Though many books exist to help teachers of school-age children with ADHD, not much has been written with the early childhood educator in mind. This unique book is specifically written for preschool and early elementary educators. Its focus is not to discuss guidelines for diagnosing ADHD in young children, but to provide PreKu3 teachers with a better understanding of the disorder, how to recognize it, and how it impacts both social-emotional and educational development. Children who exhibit ADHD behaviors need early educational support to minimize learning challenges and classroom disruption. The authors present a variety of strategies for classroom adaptations (both environmental and instructional), as well as practical interventions to develop appropriate social skills, manage classroom behavior, help children with ADHD master the particularly challenging task of writing, and communicate effectively with parents. One chapter reviews what teachers should know about medications and how they affect behavior in the classroom. An extensive Resource section at the end of the book offers detailed profiles of children in preschool and primary grades diagnosed with ADHD. Though this book has been written to help children who struggle with attentional issues, teachers will find the strategies applicable for all children in their classrooms.
Author Biography:
Richard A. Lougy has been living and working for the last 30 years in Sacramento, California, where he began his career as a middle school teacher. During that time, he also served as an elementary school counselor and later as a school psychologist. Before retiring in 2007, he oversaw mental health services for Head Start and Early Head Start programs in a large metropolitan school district in Northern California. He currently runs a private practice specializing in ADHD and related disorders, as well as being a mental health consultant for Early Head Start programs and Before and After School Care Programs for a large school district.
Lougy has treated and worked with thousands of children with ADHD and their families throughout his career. In addition to coauthoring two books on ADHD, ADHD: A Survival Guide for Parents and Teachers (Hope Press/2002) and Teaching Young Children With ADHD: Successful Strategies and Practical Interventions for PreK-3 (Corwin Press/2007), Lougy has also written numerous articles on ADHD and regularly presents at state and national conferences.
Silvia L. DeRuvo is a special education resources development specialist with WestEd, a nonprofit agency that works with schools, districts, state agencies, and national policy makers in the areas of educational research, products, and programs. Her work focuses primarily on working with schools and teachers on effective research-based instructional practices that support the needs of students with disabilities within core content integrated classrooms. Prior to her work at WestEd, DeRuvo has been an elementary special educator for nearly 20 years, and a teacher trainer at California State University, Sacramento.
Her experience in the classroom, as well as in state special education leadership, has given her vast experience in the area of special education practices and effective inclusion practices that support the needs of students with ADHD and other learning disabilities. She is a national speaker for the Bureau of Education and Research on Response to Intervention implementation practices and is a coauthor of Teaching Young Children With ADHD: Successful Strategies and Practical Interventions for PreK-3, a book on classroom strategies for students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) published in 2007 by Corwin Press. She is currently authoring a book on instructional strategies to support secondary students with ADHD that will be published in 2009.
DeRuvo received an MA in communicative disorders, and holds credentials in Multiple Subjects, Special Education Specialist Communications Handicapped, and Resource Specialist certification from California State University, Fresno.
David Rosenthal, MD, is an adult, adolescent, and child psychiatrist in private practice in Boulder, Colorado. He is an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver, where he teaches courses on psychopharmacology.
Rosenthal practiced psychiatry in various settings in California for many years and treated thousands of patients with ADHD, anxiety, and mood disorders before coauthoring two books on ADHD: ADHD: A Survival Guide for Parents and Teachers (Hope Press/2007) and Teaching Young Children With ADHD: Successful Strategies and Practical Interventions for PreK-3 (Corwin Press/2007). He also has written articles on ADHD and regularly speaks at state and national conferences on ADHD.
Rosenthal earned his medical degree at the University of Iowa School of Medicine in 1986, and completed his residency in adult psychiatry and fellowship training in child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center.
