is very important because it's not so much that we want to put a label on your child but we want to be able to address the actual issue that is occurring and if we don't know what's going on we won't be able to solve it so ADHD which stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a diagnosis in which your child is having difficulties not only paying attention in class or concentrating on comp and completing complex tasks but they're which is the inattentive form they're also hyperactive so meaning behaviorally maybe she pushes boundaries a little bit and is unable to really sit for a long period of time and actually follow directions and concentrate for extended periods of time which her peers may be able to achieve there's nothing wrong with that but of course you can imagine in the academic environment that poses some challenges to actually learning and it also May in some cases cause disruption in the class so the ADHD diagnosis I'm assuming either your pediatrician or neurologist gave her that diagnosis there are many different types of treatment you don't have to go to medication right away we can talk depending on the a component that is more uh prevalent in your child whether it's the hyperactivity component or the inattentive component we can address those concerns for example if she tends to be inattentive but is very well behaved and follows instructions in class and is pretty quiet you can actually work on different uh learning skills and study skills to help her concentrate and understand what she's reading and what she's learning a lot of times the inattentive component has a diff there's a difficulty with comprehension so you could actually seek tutoring whether it's in the school or privately and have someone help her almost teach her a different way to learn not everybody learns the same way so she'll have to learn how to learn the way that works for her and other options could be medication if she's a little more hyperactive than usual or maybe she's having difficulties even though she is able to comprehend but physically uh and behaviorally she just can't stay still medications are an option but this is something that you should absolutely discuss with your pediatrician and there are many options and you don't always have to go straight to medication I hope that this helps calm you down a little bit Let's see we have another question coming in this question is from Carson hi Dr constant my son has ADHD and takes stimulants for it can you explain how they work I'm concerned about what this means for his future hi Carson well a stimulant so stimulants uh basically uh block the reabsorption of dopamine in the brain so what this means is the stimulant acts almost as an amphetamine in the brain it actually helps the child focus and basically I try to explain to parents filter out all of the noise around them so they're able to really Zone in on one task and focus on that and filter out all the noise the distraction the movement all around them and this helps because clearly it was determined that your child is having a difficult time actually concentrating on the task at hand and concentrating long enough in order to complete work or to comprehend what he's reading so the stimulant will help him with his focusing and for the future you know there are many different options for your son some children are able to grow out of the ADHD not to say that they're they don't have it anymore but they're able to manage it a little bit better with growth and emotional maturity they are able to understand who they are and what works for them what steady habits work sometimes with emotional maturity you also understand that you can't just stand up and walk around the class without asking and you're able to control your your impulsivity a little bit more so sometimes some kids get off of the medication on the flip side there are some adults that really do need the medication in order to still concentrate and read and complete very complicated tasks and those adults stay on stimulant medications through adolescence and adulthood so there are many different options his future is not determined at this very moment looks like we have another question coming in from the Facebook page this question is from Janie hi Dr constant I was reading an article a few weeks back about learning disabilities and then I saw today that you're talking about academic difficulties in the aformentioned article they mentioned the Vanderbilt screening what kind of test is it what does the test entail and where do you get tested do you have to go to the Vanderbilt University in Tennessee I'm asking because I think my daughter might have a learning disability well Jamie these are all great questions first of all the Vander built assessment is a is an a tool that we use in Pediatrics to assess for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD the Vanderbilt assessment scill does not screen for learning disabilities so if you are concerned that your child has a learning disability I strongly suggest that not only you speak to your pediatrician to get some guidance as to where to go to get tested but you also make sure that you speak to the school it is important to have open communication with the teacher and the administration because the school sees your child the most and works with them and sees where she your child is deficient and in what areas the public school system is able to evaluate your child for learning disab abilities they are able to offer this type of testing to see where the breakdown is in the learning and in the comprehension whether it's reading or math or writing so your school should be able to offer that type of evaluation you can also escalate it to c a psychologist which is in the private sector you would actually do this on your own out of pocket or with insurance and you would have your child tested by a clinical psychologist for academic uh for learning disabilities and that same psychologist will