adhd - ADHD treatment is a systems, multi-faceted process for the whole family

Intensive treatment sets families on the right track by eliminating problems and providing knowledge of how to go forward, but the path of growth and health must be lived everyday.

There are five components to treatment follow-up. Long-term email follow-up, WebCAER, homework Messenger, the Goals Program and educational emails for parents and teachers. My view of treatment goes far beyond just simply resolving the identified problems of the ADHD, LD or HFA child. Resolving his problem is only the first step. The real objective is to help families become high functioning vs. just coping by getting rid of problems. The follow-up technologies provide additional tools to achieve more than just problem resolution.

WebCAER

WebCAER is an online version of the caer machine that I use in my office treatment program. It runs on a home PC and has the same moving sounds and lights. In addition, it can present images between the lights and play recordings such as the tapes used with caer. It helps all family members to continue to extinguish emotional triggers after you return home. It provides ongoing post-treatment therapy for the whole family. WebCAER is a handy tool to turn problems into growth opportunities.

The follow-up software is an optional subscription service after a free one month period.

homework Messenger

The Homework Messenger is a secure website that teachers, parents and I use to track and shape school and home behaviors as well as academic production. Through it, I can provide daily consultation to teachers and parents on better strategies to help the child at school and home.

The homework messenger has two sections, School and Home. In the School sections, the teacher can enter and rate target behaviors, homework assignments, and enter grades as well as discuss issues with parents and me. Likewise, the parent and I can view and respond to all of the teacher’s entries. The Home Section includes a separate Target Behaviors, and a Discussion module that just parents and I can access.

School section

Behavior tracking

A teacher can define and rate target behaviors for the child at school. A quick graphic rating system tracks changes over time. This provides timely information to guide parents to apply positive or negative consequences for changes in classroom performance.

BEHAVIORS

Above is a screen shot of the behaviors section of the homework messenger. On the left, you can see three target behaviors that the teacher entered for Elizabeth. On the right and you can see how the teacher has rated each of these behaviors each day. This allows the teacher, parents and me to easily track her improvements.

Because Elizabeth was doing so well on these three behaviors, they were soon retired to the inactive list and the teacher created new ones for her to work on.

Homework tracking

Often the homework loop from school, home and back to school again breaks down. The child may not get the assignment, it is not completed at home, or it is not turned in.

The Homework section allows teachers and parents to track homework step-by-step, from assignment through completion and being turned in. At a glance, you can tell whether this chain of events is unfolding on schedule to be completed by the due date or whether the chain has broken and a completed assignment has found its way to the bottom of a locker or book bag, rather than the teacher’s desk.

Discussion

This is a media for parents, teachers and me to discuss problems and strategies. Often, it is very helpful not just to rate a behavior, particularly if it is bad, but to also describe exactly what precipitated and reinforced the problem. This extra information can make the use of WebCAER more focused and effective. Sometimes a homework assignment needs elaboration, or kudos need to be sent. Sometimes a suggestion from me can help clarify a problem so it can be corrected.

Grades

In the grades section, you can enter grades for assignments, tests, and quizzes. A grade average for each course is automatically computed.

Home section

Home behavior tracking

To help parents define, track and reward target behaviors at home, the Behavior Tracking module is replicated in the Home section. This is separate from the similar tracking for school behaviors, just described above.

Home Discussion Section

To facilitate parent communication with me about home issues, the Discussion module is replicated in the Home Section. This provides us a private place to discuss home issues.

Delay of reinforcement and Industriousness

For each School and Home target behavior, the parents can define a smaller immediate and a larger delayed reward for success at that behavior. The child may choose which one he wants. These rewards and delays are adjusted so that the child is inclined to choose the delayed one. This teaches working for delayed rewards. Similarly, parents can define and award Hard Work Bonuses for instances of true hard work. Both the frequency of his choices of delayed rewards and awarding Hard Work Bonuses are tracked on a graph.

Making good parenting a habit

To help parents use the Goals Program, described below, to create good parenting habits, a button is provided which opens a window and starts the Goals Program so you have it handy to create a good habit for you to shape your child’s new target behavior.

Notification emails

Whenever there is a new entry, an email is automatically sent to the other participants notifying them and giving them the hyper link that they can click to log on to the Homework Messenger.

Consultation by me via the Homework Messenger

When I log on to the Homework Messenger, I can see everything in both the School and Home Sections. This allows me to provide parents and teachers daily consultation and suggestions on more effective and efficient ways of helping a child. It also provides them with a timely convenient way to ask me questions.

Goals Program

The Goals Program enables adults and older children to efficiently create new habits to help them achieve their goals. The program walks you through an eight-step process that takes you from defining a goal, creating motivation to achieve it, defining clear action steps, building a success story to support it as well as gathering data on your success and graphing it.

After your goal is created, you can track your success on it both through your own self-ratings and through email rating by peers you invite, should you choose to do so. This public commitment to achieving your goal, by having others rate your progress, further motivates your success. WebCAER is integrated into the process so that you can extinguish any emotional obstacles to achieving your goals.

Numerous example goals are provided as a starting point for creating your own goals. Many of these example goals are designed to help you turn good parenting practices into automatic habits. These include procedures for following through, giving clear directions, working as a parenting team, building good kid stories, teaching responsibility for homework, etc.

Long term Email Follow-up

I provide free long term email consultation for any issues regarding your family. There is no limit to long-term, since I have never cut anyone off. Typically there is a short flurry of emails to solve immediate problems as soon as families return home. These become less frequent after the first week or so. I have many patients who still send me an occasional email every year or so just to update me on how their family is doing. I look forward to these updates as I follow children’s successes over the years. Sometimes just a little support or advice post intensive treatment can help.

Educational emails for teachers and parents

There are two sets of educational emails that I send on a weekly basis after intensive treatment. One set is 19 weekly reminders for parents that review many of the concepts and procedures that I discuss during treatment. From time to time, I add new ones. The second set is started when you invite a teacher to participate in the Homework Messenger. These weekly educational emails are designed to help them make best use of this service. Though they are directed at teachers’ issues, parents are copied in on these emails.