Dr. David Pickar and Dr. Lillian M. Beard address the importance of flagging ADHD in the classroom, addressing family resistance to treatment, and situations that might call for the involvement of other mental health colleagues.
“I find a lot of resistance [to the ADHD diagnosis], particularly among African American families,” says Dr. Beard, physician director, Children’s Pediatricians and Associates, Silver Spring, Md.
“An untreated ADHD kid is difficult for the teacher, but it is toughest on the kid,” says Dr. Pickar, adjunct professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. “Families may not hear it all, but a doctor pays a lot of attention to what the teacher is saying about that child in the classroom.”