PART A: PATIENT INTERVIEW
Question 1: At what age were you diagnosed with a developmental disability?
Answer: 5 years
Question 2: Did you receive services as a child? Do you remember when you first started to receive help?
Answer: My parents used to take me for a physical examination as instructed by my doctor. At the age of six, doctors at the health care clinic started to give me some attention.
Question 3: While in school did you receive an independent evaluation to determine educational needs?
Answer: Yes, I was very slow and quiet in class, and my teacher decided to call my parents to discuss the matter. The physician evaluated my educational needs and gave my teachers guidelines on how to handle me in class.
Question 4: When attending school what services did you receive to promote learning. For example do they/ you feel that the school provided appropriate educational services or do they feel that their/your education was less than adequate? If so why?
Answer: The physician gave the school guidelines on how to handle me and help promote my learning activities. The doctor quoted a finding from Mautone, Lefler, & Power (2011) study “Children diagnosed with ADHD are at high risks for earlier school failure.” I used to speak up in class without even raising hands, which made my teachers throw me out of the class most often. I was taken through a behavioral therapy session every Saturday for three hours to help modify my behaviors and learn how to cope with other normal children. The school also tried to assist me with social and psychological support by calling counselors to speak to me. Additionally, the class teacher used strategies taught to help me to cope with the problem. Some of the strategies used included:
Displaying rules on the class wall
Establishing a daily routine in class that incorporated my needs and others with learning disabilities in the class. For example, the class was given one hour of storytelling
Displaying timetables, to-do lists, and other important activities and schedules and reminders
Question 5: Were you encouraged to participate in decision making regarding your educational services?
Answer: Yes, the physician would always ask for my presence when discussing my condition with the teacher and my parents. My presence was essential because they wanted to make me part of the healing process and assist in improving my education.
Question 6: What agencies have been/or are presently involved in assisting you to achieve the highest level of independence.
Answer: Three agencies have been working in collaboration with the school administration and my parents to help me to overcome my condition. These are:
Learning Disabilities Association of America
The Hyperactive Children’s Support Group (HACSG)
Question 7: Overall, how would you rate the supportive services you have received in helping you in educational and physical development? What do you feel is needed that has not been available to you.
Answer: The services are 70 percent efficient. There was the lack of proper integration of appropriate practices in the Individualized Education Program (EIP) because sometimes teachers pay more attention to other children in the class and ignore my presence.
PART B: INTERVIEW WITH THE AGENCY
The interview was conducted by the Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA). One of the agency’s administrators took part in the interview process.
Question 1: The function of LDA in the community? Areas of expertise? Who is eligible?
Answer: ADDA LDA has been the leading agency in America for the support of people with learning disabilities since 1963. The agency offers support to children, teachers, parents, and other professionals. It gives clients experiences on information related to practical solutions, learning disabilities, and a full network of resources needed to help people with special learning needs. Parents of children with learning disabilities or those with learning disabilities are eligible to seek assistance from LDA (LDA, 2016).
Question 2: Please describe specific services offered by your agency
Answer: LDA provides services to four categories of people; parents, educators, adults, and professionals.
Parents: They receive basics on how to assess and evaluate early childhood through pre-school and high school special education needs for their children. It also offers services that go beyond mental health technology.
Educators: LDA offers basics on ADHD to educators by making them understand how to assess and evaluate ADHD children’s education needs in pre-school, junior school, and high school. Educators receive skills on how to teach children with special learning needs.
Adults: Learning disabilities have life-long impacts. The problem may affect a person in the workplace and LDA provides solutions to such challenges by offering adults post-secondary school education, adult literacy, knowledge of civil rights, and how to cope with adults suffering from ADHD.
Professionals: LDA offers services to professionals by guiding them how to handle people with ADHD. Professionals in the healthcare sector lack adequate skills on how to deal with ADHD patients, and LDA offers to assist them to deal with such people without experiencing many challenges.
Question 3: How does your agency work with individuals with developmental disabilities and their parent/ caregivers to meet their needs (e.g. improve the quality of life, health, and wellness, recreation, transportation, basic needs - food, clothing, shelter, service coordination)?
Answer: LDA has a parent advocacy program whose goal is to support parents of children with learning disabilities. Parents of children with developmental disabilities have the responsibility of ensuring their children receive appropriate, effective, and adequate services. LDA educates those parents about learning disabilities paying more attention to the individual children's problems. Additionally, the agency provides parents with skills on how to collaborate with teachers in the school where the child gets an education to help them understand the child’s problem and address it in class to improve the child’s quality of life (LDA, 2016). Additionally, the agency holds annual conferences where parents are invited to learn more on how to improve their children’s quality of life, health status, and provide them with basic needs under their conditions.
Question 4: What individuals with DD and their families/caregivers would you refer to this agency? And why?
Answer: Children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD), autistic children, and parents of children with early childhood developmental disabilities can seek help from LDA agency. LDA is the best organization to take these children and their parents because the agency believes that people with developmental disabilities have an opportunity to succeed in school and the community when offered the right opportunity and support.
Question 5: How would this agency improve your ability to provide quality care to the patient and caregiver that you interviewed?
Answer: The agency plays a significant role in promoting the health, livelihood, and social well-being of children with ADHD. Lessons from the interview would assist in improving the quality of life of the patient by engaging parents, teachers, and professionals in caring for the child. According to Danckaerts, Sonuga-Barke et al. (2010), quality of life has received great recognition as a useful component in assessing the impact of early developmental conditions such as ADHD among children and adults. I would request the parents of the seven years old child I interviewed to join LDA and enjoy benefits just like any other person who joined the agency earlier.
References
Danckaerts, M., Sonuga-Barke, E. J. S., Banaschewski, T., Buitelaar, J., Döpfner, M., Hollis, C.
& Coghill, D. (2010). The quality of life of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 19(2), 83–105.
LDA. (2016). Learning Disabilities Association of America. Home. Retrieved from
http://ldaamerica.org/
Mautone, J. A., Lefler, E. K., & Power, T. J. (2011). Promoting Family and School Success for
Children With ADHD: Strengthening Relationships While Building Skills. Theory into Practice, 50(1), 43–51.
