In honour of Ontario’s Education Week, May 4th to the 8th CADDAC pulled out our copy of the response letter from then Education Minister Kathleen Wynn dated March 17th 2008. The letter was in response to our request to include ADHD in the list of categories of exceptionality under which the Ontario Ministry of Education recognizes students requiring special education resources.
The letter assured CADDAC that “Although ADHD is not among the ministry definitions of exceptionality, it should not be viewed as a barrier to students with ADHD being identified as exceptional. The determining factor is whether a student is in need of a special education program or service. Once a student is identified, the Identification, Placement, and Review Committee (IPRC) can apply the ministry definitions(s) that most closely match the student’s special education needs.”
Education practices are even more entrenched in categorizing students along the lines of their diagnoses. This categorization is then used to qualify students as having a right for identification as an exceptional student and the legal right to an Independent Education Plan (IEP) and special education resources. A Memorandum from the Ministry in December of 2011 stating essentially the very same thing that Minster Wynn said in her letter in 2008 made little difference. The majority of Ontario school boards in Ontario still refuse to IPRC students with ADHD, some even refusing them an IEP.
Right now, we have parents begging physicians to diagnose their child with Autism rather then ADHD so they might receive the resources they require at school. Of course, this is not a discretionary choice on a physician’s part, but how sad that it has come to this. So much for “need” rather than a diagnosis dictating special education resources.
CADDAC’s first goal, even before our official incorporation as a not-for-profit, was to educate educators about ADHD. Our first full day workshop for educators occurred in 2003. Our second goal as to advocate for students with ADHD. We first began our advocacy efforts in Ontario, with the Ontario Ministry of Education.
In 2010 we published our 2010 Provincial Report Card: ADHD in the School System which reviewed and graded how all the provinces and one of the territories recognized, or did not recognize, the educational needs of students with ADHD. Three provinces, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec all received failing grades; the three largest provinces. Sad to say, they would all three still receive failing grades.
The report card was followed by our first national policy paper, Equitable Access to Education for all Canadians in 2011, a paper on Understanding ADHD as a Disability in the Post-Secondary Environment in 2015 and a follow-up to the 2011 paper, Inequitable Access to Education for Canadian Students with ADHD in 2017.
Advocacy for students living with ADHD with the Ontario Education Ministry of Education came to a stand still with the change in government in 2018.
There has been no response to CADDAC’s requests for a meeting with the Ministry of Education and no movement on including ADHD within the categories of exceptionality despite promises made prior to the election.
When asked by Steve Paikin “Should [ADHD] be on the list? Should you be entitled, as a public education student in the province, to automatically be eligible for addition supports if you’re diagnosed with ADHD?”, Christine Elliot on behalf of the PC party answered “Short answer, absolutely yes.” and continued on to state, “I have talked to Doug Ford about commitments that I think are really important. Special education and working with people with special needs is a huge priority for me. I’ve talked him about it and he’s very supportive. ”
COVID-19 Considerations
With education transitioning to online format, we know that students living with ADHD which is why we’re developed the following resources for parents and educators.
Written by Andre Brisson and shared by CADDAC in honour of National Poetry Month. Do you have a poem about your experience with ADHD? Submit it here and we’ll feature it this month!
The noise is loud!
I shut the door
The noise forces thru
No respect, no care
I must escape
Or explode and lose
The noise is unbearable
Escape I did! But to where?
Will have to go back
Why is it that way?
Why am I that way?
I must be wrong, I am wrong!
I am a wrong person
The noise is chasing me
I can’t see where I am going
My disgrace is blinding me
I stumble into the forest
The birds welcome me
The animals watch out for me
The trees shield my view
But I can still discern the noise
The further I walk; I can see a little more
Yet I do not know where I am going
I know I am going the right way
Slowly in the distance, what is it?
Soft rumbling and rolling followed with swishes
I continue to walk, towards the calming sounds
I am starting to not hear the noise
My feet sink into sand, I see stones littered about
I am on her shore, her waves are talking
Immediate disappearance of the noise, I am OK
I am not wrong, I am me, I am a right person
The Huron, drew me to her
The Huron helped me find me
The noise is gone…..for now.
It's World Book Day! We asked if there were any books that helped you understand ADHD! Here is what you said!
Thought Piece by Heidi Bernhardt, Founder of CADDAC
I just came across a brief blog, Having ADHD vs. Living With It by Neil Paterson. I suggest everyone who strives to understand ADHD take a couple of minutes to read it.
I have always known that language matters when speaking about ADHD and often find myself correcting others when they speak about ADHD, but Neil taught me something new.
During my presentations to parents and educators I explain that they understand ADHD from what they see occurring on the outside. They cannot see what is happening in that child’s brain and how they are struggling to meet the adult’s expectations. This leads to misinterpretation of the child’s actions. Perhaps more importantly, the child tries to understand what is happening but can only interpret things through their own lens of experience. They have not experienced having a non-ADHD brain so cannot understand that ADHD is the culprit. So, they often accept and internalize the unfair judgement of others.
