Children and adolescents with ADHD experience multiple difficulties in the school environment including conduct problems, learning difficulties, mood instability and social skill deficits. The graduation failure rates of students with ADHD who are not treated are between 10 to 33%.  A college student without ADHD is four times more likely to graduate from college than a college student with ADHD. 

However, it is clear that the high rates of school failure can be positively impacted by school-based interventions, which include the coordinated efforts of the ADHD patient, parents, teachers, school mental health providers and the patient’s mental health provider.

There can be little sustained improvement in the ADHD student without consistent collaboration between the student, the parent, the school district and the health care providers.  Behavioral change occurs only when there is adequate instruction of the desired behavior along with systematic cueing and reinforcement of the desired behavior through an agreed upon monitoring system. 

Educational supports or accommodations are important variables for the successful treatment of students with ADHD.  This is why the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act exist. Students with ADHD have educational rights under these laws that include reasonable accommodations and access to other services that assist them in their learning efforts.

Making sure that our patients get necessary school accommodations is part of our treatment for ADHD.  We do this through a functional assessment of our patients’ school work.  Sometimes our assessment leads us to recommended atypical accommodations that need detailed explanations to the school district before they are implemented which is why we conduct meetings with school personnel to make sure that our recommended accommodations are in place.