PARENTING: Creating Productive Summer Experiences for an ADHD Child.

Karen K. Lowry, RN and author of "The Seventh Inning Sit: A Journey of ADHD," is based in Medford, N.J., and can discuss ways parents can ensure a productive summer for children with ADHD, in light of the end of the academic year: “First, it’s important to incorporate consistent bedtimes into the structure of the days. Some children have coexisting disorders of anxiety, which does impact going to sleep and staying asleep. The cycle of not enough sleep and oppositional behavior appear to correlate. The academic component must be reinforced for every child in the summer, due to the potential for regression. Only 30 percent of children with ADHD have no coexisting disorders. So in order to encourage the reading and math that are assigned by many schools to do over the summer, again, structure comes into play. Choices are important for children when you are reinforcing academic activities that they would rather ignore.”