Proposal for a Policy Change: Addressing ADHD at Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor

This proposal suggests mandatory behavioral parental training for parents of children attending the base child development center with ADHD. The proposal presents a detailed policy change to the Joint Air Base commander to ensure that the challenge of ADHD at the Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor is effectively addressed.

Running head: PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE
1
PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE: THE AUDIENCE FOR THIS
PROPOSAL IS THE BASE COMMANDER OF THE JOINT AIR BASE PEARL
HARBOR
NAME
INSTITUTION

PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE 2
Abstract
Dealing with Attention Deficit Hypersensitivity Disorder (ADHD) has become a major
concern in the USA. This is due to the fact that there are so many children death cases attributed
ADHD. There are different methods used in addressing the challenge of ADHD. Medical
treatment is one of the way methods but it is often associated with long-term side effects (Jones,
Dawson & Webb, 2018). The other method is psychosocial interventions which include
behavioral parental training. This paper will present a proposal for a policy change to the Joint
Air Base commander to ensure that the challenge of ADHD at the Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor is
effectively addressed.

PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE 3
Introduction
This proposal is based on a research report that was based on the topic “The correlation
between Attention Deficit Hypersensitivity Disorder (ADHD) and parental interaction.” This
paper is going to provide a proposal to the Base Commander of Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor that
all parents of children attending the base child development centre with ADHD to go through 20
hours online or equivalent classroom parental behavior training (BPT). This paper will begin by
highlighting a brief summary of the findings of the research report on paper one. It will further
give a detailed proposal of policy change with supporting reasons. This paper will also highlight
the anticipated objections and then appropriately address them. It will finally give a conclusion
of the paper (Papoušek, 2016).
Summary of paper 1 findings
The previous research assignment sought to understand the correlation that exists
between Attention Deficit Hypersensitivity Disorder (ADHD) and parental interaction.
According to the Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary, ADHD is a mental disorder, usually of
children, characterized by the grossly excessive level of activity and a marked impairment of the
ability to attend (Singh, & Zimmerman, 2015). The behavior may be predominantly
hyperactive-impulsive, predominantly inattentive, or combined. Interaction is a key factor in
childhood development and the lack of parental interaction could negatively impact a child's
social, emotional, and behavioral development, consequentially leading to behavioral problems
and poor academies (Bulanda, & Lippmann, 2009). There are different methods used in
addressing the challenge of ADHD. Medical treatment is one of the way methods but it is often
associated with long-term side effects (Jones, Dawson & Webb, 2018). The other method is
psychosocial interventions which include behavioral parental training. This paper will present a
proposal for a policy change to the Joint Air Base commander to ensure that the challenge of
ADHD at the Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor is effectively addressed.

PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE 4
According to a 2016 report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), out
of 6.1 million children diagnosed with ADHD, around 9.4% are children between the age of 2
and 17. Though ADHD is treatable, it is often associated with many long-term side effects. Apart
from medical treatment, other treatment such as parental behavioral training can be used by
parents to manage the diagnoses of their children. The study noted that different medical scholars
have advocated for use of psychotherapies in form of parents and behavior training (Kilincaslan
et al. 2017). It was also noted that CDC is urging medical professionals to prioritize the use of
psychotherapies before they can resort to medical treatment. This move can be attributed to the
fact that psychotherapies do not have any side effect. Basically, it can be seen that CDC and the
medical professionals understand that the parent plays a very crucial role in the management of
children with ADHD (Ly, Bottelier, Hoekstra, Vasquez, Buitelaar & Rommelse, 2017).
Handling of children with ADHD can be very challenging to parents. Handling of these
children requires parents to have special skills. Unfortunately, many parents lack effective skills
for interacting with their children. Reacting negatively to children with ADHD may attract an
unfriendly reaction from the children. For successful parental interaction, behavioral training for
parent handling ADHD child is very crucial and has resulted in positive results. The study
conducted noted that trained parents were sometimes overwhelmed with stress and found it hard
to apply what they had learned in coping with children with ADHD (Tong, Ye, & Yan, 2018)
Parental interaction cannot be avoided. Children with ADHD condition spend most of
their time with parents. Parents need to be equipped with the necessary skills of handling
children with ADHD. The intent of training parents is to provide an ADHD education-based
environment which promotes growth, understanding, and situational management for parents
with children diagnosed with ADHD (Bolea-Alamañac et al. 2014). It is believed that early
intervention holds the key to positive outcomes for children diagnosed with ADHD. “The point
is not that the child’s behavior is the parent’s fault, but that it is also important to pay attention
to, and support the parents of children with disabilities, especially since often the focus has
always been solely on the child and his or her problems (Wiwe Lipsker, von Heijne, Bölte, &
Wicksell, 2018).
On the question of whether there exists a correlation between ADHD and parental
interaction, it was found that there exists a very strong correlation between the two. This is

PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE 5
because parents cannot be separated from children and ADHD is a condition that has to do with
the behavior of the children (Strom, Fishbein, Paller & Silverberg, 2016).
Mandatory behavioral parental training
Attention Deficit Hypersensitivity Disorder (ADHD) is a great problem in the USA.
Statistics indicate that the condition is threatening the lives of young children. It has also been
seen to affect the school life of young children. The families of Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor
(JABPL) are not an exception in facing the challenges associated with ADHD. Though there is
documented proven evidence of the treatment of ADHD, many people are worried about the
long-term side effects of the medical treatments. CDC has always advocated for use of
alternative measures to address the challenge of ADHD. This move has also gained immense
support from different medical professional. Many medical scholars have published a lot of
literature supporting the use of alternative medication of ADHD (Stevenson et al. 2014).
Handling of children with ADHD can be very challenging to parents. This mostly affects
parents who lack proper knowledge and skills of interacting and handling children with ADHD.
Parents of children suffering from ADHD need to be equipped with relevant skills that will
enable them to cope well with their children. Behavioral parental training (BPT) has been
described as an effective measure of handling ADHD. BPT equips parents with relevant skills of
handling their children who may be suffering from ADHD (Barragán, Breuer & Döpfner, 2017).
Presence of this condition in a family affects the life of the parents not only at home but
also at the workplace. Many people, who have children suffering from ADHD, have been proved
to be less productive at work. They are in most cases stressed with the condition of their
children. Providing support to these parents is very important. Helping them overcome the
challenge is immeasurable noble. It is also more important to help them address the stressing
issue at the early stages before it advances to depression. Employees who are provided with
psychological support will be more productive at work (Wigal et al. 2018).
The Base Commander of Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor can attest that there are many cases
of children suffering from ADHD within the families of employees working in the harbor. It is
worthwhile noting that the management under the leadership of the Base Commander has done a
lot in ensuring that families of children suffering from ADHD are provided with necessary

PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE 6
support. Such support services include the establishment of the Exceptional Family Member
Program (EFMP). This program is meant to provide support to family members with special
needs. The support includes an education program. Despite all these efforts, it has been observed
that many parents with children suffering from ADHD do not attend these training. It seems that
many parents underestimate the value of the training and therefore willfully absconds the
training (Valeri, Holsti & Linhares, 2015).
In order to achieve the objective of training parents, it is important for the Base
Commander to consider the organization’s stand on training. I would like to propose to the Base
Commander that training for parents with children suffering from DHD be made mandatory. By
making it mandatory, all the parents with children suffering from ADHD will attend the training
and will get the skills required to handle their children in the right way. The complete training
requires the attendance of six to eight sessions of three hours each (Laurent, Prizant & Gorman,
2018).
The training program is provided both on the online platform and in-class setting. This
will enable employees to take their classes from their place work. The Base Commander is
requested to create time for employees to participate in the training either by attending class or
taking the online program (Tong et al. 2015).
There are so many benefits that will be accrued when the training will be made to be
mandatory. To begin with, EFMP is established to ensure that families with special needs get the
required support. One of their objectives is to ensure that the required training is provided.
Mandatory training will ensure that EFMP has achieved their objective. Achievement of this goal
is beneficial to all the parties, that is, parents; EFMP and the Base harbor (McConachie et al
2018).
Secondly, among the most beneficiaries are the parents. As noted above, many parents
who have children suffering from ADHD lack skills and knowledge of handling their children.
Training imparts knowledge and skill required in handling these children (Aloi et al. 2018).
Knowledge gained may include; effective communication with ADHD children, use of sound
situational awareness among others (Mimouni-Bloch et al. 2018). Since the behavior of ADHD
children is unpredictable and often fluctuates, parents find it hard to handle such behavior. Some

PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE 7
parents do not know how to effectively respond to a certain behavior exhibited by their child
(Yang et al. 2018). It is also important to note that some studies have indicated that inappropriate
reaction of the parent to the child’s behavior may lead to more rebellion from the child
(Marchand-Krynski, Bélanger, Morin-Moncet, Beauchamp & Leonard, 2018).
Thirdly, training help parent to cope with stress. Handling children with ADHD can be
very stressful at sometimes. This is because they usually behave differently depending on the
circumstances in which they are. At times the ADHD child may be hyperactive and at some
other time, the child may be very inactive. It is usually stressful for parents to help their children
cope or get along with their peers. Parents also find it hard to manage the unpredictable behavior
of their children. Parental training with help parents to learn how to cope with the situation of
their children (Miyazaki et al. 2017).
The fourth benefit of parental training is that it improves the productivity of employees at
work. Employees who have challenges at home may find it hard to concentrate at work. Studies
indicate that families where there is a child suffering from ADHD often have a likelihood of
having relationship problem within the spouses. The stress associated with caring of ADHD
child may not allow an employee to concentrate at work. This will in most cases lead to poor
performance of the employee. By providing parents with the parental training they are able to
manage stress and take care of their child well. This will reduce stress and significantly improve
the productivity of the employee (Verlaet et al. 2017)
Lastly, parental treatment has no side effects. Medical treatment has a long-term side
effect to the patient. It is also costly to seek medication. With a community of well-trained
parents who knows to handle their sick children, then there is no need of seeking medication that
results in other problems to the patient (von Rhein et al. 2015).
The training program may be seen as a time-consuming activity. In the short run, it may
be time-consuming. In the long run, the benefits to both the parents and the organization far
much outweigh the time taken in the training. Some people may view the training as tasking and
somehow engaging to parents. Yes, it may be so. But this view is short-sighted. The skills
obtained in training are to be used in the lifetime of the parent (Uljarević, Labuschagne, Bobin,
Atkinson & Hocking, 2018).

PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE 8
Nobody should fear to incur the cost associated with the training. All the cost is
facilitated by EFMP. They provide the professional who facilitates the training. The training
takes place at their offices.
Conclusion
The value of behavioral parental training (BPT) as a method of preventing and managing
ADHD has in most cases been underestimated. CDC has been promoting the use of BPT to
handle ADHD. Different medical scholars have also published many articles in favor of the use
of BPT. Different studies have also indicated the tremendous success of using BPT.
Unfortunately, many parents with children suffering from ADHD have not realized the benefit of
ADHD. For this reason, the majority of them do not use BPT in taking care of their children.
Maybe some are not aware of the existence of such training. Others may simply ignore. ADHD
control is a national concern to all US citizens. Every person should support the prevention of
ADHD.
Joint Air Base Pearl Harbor (JABPH) through the base commander has a role to play in
helping the country to achieve its goal of controlling ADHD. By making it mandatory for
employees with children suffering from ADHD to attend BPT classes, the base commander will
facilitate the impartation of knowledge to employees. This knowledge will help them to have
skills of handling their children effectively.
They are many benefits that can be realized through mandatory BPT. These benefits
include; proper management of stress among parents of children with ADHD, proper child
handling skills, improved output at work, helping EFMP in achieving their goals among others.
The training is provided free of charge. It also takes a relatively short time to complete and the
skills are useful in the entire life of an individual. Finally, it should be noted that employees who
have peace in their homes will equally be at peace in the workplace while on the other hand if
there is no peace at home, then there will be no peace at the workplace. Peace created allows
employees to concentrate on their work and improve their output quality. It is therefore
worthwhile for the base commander to support the proposal to the fullest as it seeks to improve
the output of employees and have a healthy workforce.

PROPOSAL FOR A POLICY CHANGE 9
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