also evaluate for GI did will evaluate your child's IQ and any difficulties they might have now the Vander Bill assessment tool is what we use in the office and we actually administer it to you it's um it's a a tool that we download and we give you a questionnaire for your for the two parents and a questionnaire that one or two or maybe all of the teachers can fill out it depends on the parents it's your discretion and the teachers will fill this questionnaire out to the best of their ability based on what they see objective and then you parents will fill it out and submit it to your physician and we'll review it in order to assess whether or not your child has ADHD or were concerned that perhaps your child might have ADHD you do not need to go to Vanderbilt University in Tennessee you just need to come see your pediatrician I hope that this helps we have another question coming in and this question is from the allhealth tv.com Dr hi Dr constant I have twins a baby boy and a girl girl and they're about getting ready to play in the big leagues I'm talking about of course first grade I know that it can be kind of a big transition going from kindergarten to first grade so I want to know what I can do to help create a supportive home environment that promotes academic success Simone congratulations on kindergarten graduation that's a very big Monumental moment in uh the family's home um I think that your your kids will be great you know I think that the best thing to do to provoke promote a healthy academic environment in the home is really just always have this in place from the beginning so it doesn't feel forced you know I think we always discuss limiting screen time and it's for a reason when you limit screen time you're also encouraging your kids instead of playing a game or watching TV to pick up a book read a book uh complete a puzzle or maybe um play a couple of board games that actually are a bit stimulating there are some math board games and reading board games and even Scrabble for kids so those are all things that stimulate the mind mind and get you thinking and and just uh get you working as a team you don't necessarily have to have school activities at home or writing assignments or promote homework you just need to uh create an environment in your home where your child does feel that learning is fun and that they don't want to just come home and immediately turn on a TV or play a game and Associate being home with just game time and playing you want to also engage in other types of activities so I think that's important I think also also it is important to encourage your children to try they're in first grade they'll start writing and and working on their handwriting so you can you know at home if they want to color in the coloring book or draw a picture for you or maybe when you're on vacation I I used to do this with my kids I used to ask them to at the end of the day to write a little bit about their day four sentences or five sentences about the most favorite thing that they did the whole day and and sketch out something that they saw that made them happy these are things that are fun and interactive and at the same way you're promoting learning and you're preparing them for the next level okay we have another question coming in and that is from Albert doctor can you tell me more about autism spectrum please my nephew who doesn't like the sound of noises and is uncomfortable around strangers has been diagnosed as mildly autistic I'm not sure what that means okay Albert well I'm sorry to hear that um your it sounds like um like your nephew is what we now we say they're on the Spectrum so we don't really use the terms mildly Autistic or severely autistic because autism is a spectrum so basically autism is a deficiency in social interaction and the severity of this deficiency really reflects the severity of the autism or how how high they are on the Spectrum and when you have this type of social deficiency it is difficult for someone to interact with you to speak to you answer questions make eye contact and sometimes it's difficult for them to even uh be in an environment where they're being taught uh so it makes them a bit disruptive so that's on the other end of the spectrum the low end of the spectrum is maybe just having some difficulties with basic social interaction they seem like they're not very comfortable around people or they're skittish around strangers um and there is a really great outcome with that it doesn't mean that it's going to necessarily affect their academic performance it really is more of a a a based on social interaction and as yes the loud noises T tends to be a common characteristic of children on the Spectrum where the they are hyper sensitive to noises and other types of stimuli and this is all again part of more of a social component but usually they should perform pretty well at school and not have a problem so I wouldn't worry about him okay finally we have another question that's coming in from Facebook and this is from Ariel Dr constant I've been told that my child might benefit from an individualized educational plan can you tell me what this what that is and how it would it could help him he's 10 years old and has been diagnosed with severe dyslexia well Ariel it is great that your school is offering an individualized educational plan also known as an IEP and that is basically the school's way of creating a plan for him to learn the way that works best for him not all children can be on the same curriculum and have the same academic um outline because some children have more difficulties than others such as your son who has dyslexia so what the school will do is they will create a classroom environment for him they'll have probably closer interaction with the teacher I'm not sure how they're going to accommodate him whether someone will read out loud to him or allow him more time to read these are all um basically accommodations that they're going to create in order