Neil explains it like this, “When you experience ADHD from the inside, as something you live with, you don’t really know what’s normal and what’s not because you don’t know what it would be like to live with life without ADHD.”
He defines the epiphany that adults talk about experiencing after they are diagnosed as being able to close the gap between the description of ADHD symptoms and what it feels like for them to live with ADHD. He shares how difficult it is to know when something is a symptom or, perhaps better put, an impairment caused by ADHD; a personality trait; a symptom of a coexisting condition; or a combination of the above.
However, Neil’s important message to me personally is the difference between speaking about someone with ADHD as opposed to someone who lives with ADHD. You have possessions or experiences, but you live with ADHD. It is so much a part of you it cannot be separated.
I live in a family that has many members who live with ADHD and I work in the field of ADHD awareness and advocacy. Possibly because of my background in psychiatric nursing and having worked with medical experts in ADHD for decades I have always referred to children and adults living with ADHD, as children and adults “with ADHD”. Neil explains that when we assess for ADHD we try to tie what we are seeing with the symptoms of ADHD. So, people become those with ADHD.
I now stand corrected and will now use the term “living with ADHD” in the future. Thank you Neil for taking the time to share your experiences so that others may learn and evolve our thinking.
Written by Alice Magdalene @alicemagdalene and shared by CADDAC in honour of National Poetry Month. Do you have a poem about your experience with ADHD? Submit it here and we’ll feature it this month!
i am enough
i never needed
to be told that
the problem is not
that i don’t love myself
it’s that i am sick and tired
of myself constantly
not being enough for them
Written by Allison Solomon and shared by CADDAC in honour of National Poetry Month. Do you have a poem about your experience with ADHD? Submit it here and we'll feature it this month!
I see him exiting the building.
My heart shatters into a million pieces.
I know what that look means.
I watch my son as he walks to my car.
I know that I am watching a boy who feels defeated, a boy who feels like a failure, a boy who doesn’t understand why life is doing this to him.
I don’t even have to ask, “how did chemistry go to today?" because I know the answer.
I want to take him in my arms and tell him that everything will be okay.
I want to take him in my arms and tell him that this too shall pass.
I want to take him in my arms and keep him there to protect him from this world.
I want to take him in my arms and tell him that I love him, that a grade will never define him, that the only person that will define him is him.
I want to scream out to the universe, please stop, has he not endured enough.
I hold my tears back as he gets in the car.
I tell myself to keep it together.
I tell myself to not let him see the hot damn mess I am at the moment.
I tell myself that this is not about me, this is about my beautiful son, who today needs me to be his strength,
I tell myself that this too shall pass, even though I am not sure at this moment that I can believe that.
He closes the door, we drive in silence.
The air is so heavy, I feel like it is suffocating me.
How can silence be deafening?
I glance at my son, and while all he can see is failure, I see a human being who gets knocked down by life and gets back up.
I see a human being who defines the word courage by getting back into the ring each and every day.
I see a human being with a heart of a gold.
I see a human being who continues to defy the limits that a school system wants to put on him.
I see a human being who is kind and generous.
I know that this is not the time to tell him this.
I know that this is the time to let him process his emotions.
I know that this time to simply sit in the silence.
We drive into the driveway.
He opens the door.
As he exists the car, I say, tomorrow will be better but today sucks.
Today I salute all those beautiful teens/ tweens/ children with ADHD. Today I salute them for all their courage, grit, resilience. Today I salute their perseverance, determination and ability to face adversity.
From the diary of Allison Solomon: The joys of being a parent to a child with ADHD, cancer survivor and broken hearted by the loss of her dad to cancer.
Allison Solomon
@allisonleighsolomon
FaceBook Group: The Mom Matrix - mom’s of teens supporting one another
Vyvanse® (lisdexamfetamine dimesylate) chewable tablet will be publically reimbursed in Ontario for ADHD treatment from March 31, 2020 for individuals (6 years and older) who require 12-hour continuous coverage due to academic and/or psychosocial needs, under these circumstances:
Vyvanse® chewable tablets are administered once daily in the morning and are available in six doses: 10 mg, 20 mg, 30 mg, 40 mg, 50 mg and 60 mg.
Originally published on caddra.ca
How are you doing? With disrupted schedules, social isolation, non-essential services closing and anxiety about #COVID19, we know our #neurodiversesquad may be struggling! But we're also creative and resilient! How are you managing #ADHD symptoms during these unprecedented times? We want to know! Share with us on social media, tag us or leave a comment on our Facebook post below.
We've moved all resources to a page on website.
