Evelyn,

Thank you so much for that piece. I have a 7 year old son  who has adhd.  I have become a continued advocate for proper education and nonjudgemental placement for my son.  My son attends an accelarated school where he his learning 1 grade above level work.  He masters his work but is still figity and easily irritated.  He has a loving spirit and always looks out for others. 

I'm writing because I'm sincerely disgusted with the lack of training teachers in both the public and private sectors receive in order to best deal with children with ADHD. Each new school year I find myself pulling out the paper work and books and explaining how real and serious this condition is.  I find that it is easy for teachers and adults alike to label these children as just being bad and it brakes my heart to see my son get isolated from other children, who's parents dont want their kids playing with someone who always gets in trouble at school.

I've been researching schools in Chicago to seek out those that offer assistance  for kids with ADHD.  None seem to exist, its frightening and truly sad.  My son has behavioral therapy and sees a psychiatrist at Childrens memorial.  They are wonderful there.  But they cant even tell me where to send my kid to camp so that we wont feel isolated and different.  I would love to join your efforts in getting this message out into the mainstream.  We need better support in the school system, better training and more resources for teachers.  For our children in Summer camp, the same problems exist.  We need a team of grant writers for from the medical field, and legislation from our senators to push for more care on this matter. 

All the best,

Kim Reynolds