RESEARCHER, 'HORIZONS' PROGRAM FOR AD/HD TEENS RECOGNIZED

From: Media Relations

Dr. Steven Evans
October 27, 2005

CHADD, the nation's leading organization serving children and adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, honored Dr. Steven W. Evans and his colleagues from James Madison University with its "Innovative Program of the Year" award at its annual conference in Dallas Thursday.

Evans, a professor of psychology and director of the Alvin V. Baird Learning Disabilities Center at JMU, developed the Challenging Horizons Program, a cost-effective model for helping adolescents struggling with AD/HD.

The JMU program pairs college volunteers with local middle-school students with AD/HD to address trouble spots at school, at home and in social and recreational settings. As the work is done on the middle-school campus, volunteers have easy access to students' teachers.

"CHADD remains dedicated to identifying successful programs that can be effectively replicated in locations across the country," said CHADD board President Anne Teeter Ellison. "This program has the potential to help thousands of kids with AD/HD, and we applaud the vision and commitment demonstrated by Dr. Evans and his team."

AD/HD, a neurobiological disorder that affects 3-to-7 percent of school-age children, is characterized by developmentally inappropriate impulsivity, attention and, in some cases, hyperactivity.

Until recently, it was believed that children outgrew AD/HD in adolescence, perhaps because hyperactivity often diminishes during this time. Research, however, demonstrates that many symptoms continue into adulthood; recent studies reflect rates of roughly 2-to-4 percent among adults.

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