Editor’s note: This story is part of an occasional Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service series that highlights groups and people worth knowing in Milwaukee. To nominate a person or a group, email info@milwaukeenns.org and put "Spotlight" in the subject line.
Derell Sultan started showing signs of depression when he was 7.
He was getting bullied, feeling excluded and coming home from school sad and upset.
"One time in second grade I was fidgeting, and my teacher asked me if I took my pills in front of the whole class," Derell said. "I really wanted to run out."
At school, he was repeatedly disciplined for fidgeting and talking out of turn. For a time, his mother, Etta Whitley, was called into school nearly every day because of Derell’s behavior. She wanted to be there, she said, to help him stay on task so he could learn.
When his academic work started to drop, Whitley began to look for help at a medical clinic. She recognized her son’s symptoms as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, because she had herself received the diagnosis as a child. What helped her, she said, was talking about it with a therapist.
Derell and his mom recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to speak up for mental and behavioral health for kids at the Children’s Hospital Association Family Advocacy Day.
They talked with their congressional representatives about Derell’s experiences with ADHD and about keeping Medicaid strong for kids, supporting school-based mental health services and investing in the pediatric mental and behavioral workforce, Whitley said.
ADHD is one of the most common mental disorders affecting children, and it also affects many adults, according to the American Psychiatric Association. Symptoms include not being able to keep focus, impulsivity and hyperactivity.
The association estimates that 8.4 percent of children and 2.5 percent of adults have ADHD, which is often first identified in school-aged children when it leads to disruption in the classroom or problems with schoolwork.
Persistence pays off
After failing to get help from Derell’s school as well as from the first clinic and psychologist they visited, Whitley said she started to get discouraged. Then one day, she noticed Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin had opened a clinic in Midtown Center, near her home.
Whitley walked in and was surprised to get an appointment with a pediatrician within the week. A diagnosis soon followed, and she and Derell were referred to Dr. Nicholas Young, a pediatric psychologist.
Derell and Young hit it off immediately, Whitley said. "It didn’t really feel like a doctor’s appointment for him." Derell opened up to Young.
The boy told his doctor about how the kids on the school bus ganged up on him and wouldn’t let him sit down and how a girl made fun of him in front of the entire school.
Young taught Derell strategies for controlling his responses and helping him focus.
One strategy: "Keep my attention in one spot. Just stay there in one little tiny spot. If it moves around to another place – wanderland – just take it and say, 'No, no, no, no. Stay right where you’re at,’" Derell said in his best SpongeBob accent.
Another strategy: When there’s nothing going on in class, "and there’s just madness, pull a book out of your desk and secretly read, " said Derell.
Talking with Young made Derell more comfortable advocating for himself and telling someone what was going on with him, Whitley said, instead of letting his frustration build to a breaking point.
Under Young’s care, Derell’s behavior transformed rapidly. By the end of second grade, his grades had improved, and he was getting along with other kids. Now 9, Derell has recently finished third grade and is thriving.
Integrating behavioral health and primary care at one location, as it has at Midtown Clinic, is a priority for Children’s Hospital, said Lindsay Punzenberger, director of federal government relations. "But we also know we need to get to the kids where they spend most of their day, which is in the schools."
Resources
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin primary care clinics in Milwaukee COA Goldin Center
2320 W. Burleigh St.
(414) 253-1854
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Services (The clinic is managed by nurse practitioners.):
- Primary (routine) care to children and caregivers
- Annual physicals
- Sports physicals
- Immunizations
- Same-day appointments for sick care
- Measles shots
7720 W. Good Hope Rd.
(414) 253-0853
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Services:
- Pediatric primary care
- Measles shots
5433 W. Fond Du Lac Ave.
(414) 253-1060
Monday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Services:
- Pediatric and adolescent primary care
- Behavioral medicine
- Dental care
- Measles shots
2561 N. 29th St.
(414) 253-1776
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Services:
- Pediatric primary care
- Measles shots
1350 W. North Ave.
(414) 409-0278
Monday-Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Friday, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Services (The clinic is managed by nurse practitioners.):
- Primary (routine) care to children
- Annual physicals
- Sports physicals
- Immunizations
- Same-day appointments for sick care
- Measles shots
Andrea Waxman is a staff reporter at the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. A professional writer, she is completing a graduate certificate in Digital Storytelling at Marquette University's Diederich College of Communication. Previously, she worked as a reporter and editor for a community newspaper and taught English and Japanese in several area middle and high schools.
Waxman has lived in Milwaukee since 1981, but spent most of her early years living in Tokyo, where her father was stationed at the American embassy. She returned to Japan in 1986 and again in 1993 when her husband was there as a Fulbright scholar.
In her free time, Waxman enjoys theater, movies, music, ethnic food, cities, travel, reading - especially the news of the day - and all kinds of people. She is interested in working for social justice and contributing to the vitality of the city.
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