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Ask the Educational Consultant: Tina Laredo, B.A. (Honors), B.ED
Tina Laredo has many years of experience dealing with issues such as Behavioural Management, ADD/HD, Special Education, Autism, and many more topics of concern to parents inside the classroom and out.
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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
QUESTIONS

	I was reading through some of your questions and was relieved to find one that really hit home. My daughter is nine years old and in the 4th grade. She is a bright and beautiful child. She has many friends and is involved in many things outside of school. However, we are experiencing a problem both in school and at home. The problem is that she cannot stay focused on her tasks at hand. Whether it be homework or a chore she is asked to do. Anything that distracts her pulls her away. At times, no distractions are needed, she just begins daydreaming and she is lost. It is truly beginning to be a big problem. Our daughter has always been a bit like this from 1st grade through her current grade. However, it is getting persistently worse. It is starting to cause problems at home because it is a constant battle to get her to do her homework. Things that should take her half an hour, take her several. Even if we give her goals or time deadlines, she can't seem to accomplish them. Inevitably, she ends up crying and her father and I very frustrated. We have gone in to speak with her teacher. She is a wonderful woman that has made efforts to keep our daughter in a seat that puts her right up front, forced to listen. She mentioned that she notices that our daughter does tend to get lost in her own world, or will seem as if she listens to directions, will not pose a question when asked if she understands, but yet, come up to the teacher to find out what she should do. We have agreed to have the school psychologist come in to observe her and have set realistic goals with rewards for her at both home and school. I am wondering if, she could have a form of ADD (mentioned in one of your Q & A areas, "the quieter one")? Or if she could possibly have an audio/processing problem. We do not want to put her on drugs, but prefer to work with her to overcome this, if that is possible. Any advice would be much appreciated.
	My 7 year old son had a terrific start to first grade and is well above-average in reading comprehension, math & science skills. He has been receiving physical therapy once weekly to help with some bilateral lmotor skills that are below average for his age. We recently took him off an allergy medication he had taken for over a year (Zyrtec) and changed him to another medication (Allegra) and now he is completely off allergy meds altogether as we are trying some new approaches to see if they help his allergies. In school he has been fidgeting, can't sit still in his seat, talking out of turn and also being rude to teachers and other students on occasion. His teachers are remarking that he is behaving very "out of character" and outside of talking with him daily about his school day. I am at my wits end trying to determine what else I can do. There are no problems with family issues and no recent changes in his life that we can attribute the behavior to. Please advise-thanks!
	My son Samuel is 7 years old and has had behavior problems since he was 2. His behaviour is very unpredictable and just recently at school they have started to send him home as they cannot cope with him lashing out at the other children and teachers. He can be a very loving and friendly child one minute then hit out for no reason. The consultant at the hospital has spoken about ritalin as she says Samuel has ADHD and signs of ASBERGERS SYNDROME, but Samuel is very small for his age anyway after having interuterine growth retardation when I was pregnant. I have heard that a side effect from ritalin is that it can slow your growth, could you please tell me how severe this would be?
	My son is 13 years old, and in the 7th grade. I have always suspected that my son has A.D.D., becuase of his actions growing up, plus I found out that his dad was on drugs when I became pregnant, now that he is getting up in age I am very worried about this. He cant focus in school, he forgets easily, etc. I just want to know what can I do, please help me.
	I am writing you from Honolulu, Hawaii. I have a 9 year old daughter that goes to a prestigious school whose academic curriculum is fabulous. The problem is that in my daughters earlier schooling, we have seen problems with her focusing on the tasks at hand, reading comprehension and verbal instruction comprehension. The school did bring in someone to test her. Well her test results were above average in some areas and below average in others. The difference between the two are wide. We are working to build up the low areas to meet the high areas of her testing. It was suggested by the tester that she may be ADD (the quiet type) that most times goes undetected. My daughter is very shy and I have been working on getting her to be more involved in classroom verbal activities, with progress. The school did enforce a Schools Attuned program for her where all her teachers as well as myself work together to watch her progress and where she needs help. Combined we have made a lot of forward strides but are still a long way from fine tuning. She has come a long way since kindergarten and I have seen some progress. Although not a swift as anyone would like it is still progress. Her counselor has suggested I consider putting my daughter on retilin. I really do not want to but feel that if she cannot stay focused that it may be a last option. I wanted to get more information about retilin and its short and long term effects on a child. I explained to the counselor that before I do make a final decision that my daughter also does have a say in this decision. I do not want to keep her out of the decision process. I am very apprehensive about this matter and am looking for some assurance that this is okay for her. One of the side effects that the counselor had mentioned was that retilin can cause a loss of appetite. My daughter has migraine headaches when she does not eat and this side effect really worries me. Can you please respond to my questions, I would really appreciate it. I have a meeting with her teacher and counselor on 10-9-02. I want to be absolutely sure that I am doing the right thing if I do decide to put her on retilin. Your advise would be most appreciated.
	My son is now 5 and is starting school on Friday. He has attended a pre-school for two years. I am concerned because he will not say his alphabet or cannot I'm not sure which one it is. Everyone I talk to about it says don't worry, but I do all the time. My question is. Is that ok that he can't do this task?
	How do I improve my child's study habits?
	My child has difficulty focusing in class and is falling behind in his studies. What can be done?
	How do I get my child tested for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or for any form of a Learning Disability (LD)?
	I am worried about my child being labeled. If I have my child tested and he has a form of LD, ADD or ADHD, will this not destroy his self-esteem?
	By the time my children get home from school, they are falling off their seat of exhaustion and seem to lose motivation. They are 8 and 9 years of age. Any tips on keeping them focused?
	My 10 year old daughter has ADD and has been taking doses of Retilin for 2 months. The teacher has seen great improvements in her concentration level. Do teachers treat ADD children any different than the rest of the class?

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