Page 10 - Talk of Tequesta - October '24

Page 10, The Talk Of Tequesta

all abouT Kids from page 9

Dr. Mucenic re-stressed the importance of students and
families being able to access mental health supports in
schools and gave a detailed overview of the services that are
provided in the 179 schools that make up the Palm Beach
County School District.
As part of the school district’s strategic plan, they are
measuring and following objectives to support mental health
and well-being, including enhancing a sense of belonging,
safety, and acceptance for all students; and trauma-informed
care and practices.
The schools recognize the importance of destigmatizing
mental health services and share the message throughout their
campuses that, “It’s okay to be okay. It’s okay to not be okay. Dr. Anna Irizarry Cardona, Dr. Claire Mucenic Kate Wagner, Dr. Marshall Stone, Jamie Lorne
It’s okay to ask for help.”
Mucenic emphasized, “We have people on every school In 2015, Center for Child
campus to support mental health. It’s really important.” Counseling launched Fighting
Each school’s mental health team includes: school ACEs to build awareness and
counselor(s), ESOL school coordinator, school psychologist(s), action to mitigate the impact
school behavioral health professional, co-located mental health of ACEs and build well-being
professional (at 115 of the schools), and SBT/CST leader. There through positive childhood
are also supports provided at the district level, such as the CAPE experiences (PCEs). In
Team, Mobile Response Team, and community-based agencies conjunction with Leadership
with whom the district partners. Palm Beach County Class of
Center for Child Counseling CEO Renée Layman gave a 2017, the center developed
brief overview of the agency’s public health framework and “Lead the Fight” in 2016 to
their data-to-action approach of prevention, early intervention, bring awareness to system
and treatment. The center realizes that children don’t leaders around fighting Mackenzie Halley, Kelly
necessarily need treatment only, the caregivers need ways to childhood adversity with Benavidez Dr. Shirley Stickle, Emily Underwood, Tracy Lockett
help their own kids. advocacy and action. Since
“We have focused largely on building the capacity of people that time, the agency has educated tens of thousands of parents, CFCC’s pediatric integration program is made possible thanks
who work and live with kids to promote their well-being and professionals, and systems leaders. to the support of Quantum Foundation, The Frederick DeLuca
resilience,” said Layman. Partnership sponsors who are leading the fight in making Foundation, and Palm Beach County Community Services
Dominika Nolan, director of education and prevention these important and necessary conversations possible include: Department.
services for CFCC gave an overview of all of the services offered BeWellPBC; Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach Part 3 of the Lead the Fight 2024 series, Positivity Will Give
to children, families, schools, and communities in order to build County; Florida Association for Infant Mental Health; Joe HOPE for Our Future, will take place on December 4. The event
the capacity and promote positive mental health for all. DiMaggio Children’s Hospital; Hanley Foundation; Healthy focus will be on understanding the effect of positive childhood
In the closing remarks for the evening, Dr. Fox-Levine Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Palm Beach County; Mead experiences on countering the long-term possible effect of
encouraged all attendees to think about, “How can you take Johnson Nutrition; Palm Beach Pediatrics; Palm Beach Pediatric adverse childhood experiences.
action now and step out of this room tonight and into your day Society; and Searcy, Denney, Scarola, Barnhart & Shipley. For more information about Center for Child Counseling
tomorrow and be a superhero, even more than what you have CFCC’s Fighting ACEs initiative to build trauma-informed visit www.centerforchildcounseling.org, Twitter: @
been in the past, with the information and energy from tonight communities is made possible with the generous support of ChildCounselPBC, Facebook: @CenterforChildCounseling,
about the exciting things that are happening with our schools Quantum Foundation, Community Foundation for Palm Beach Instagram: @childcounselpbc.
and being able to partner with schools?” and Martin Counties, and private donors. Photos by Tracey Benson Photography

What Is The Difference Between ADD And ADHD?

By Jim Forgan, Ph.D., Licensed School Psychologist

You may have wondered offer a “whole child” approach so we will be able to assess to their ADHD-like symptoms. You will leave this process
things like “What is ADD? their cognitive processing, like attention, memory, and with targeted and specific recommendations tailored to
Is it different from ADHD?” processing speed, as well as their social-emotional and your child’s strengths and weaknesses.
or “How do I know if my behavioral functioning. Our testing will provide you with Call (561) 625-4125 to discuss about your child.
child has ADD or ADHD?” the answers to know if your child really has ADHD or if
ADD was an older term for they are struggling in some other area that is contributing All About Kids on page 11
attention deficit disorder,
which is the classification
for symptoms like
inattention, distractibility,
forgetfulness, and making
careless mistakes. While
people still use the term ADD to classify these symptoms,
it is no longer the technical term used in the medical
and psychology community to diagnose these types of
symptoms. In the late 1980’s the medical community
shifted to the term ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder. In the early 1990s ADHD was classified into
three different types, or presentations, that we use today.
The three types are: inattentive presentation, hyperactive Life moves fast—
presentation, and combined presentation.

So, if you’re seeing inattentive symptoms in your child prepare for the unexpected
and they were to be diagnosed, the official diagnosis
would be ADHD, predominately inattentive presentation. with Accident Insurance.
Likewise, if your child struggled with hyperactivity and
impulsivity the diagnosis would be ADHD, predominately
hyperactive presentation and if your child had both
symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity,
they would be diagnosed with ADHD, combined
presentation. What this shift in terminology did was
combine both inattentive and hyperactive impulsive We’re here to help.
symptoms into one disorder with specific presentation
types so everything could be categorized the same way. Accident insurance complements your Florida Blue Health Plan. Call to learn more
How Do I Know If My Child Has ADHD? about insurance plans from USAble Life.
Children can be evaluated for ADHD with several
instruments that assess their functioning in different areas M&A Insurance and Financial Services Inc.
and look at the severity of their symptoms. The testing we
provide in our office targets the specific areas of concern 561-440-9940
related to ADHD and allows us to diagnose and provide
specific recommendations to support your child at home M&A Insurance and Financial Services Inc. is an Independent Broker of Florida Blue.
Florida Blue is an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Supplemental, Life, and Disability products are offered by USAble Life. USAble Life is an independent company
and at school. Our evaluations are comprehensive and and operates separately from Florida Blue.
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