Consider the following scenario, in which you presume the role of a clinician: You have recently met with Johnny and his family. Johnny is 7 years old and in the first grade. He has trouble sitting still, often loses things, will climb under and over the classroom desks, and will leap out of line in the hallways. He has an affinity for math, but he makes careless mistakes on previously mastered concepts. Other children in the classroom have complained about Johnny being too bossy or loud and tend to avoid sitting next to him or inviting him to play.
Your evaluation has determined that Johnny meets the criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Johnny’s parents are coming to your office tomorrow to discuss the results of your evaluation.
Prepare a written report of what you will tell Johnny’s parents about attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Be sure to cover the symptoms that Johnny meets from the DSM-5 Checklist.
Discuss symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in light of normal development in the following domains: language, cognition, emotion, and social. In other words, what is noticeably different in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder versus what you might see in their same-age peers? Speak briefly to the controversy regarding these differences.
Summarize the research evidence on the effectiveness of different approaches to treatment, based on your textbook reading and at least one peer-reviewed journal article. Include your final treatment recommendation to Johnny’s parents.
Consider how you might answer if the parents ask, “How did our child end up with this disorder? What did we do wrong? Is there any hope for him?”
Based on what you have reviewed in your textbook as a whole regarding disorders in childhood, make a comment about how you could be an advocate for social change for children struggling with these disorders.
