IT TOOK A SPECIAL TEACHER

In the Fall of 2022, a mother received a call from her daughter’s fifth-grade teacher. “I think something is going on with Sarah.  She’s been distracted in class. As her teacher, I would like you to consider having her evaluated.”

 This conversation was an unexpected gift from a caring and observant teacher. She was able to recognize behaviors that she also saw in students who had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). It had occurred to the mother that Sarah might have an issue, but she didn’t even consider it could be ADHD. 

What she didn’t know was that most girls with ADD don’t always have the hyperactivity part. Their inattentive behaviors and challenges often go unnoticed because they don’t resemble those of the stereotypical hyperactive ADHD boy. This makes them more challenging to diagnose and usually results in later for adolescent girls.

According to a study released this year, the rate of children being diagnosed with ADHD increased by 1 million between 2016 and 2022. Melissa Danielson, a statistician with the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and lead author of that study, noted that ADHD in girls often looks like “daydreaming,” being unable to focus, or being hyper-focused on the wrong tasks. 

Sarah’s ADHD indicators included things like a lack of focus in class, getting frustrated easily, heightened anxiety around test time, and organizational challenges. Some of her symptoms of ADHD mirrored anxiety, like a need for things to be perfect or being easily distracted and unable to finish a task. Sometimes, she exhibited multiple symptoms at once. 

Sarah’s mom sat down with the school’s administrative team, the special education team, and her teacher. The one that changed Sarah’s life and saw her for who she was. The team established a 504 plan, a formal written plan that would allow Ella to get what she needed to succeed in school. It would give her more time for tests and more time for homework and get the help she needed to improve her grades, stay on course, and feel supported in her diagnosis. 

Before long, her grades came up, and she started to love school. Her grades went from C’s and D’s to almost all A’s at the end of the final quarter. Last year, as she entered sixth grade, she found her way again. She finished the year on a high note with almost straight A’s, a result that brought her immense joy and a renewed love for learning.