NEW GROUP FOCUSES ON ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDERS

Parents and professionals in the Cape Girardeau area have combined efforts to form a local support group called ChADD (Children with Attention Deficit Disorders) of Southeast Missouri.

The local organization is one of more than 500 chapters of a national non-profit group offering monthly meetings to provide information and support to parents of children with attention deficit disorders.

Dr. Michelle Browne-Barnum will address the next meeting of the group on Monday from 7-9 p.m. in the Missouriana Room of the Southeast Missouri University Center. The meeting is free and open to interested adults.

Browne-Barnum, a graduate of Howard University, has been a practicing psychiatrist with a special interest in attention disorders since 1987. She is affiliated with Genesis Health Care in Sikeston.

Attention disorders, which affect 3 to 5 percent of school-age children, involve core symptoms of impulsiveness, inattention and sometimes hyperactivity. The symptoms may present social, psychological and educational difficulties for the child.

Browne-Barnum's presentation will focus on attention deficit disorders with and without hyperactivity and development of coping skills to deal with characteristic problems stemming from the disorder.

Subsequent monthly meetings of the group will be held the third Monday of each month at the Harrison Room of Southeast Missouri Hospital.

For additional information, call Julia Davis at 335-5352.