March 24, 2020 - Toronto, Ontario
The Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada (CADDAC), announced today a strategic alliance with iMD Health Global that will help evolve communications between healthcare professionals and patients to improve health outcomes, focused on ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
iMD Health offers innovative technology that facilitates meaningful dialogue between healthcare professionals and patients during consultations. iMD's award winning platform enables healthcare professionals to instantly access thousands of educational graphics, videos and resources ‘at the point of care™.’
"We believe the iMD platform will allow healthcare professionals to quickly and easily share vital educational material on ADHD during a consult," says Heidi Bernhardt, President of CADDAC. “With a better understanding of their conditions, patients can make informed and responsible decisions about managing their health and the required steps to address their condition. We look forward to sharing our ADHD resources across Canada, whereby providing professional’s and their patient’s greater access to education material and tools developed by CADDAC.”
"We are very excited about our new multi-year strategic partnership with CADDAC. This partnership is a big step forward to improving patient education "At the Point of Care" related to ADHD. Having the trusted educational content from the experts at CADDAC and reaching more affected individuals and their families will have a positive impact for all," says Kevin Delano, President and CEO of iMD Health Global.
About CADDAC
The Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada is the leading educational and awareness, non-profit organization dedicated to educating and advocating for individuals with ADHD, their families, and communities throughout the country. www.caddac.ca
About iMD Health Global
iMD Health Global is a Toronto-based award-winning software development company, focused on innovating healthcare education. Since 2010, iMD has grown its flagship product – app.imdhealth.com – into Canada’s largest digital patient education and engagement platform. Centered “At The Point of Care”®, healthcare professionals use iMD’s cloud-based platform to engage with their patients at a deeper level and optimize knowledge transfer surrounding a patient’s condition and treatment plan. This is done through the seamless integration of over 80,000 images, booklets, and video resources (covering 2,100 medical topics) from trusted partners (such as; Health Associations, government health agencies and the world renown MAYO Clinic) into an award-winning user interface that makes patient education both efficient and effective. At the end of a patient’s visit, a summary of all the discussed information can be emailed or printed for the patient to review and continue their learning journey at home, improving their health literacy and adherence to their treatment plan. The iMD Platform is utilized in: doctors’ clinic, hospitals, pharmacies, long-term care, infusion clinics and homecare environments. www.imdhealth.com
For more information, please contact:
Heidi Bernhardt
President
The Centre for ADHD Awareness, Canada
heidi.bernhardt@caddac.ca
Jared Sonnenberg
Vice-President
iMD Health Global
jared.sonnenberg@imdhealth.com
By Guest Blogger: Jennifer E. Tiviluk, MA, RP, CCC
Specializing in Trauma, ADHD, Executive Functioning, Depression, Anxiety and Family of Origin Trauma
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the pre-frontal cortex in the brain. It is posited that ADHD affects the brains’ neurotransmitters (dopamine and norepinephrine). So, these transmitters in the ADHD brain do not consistently fire to stimulate our brain to activate.
These neurotransmitters explain the inconsistency of performance of folks living with ADHD. They may be able to do something one day (if the brain was stimulated) but not the next day. Therefore, people living with untreated ADHD are more likely to display high inconsistencies around performance subjecting them to criticism from the outside world with phrases like “unmotivated, lazy, doesn’t care, get your act together” etc. .
Neurotypical people have moments where they forget things, get distracted or get bored. Folks living with ADHD (4-6% of the population) live with symptoms that daily effect their lives and at times their lives can be “sabotaged” by the untreated executive functioning weaknesses of the disorder resulting in outcomes such as:
I could go on….I think you get the picture!!!!
Our medication that can help us manage our symptoms, is often viewed as a drug of abuse shamed by the media and uninformed individuals. To pick up our meds we must show ID because it is a controlled substance again further shaming folks for having to use this controlled substance for their disorder.
As a parent, we live with people constantly shaming us (indirectly or directly) for making the agonizing decision to put your children on medication to treat this highly heritable disorder. Many times we have to determine the collateral damage on our children who may under perform in school, get in trouble with teachers and constantly receive feedback from their environment that they are “behaving badly” or they need to “get it together” when they are just struggling to manage these neurological symptoms.
I am one of the “lucky ones” I have been able to hold down jobs and educationally I defy the odds of having a Masters Degree where a high rate of folks living with ADHD will drop out of high school, college or university. I am privileged to work with this group in the therapeutic setting where I first-hand see the struggles and the growth of the individuals when they get treatment (meds and therapy).
So next time you think to say “doesn’t everyone have a little bit of ADHD” I hope you can think about the answer before you speak (something that is hard for us to do (lol)) and answer the question yourself. NO!!!
Instead consider empathizing with the person’s struggle of living with our different brain. Offering support instead of advice goes a long way for someone living with this disorder.
This blog was written in response to Bell Let's Talk as an ADHD Speaks submission. If you feel sparked or inspired to say something about your experience(s) with ADHD, please make a submission at www.adhdspeaks.ca
If you are interested in writing a guest blog, please reach out to us at communications@caddac.ca.