to facilitate your son's learning and reading in school based on his dyslexia diagnosis so this is an amazing way for the school to really help you and accommodate him and get him to where he needs to be next we have a question from Gustavo Dr constant my 12-year-old boy is a genius I'm serious I think he'll win the Nobel Prize someday he's a total science computer geek but he struggles to get good grades in English and he really hates reading how can we help him so this is pretty common especially at this age where you figure out where your strengths are and we gravitate towards our strengths and then we really want to avoid our weaknesses and it's common that someone who really enjoys Math and Science and and computers is going to detest English and writing and the humanities that's pretty common so what you'd want to do to help your son honestly is encourage him just to I don't want to say take baby steps but encourage him to still read and write but at a l but not so intense as what's expected from him at school and so when I say this you know I know he's 12 and maybe he's a little too old for this but with the younger kids sometimes we've been encouraging kids to read graphic novels because they're more like comic books and so it's a little easier it's a little more fun they're more illustrations and so for your 12-year-old son that's a perfect resolution you can teach him about the old school comics and I know that everybody's into Marvel again so you can introduce him to the Marvel Comics and give those to him and he'll it's a little more fun and and you know computer science guys love Marvel so they can read that and he's reading but doesn't even realize that he's reading you have to kind of just give him a different avenue to still enter into that realm of reading and writing and help him with that and explain to him that you know we can't completely ignore one whole component of learning this is something that we're just going to have to deal with at school now it is are affected and he's truly struggling in that respect then you might want to talk to his teachers and see if this is something of a concern or a warning sign that maybe he has some type of learning disability or reading comprehension problem dyslexia maybe he says that he hates to read or he hates English because it's actually difficult for him so if he's not doing well or he's reluctant to go to class and the GL the grades are reflecting that then you want might want to meet with his teachers and then you'll talk about maybe evaluating him and seeing if there is a true problem or if it's just a preference okay so our next question is coming in from the all Health TV app and that's from Danny Dr constant my daughter goes to a public school and recently her teacher suggested she undergo psychoeducational testing what the heck is that she's only six she's only eight years old but she'd had trouble with school work since the first grade absolutely so if your you know your child is eight this means that she's in second or third grade and if you've seen consistently for three years that she's truly had difficulty with her schoolwork then it's time for you to get her evaluated whether you're evaluating her for a learning disability or evaluating her for attention deficit disorder you do need to meet with your teachers and yes a psycho educational testing would be amazing of course as I mentioned before the school can perform an evaluation on your child she can sit and get tested and they can see where her areas of concern are where her weaknesses are and if further testing is required or if she needs to be seen by a neurologist but in addition to the the testing at school if you would like to get psycho educational testing and as I mentioned that's with the psychologist and that is where they actually assess your IQ and they check for all learning disabilities you can absolutely do that as well but my suggestion is to first start with you know an evaluation at school and at that point based on the evaluation the school will create an individualized educational plan for your child okay so for those of you that still have questions and don't remember how to submit them take a look below send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allhealth go on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com hi welcome back to ask the doctor where your questions can be submitted so that I can answer them in real time we have a question coming in right now this question is from Sydney hi Dr constant I'm worried about my son he's in kindergarten and his teacher says he just can't sit still in class he's an active happy healthy little boy but could have ADHD or need any kind of tests I don't want to put him on medication if that's absolutely if that's not absolutely necessary can you tell me more about the warning signs okay well so Sydney you know your son is in kindergarten meaning he's young he's 5 years old maybe maybe six and sometimes it's very hard to discern whether or not the H his quote unquote hyperactivity is true hyperactivity or just him not acclimating yet to being in a very controlled environment so maybe he is jumping around and wants to play and see his friends and his unruly maybe he's just testing the boundaries or he really just wants to get up and do something it's it is hard to tell at this age because they are emotionally immature and they are still learning how to follow instructions and and conform to the classroom environment so I would have a long talk with the teacher and see exactly where the problems are and if you would like to also discuss it with your pediatrician and just have a really good explanation as to what he's doing whether he's jumping up and running out of the room or he's asking a question out of turn or maybe he's just a little busier than the other kids but he actually does listen and follow instructions so I think that that is per perfectly normal but let's evaluate it further with your pediatrician