Instructions for Using the ADHD Monitoring System One of the most important things one can do to help promote the healthy development of a child with ADHD is to carefully monitor how he or she is doing at school.  The ADHD Monitoring Program will help make it easy for you to do this. By using this program, you will be able to carefully track how your child, student, or patient is doing in school, and will be alerted to when any adjustments or modifications to the child‘s treatment need to be considered.  The directions below are written specifically to parents, but are applicable for use by teachers and health care professionals as well.  Although the program was originally developed to monitor the ongoing effectiveness of medication treatment, it can be used to monitor the success of whatever treatments your child is receiving. This message contains a comprehensive set of instructions that explain how the ADHD Monitoring System is used, along with the rating form that is to be completed each week by your child‘s teacher. (This form can be found at the end of the message.)  I recommend that you print this message out so that you have a hard copy of the material that you can refer to. The ADHD Monitoring System provides an easy and systematic way to monitor how a child with ADHD is doing each week at school in several important areas.  This will alert you to difficulties that may develop so that timely changes or additions to the treatment your child is receiving can be made.  Guidelines for using this program effectively are presented below. For this system to be of the greatest benefit to your child, the cooperation and support of your child’s teacher is ESSENTIAL. You will be asking your teacher to complete the rating form at the end of each week, and should provide the teacher with a sufficient number of copies.  Although completing this form should not require more than 5-10 minutes of the teacher’s time, you discuss this with him or her and make sure the teacher understands the importance of the information they will be providing.  Rather than just having your child give the forms to the teacher along with a note, it is better if you discuss this with the teacher on the phone or in person.  (NOTE: The form you will print out and copy is at the END of the instructions.) The teacher needs to understand that the information he or she provides will help to determine when any changes/additions to treatment need to be made, and that without this input, it will be difficult to know how well your child’s ADHD symptoms are being managed. Article continues >> Dr. Dave Rabiner received his Ph.D in clinical psychology from Duke University in 1987 where he also completed a one-year internship in child psychology at Duke University Medical Center. From 1987-1998, he was a professor in the psychology department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. During this time, he maintained a part-time private practice where he worked primarily with children diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). In addition to this direct clinical work, he has consulted with numerous pediatricians and family physicians in North Carolina to assist them in evaluating and treating children with ADHD. Dr. Rabiner has also published a number of papers on children‘s social development in peer-reviewed journals and presented his work at professional conferences. He‘s also served as a consultant on two federally funded grants to study ADHD.