| ADHD, ODD, IEP? Sitting in a meeting with educators | | | | child. |
| and/ or mental health professionals can be intimidating, | | | | IQ- Intelligence Quotient: general intellectual functioning |
| particularly when they are speaking about your child. | | | | as assessed with one or more standardized |
| How about when the acronyms are flying out of | | | | intelligence tests (such as Weschler Intelligence Scale |
| everyone's mouths, and everyone seems to | | | | for Children-Revised, Stanford-Binet, Kaufman |
| understand this new language except you? The | | | | Assessment Battery for Children). |
| DSM-IV is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of | | | | LD- Learning Disability: achievement on individualized |
| Mental Disorders put out by the American Psychiatric | | | | standardized tests in mathematics, reading or written |
| Association. It contains the standard classifications of | | | | expression is significantly below what is expected in |
| mental disorders that is used for diagnosis by mental | | | | relation to age, schooling and intelligence level. |
| health clinicians. Acronyms are often used as a | | | | MR- Mental Retardation: significantly subaverage |
| shortcut language and is very common among | | | | intellectual functioning., with marked limitations in various |
| clinicians today. Unfortunately it is so common that the | | | | areas of adaptive behavior as well. IQ is defined as 69 |
| professionals often forget that the "lay person", namely | | | | or below. |
| the parent, does not necessarily know what the | | | | OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: recurrent |
| acronyms stand for. I facilitate a parent group where | | | | obsessions or compulsions that are time consuming or |
| many of the children have a diagnosis. It is amazing | | | | cause significant impairment. Obsessions are recurring |
| how even the parents in this group speak in acronyms. | | | | thoughts, images or impulses, (ie: hand washing) that |
| Everyone seems to understand each other, however, | | | | cause anxiety or stress. Compulsions are repetitive |
| on occasion, another parent will interrupt and ask what | | | | behaviors or mental acts (counting, repeating words |
| a particular acronym stands for and means. I feel it is | | | | silently) which occur in an attempt to reduce anxiety or |
| important to publish some of the common acronyms | | | | stress. |
| used today and a brief definition, according to the | | | | ODD- Oppositional Defiant Disorder: defiant and |
| DSM-IV, of each. | | | | negative behaviors such as being persistently stubborn, |
| ADHD-Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: clinical | | | | unwilling to compromise, deliberately tests limits, |
| features include the following: difficulty sustaining | | | | argumentative, verbal aggression, lasting about six |
| attention, often does not seem to listen, easily | | | | months, without serious violation of the basic rights of |
| distracted frequently interrupts, talks excessively, | | | | others. |
| difficulty following directions, fidgets in seat. | | | | PDD Pervasive Developmental Disorder: this category |
| AS-Aspergers Syndrome: severe and sustained | | | | is used when there is significant impairment in the |
| impairment in social interaction, and the development of | | | | development of social skills, or verbal and nonverbal |
| repetitive, restricted patterns of interests, activities and | | | | communication skills, or when there are stereotyped |
| behaviors. | | | | behavior, interest and activities. (also known as Autism |
| IEP-Individualized Education Plan- a plan devised to | | | | Spectrum Disorder). |
| meet the specific and unique educational needs of one | | | | |