Investigation of information offered parents of ADD or ADHD elementary school students in San Diego County schools (California)

The problem. The purpose of this study was to determine what information is offered to parents whose child has been labeled as possibly being ADD or ADHD.; Method. A survey was sent to elementary school psychologists throughout San Diego County. An in-depth interview with five respondents was also conducted.; Results. Responses were received from 42/102 participants. Data revealed the majority of participants gave information about the importance of children getting enough sleep and about the use of medication. However, few gave information about the importance of nutrition or vitamin and mineral supplements to parents in the treatment of children with ADD and ADHD. Only 23.8% of the participants gave parents information about common allergies, which can cause behavior similar to that of a child with ADD or ADHD. Therefore, some aspects information given, fall short.; Results also revealed most parents select medication, like Ritalin as their treatment of choice. A significant relationship to selecting this treatment was question #1, the lack of information regarding diet and nutrition given to parents. A noteworthy finding was 32 out of 42 school psychologists do not give information to parents regarding the effects various food allergies can have on a child's behavior.; Results from the in-depth interviews revealed that all 5 school psychologists felt that as individuals, they were doing a good job with these children, albeit no district-wide policy exists in any of their school districts.; All agreed the most critical issue in this process is identifying the real problem and getting a correct diagnosis of the child. Most expressed concern over the push to identify and label children as being ADHD. They also related concerns over mis-diagnosis, over-identification and/or labeling of children as ADD or ADHD, and over-use of medication.; It is the hope of this researcher, that the evidence presented in this study will prompt school districts to add the suggested steps to their process for ADD/ADHD children.