and don't worry about medications just yet that's really far down the line first we have to see if this is something that's truly affecting his academics and uh his school performance and Sydney right now let's take a look at this video from our other Physicians when you hear the terms ADD and ADHD it's sort of it's sort of broad isn't it it is I mean it's a it's a big umbrella so can you break it down for us yes so really when we're talking about add or ADHD in attentive type what we're talking about are those children who really are struggling in school and that's often times what we see because in order to even receive the diagnosis it has to occur in more than one setting so your child that's a little bit hyper around the holiday parties is probably not your child that's going to have ADHD but when we start seeing is when it occurs at home and school or in a variety of settings where the child cannot sit still they're making really careless mistakes on their work they're just trying to get through it just to get through it and some parents will say well my child might focus on video games for 5 hours but when it's something that's more cognitively challenging like schoolwork like learning they will just try to avoid those tasks Al together and we see that they're just Restless all the time I hope that video was help from our colleague we have another question coming in now Avery we moved to a new state recently and both of our kids 13 and seven have some learning disabilities so now they have to acclimate to a new house a neighborhood as well as a new school Dr constant how can we my husband and I ensure that our kids don't feel stigmatized by their academic challenges at their new school well the first thing is when your kids go to the new SCH you will meet with the faculty and inform them of their learning difficulties and hopefully you'll have some type of documentation from their previous position to explain what the disabilities are and how to accommodate them at school with these disabilities I don't want you to be concerned about stigma about being stigmatized at school it is really a very private process and there aren't labels put on your children when they enter this is just something that the school needs to be aware of so that they could better facilitate your child and promote academic growth for your child you'll never have a label or a chart or this file that follows you forever it really is just a matter of making sure that the teachers are aware and they can cater to your children they need the way they need to be catered to to in the classroom good luck with your move so here's another question that we have and this is from uh Facebook this is from Caroline what role can teachers and school counselors play in identifying academic issues and students that's a great question um you know your teachers are teachers are the ones that spend most of the time with the children they're evaluating their writing samples they're reading their test reports you know they they understand who the child is how they behave in class so your teachers really are the eyes and ears for you regarding academic uh performance for your children counselors are are wonderful as well and that they actually see the trend in the grades and the test scores so they can really provide a lot of insight as to how your the type of student your child is so I think that they play a great role and they really can just help you at least with the warning signs or the trends that your child is completing okay again we have another question they just keep coming in so here's a question from Laura what resources or support services are available for families dealing with academic difficulties great question Laura so this of course depends on where you live on your community on on on your school district and but a lot of school districts have wonderful resources whether it is um the IEP that they put in place tutoring that comes to the school uh seclusion classes that will pull your child out and put them in a different environment with reading Labs Etc and so in school I would certainly speak to your school administrator first to find out what the school offers and then moving forward um there are a lot of private facilities that offer different types of tutoring there are also schools that are designed for children with specific learning disabilities and they will facilitate them as a whole in that school so you can always look into your school district and find out which schools are beneficial for you so just to recap I just want you to remember that if your child is diagnosed with ADHD the treatment is not only going straight to a stimulant medication there are many options for children with ADHD and you should definitely discuss it with your pediatrician before you get nervous and think that your child needs to started on a stimulant if your child is struggling with school work or just shows that they don't want to go to school they're reluctant to go to certain classes they feel you feel like they just really don't like to be there anymore and their grades are reflecting that always speak to the teachers first and find out is there a reason for this is there something that is difficult for your child which is making them dislike school a little bit more look for feelings of sadness or or maybe having a difficulty with a teacher it might not be the teacher it might not be personally your child it just might be that there's a an academic problem or a learning difficulty in the classroom so always speak to the teachers talk about an evaluation and if you are if you feel like you're lost and you need guidance speak to your pediatrician and we'll guide you the right way I hope that this helps and as usual I'm happy to answer any questions that you have thanks for watching ask the dog send in your questions to questions allhealth tv.com or allal go on Facebook or YouTube or visit the askthe do page on our website allhealth tv.com e