In this day and age, drugs are being prescribed without hesitation. In fact, many of these drugs are being prescribed for children with various disorders. One of these disorders is called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
The subject of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has undergone intense research in the past decade. Much of this is rooted in the fact that approximately 5% of children are affected with the disorder. Children with ADHD are identified as having increased behavioral difficulties because of excessive motor activities, poor self regulation and inattentiveness. It has been found that as many as 30% of children inflicted with ADHD have learning disabilities with academic underachievement becoming a common correlate. Since these children do not meet the expectations of society and their learning environment they are usually met with anger, punishment, and rejection. In turn these children develop low-self esteem and low levels of motivation. The etiology of ADHD is still a mystery to researchers. Within the field there are many correlates to biological (genetic) and social causes (MacLeod, 1996).
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a syndrome caused by a biochemical imbalance and uniqueness. It has hundreds of symptoms that appear selectively in a certain children. Some of these symptoms include distractibility, confusion, faulty abstract thinking, inflexibility, poor verbal skills, aimlessness, perceptual difficulties, constant movement, varied rates of development, food cravings, allergies, and sleeping and coordination problems. The children have "little ability to block out noises in order to concentrate (Beiderman, 1993).
Investigating effectiveness of treatments of ADHD learning disabilities allows additional information on the social and bio-genetic causes of academic under achievement related with this disorder. It has been stated that both instruction and contingency management is necessary to remedy academic deficits. Some techniques include; token economies, class rules, attention to positive behavior, as well as time out and response cost programs......
