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A social worker may be approached by individuals or families, after the individual or family members have been made aware of a potential ADHD diagnosis for the individual. There could be various reasons for individuals or families to reach out to a social worker, these might be due to a referral from a school teacher, or parents’ observations of their child’s behaviour, or even the child’s own observations of his/her interactions with their peers and other people. In any case, social workers may be contacted as an external point of help, where the stakeholders may lack knowledge or experience in managing ADHD. Therefore, the social worker would be key to understanding each stakeholder’s needs to allow for an ideal way to manage the patient’s ADHD condition. In the social worker toolkit, we mention 3 stakeholders:

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The individual with ADHD

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Parents

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Teachers

Before looking at different strategies for each stakeholder, social workers should consider the backgrounds of different stakeholders (such as level of education, financial capability, religious beliefs etc.), and prepare in advance for common difficulties experienced by various parties during the process of ADHD management.​

Background information:

Dynamics & interactions between family members and individual with ADHD

  • Identify actions taken by family that may trigger the child

  • Analyse family dynamic and relationships to help decide what direction is to be taken for therapy

Ethical concerns and cultural beliefs

  • Ethical concerns and cultural beliefs

Family education & literacy

  • Increase parents’ understanding of ADHD

  • Prepare parents for situations on how to handle their child

  • Offer academic support for children with less privileged backgrounds

Family resources

  • Families who have insufficient resources for therapy or activities with children may be assisted by social workers 

Well-being of family members and teachers:

Family members

  • Strained family relationships  – e.g. siblings, extended family, romantic partner

  • Social and financial difficulties

  • Disturbance to family and marital function

Teachers

  • High stress level and staff turnover rate, teachers with limited experience in handling ADHD students may find difficulty in controlling students’ behavior or communicating with their family

  • Injuries received from disciplining or protecting students with highly hyperactive and impulsive behavior

  • Additional workload in training and preparation of class contents and activities for students with ADHD

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