Chapter 8 - Parenting Children with Learning and Attention Disorders: Concerns and Directions for Therapeutic Intervention

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This chapter identifies various challenges that parents experience while rearing their sons and daughters with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disabilities (LD). It presents some suggestions that clinicians should incorporate while working with these parents. The family with a child with a mild handicap has more difficult problems arising from parent–child relationships. These challenges arise from such variables as the invisibility of the disability, the lack of awareness of the disability, and the difficulties in parenting the child. Unfortunately, the realities that many of these families face are the episodes of disruptiveness and tension within their families. Family genograms can be valuable tools as they clearly illustrate where disputes actually arise within families. The clinicians should give the parents confidence that they are not alone and should help them realize that the best thing they can do for their children is to understand the condition they are dealing with and to learn how to best manage it. They should provide parents with practical solutions that are easily implemented and help them understand that their role may be demanding.