In accordance with recommendations from the US Surgeon General and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, SCM has a multimodal treatment plan. An overview of the past and present elements of his plan includes but are not limited to:
Medication
Educators
Section 504 Plan
Positive behavior intervention plan
Reading and writing intervention and tutoring
Occupational Therapy
Sensory Integration Disorder Therapy
Speech-Language Therapy
Auditory Processing Therapy
Counseling
Small and large group social skills training
Parent education and acquisition of more than traditional parenting skills
SCM's multidisciplinary team includes parents, educators, pediatrician, Audiologist, Pediatric Occupational Therapist, Speech-Language Pathologist, and a Clinical Psychologist specializing in Child and Adolescent treatment.
Dear Educator, your role is of paramount importance in the success of SCM's overall treatment plan. The following excerpts from an ADHD/LD study may bring a deeper understanding of why this is true.
"Because of the pervasive effects of ADHD and LD on cognitive, social, and emotional performance, disabled children may require specific interventions in addition to schoolwide protective factors. These should be multidisciplinary and multi-modal--involving parents, teachers, medical and mental health professionals, and other support personnel in schools and communities--in addressing the whole child's needs: academic, social, emotional, and physical. Multimodal treatment has been shown to dramatically reduce antisocial behavior by reducing risk factors."
"ADHD and LD represent not one risk factor but a constellation of pervasive, interacting factors that multiply risk. The underlying neurological dysfunctions that cause these disabilities impair performance in cognitive, social, and emotional domains. This impairment too often snowballs into academic and social failure and, ultimately, into behavioral and affective disorders unless the environment eliminates compounding risk factors and puts protective factors in place to prevent it."
"Chronic school failure demoralizes children, can cause loss of status and rejection by peers, destroys self-esteem, and undermines feelings of competence. As a result, it can undermine a child's attachment to teachers, parents, school, and the values they promote. It also generates hopelessness and helplessness. Children cease to believe that their efforts make a difference in outcomes...."
"Although schools cannot change underlying neurological impairments that affect children's cognitive, social, and emotional performance, they can help prevent impairments from causing academic and social failure by providing appropriate accommodations and early intervention."
Copyright 2003 - 2004 SBM
Updated 11-13-04
