Alternative treatment methods to medicine are, however, less common in rural areas like Natchez, Russ said.

“It would be wonderful to send every patient to a counselor, but we are limited in what we can offer in place of or instead of the medication in our rural area,” Russ said. “You’re lacking in those additional things, but at the end of the day if you have a kid who truly needs counseling, you’re going to find it for them no matter what.”

Another challenge for educators is finding the right method to help those students with ADHD in a classroom surrounded by students without the disorder.

“It’s important that we don’t separate them, because they learn from other students, and you don’t want to make them feel excluded from the other children,” Bland said. “It’s just a matter of finding the right learning style for that child and sticking to that with them.”

Teachers at Cathedral are able to learn and take note of new learning styles that help children with ADHD through video conferencing sessions Bland organizes routinely throughout the year with psychologists in New Orleans.

“That allows the teachers to get feedback and be constantly learning about new techniques or methods being used,” Bland said. “It just gives them more tools to use in the classroom.”

At the end of the day, Bland said it takes a combination of medical professionals, teachers and administrators and parents working together to find the best way to help children impacted by the disorder.

“We really turn to the parents a lot and ask them to be a part of this, because the behavior they see at home could be completely different to what the teachers are seeing in the classrooms,” Bland said. “Those are all things that we as teachers, parents or whoever need to understand before we can really begin helping them.

“If you understand what the children have, you can understand how to help them.”