It’s that time of the semester when Iowa State students find themselves rushing to finish coursework and prepare for final exams. But one student was allowed to hand in her assignments late.

During exam time, most students have two hours to complete their work, but Sarah Royer, freshman in art, has an extra hour or two.

But Royer doesn’t consider herself lucky. Her special circumstances are a result of being diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) last year.

ADD is defined by the Association for Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorders (CHADD) as a neurologically based disorder that affects a person’s ability to pay attention or focus on a task for long periods of time.

Characteristics of individuals with ADD include a failure to finish tasks and being distracted easily, shifting from one activity to another and difficulty organizing work.

“Ever since kindergarten, my teachers said I was distracted, and my report card said I was a slow learner,” Royer said. “I was always looking around, and they could never really understand why I didn’t pick up on reading and on mathematics.”

She said she struggled through school until her father, a doctor, diagnosed her with the disorder and placed her on medication.

“It was like a miracle drug, and it helped me tremendously,” she said.

Royer said living with ADD without medication is comparable to being in her “own world” most of the time.

“I don’t need to be around anybody else to make me happy. I dream of things, think of things and create things in my mind; a world where I am extremely contented,” she said.

But Royer was not able to succeed in the classroom in her condition.

ADD is a disability that affects up to 5 percent of all American children, according to CHADD. But as many as 50 percent of children are never properly diagnosed.

Symptoms continue into adulthood for 30 to 70 percent of the individuals with ADD, according to information from CHADD.

Mark Blaedel, interim director and physician at the Student Health Center, said ADD can be hard to detect.

“Some people don’t even know they have ADD until they maybe see a show on television about it and recognize themselves with those same symptoms,” Blaedel said.

But Gwen Woodward, learning disability specialist at the ISU Disability Resources, said many new cases have been caught recently. “More cases are being diagnosed in elementary and high school now, and one can only conclude that this will probably continue at the college level,” Woodward said. “As a result, I expect we’ll see more of students with ADD come into the campus.”

Even the Student Health Center has spotted some ADD cases, including Jeffrey Gorder, senior in sports management.

Gorder said physicians at the Student Health Center diagnosed him last year.

“I knew I had ADD because I was always easily distracted, which is a big indicator,” he said. “It would have helped if I was diagnosed earlier, but I don’t think my parents wanted to deal with it.”

The exact number of students with ADD at ISU has not been calculated and is not available. Students go to different resources for help with their disability, so some figures may overlap, according to Woodward.

Other students on campus have not sought help at any of the available resources, said Ron Jackson, coordinator of Learning Disabilities Services.

He said some students may focus on being independent once they enter college rather than relying upon help for ADD, Woodward said.

“I think ADD is very present on this campus, but I don’t think it’s any more of a problem than being able to walk or hear,” Woodward said. “I think it’s only a problem when students don’t learn to compensate for their lack of attention.”

Resources available to ISU students include testing at the Student Counseling Center, which assesses students for ADD.

A complete evaluation, including an examination of the student’s childhood, academic and behavioral history, must be conducted to diagnose the student because some symptoms of ADD can be similar to other psychological problems.

“ADD is a hard thing to diagnose,” Blaedel said. “If you have strep throat … you’ve got a throat culture that says strep. But with ADD, the diagnosis is a bunch of descriptors. It can be a part of another diagnosis.”

He said having trouble paying attention could be attributed to disorders other than ADD, such as anxiety or depression.

The university also provides a support group that meets weekly for six weeks each semester.

“It is specifically for ISU students to help them understand and cope with ADD,” Jackson said. “They also get encouragement and support from the group.”

During the meetings, a list of topics is discussed, such as time management, organization skills, medication issues and study skills, Jackson said.

The group averages three or four students, but as many as seven or as few as just one each semester may attend the meetings, Jackson said.

Another resource that helps students with ADD is individual counseling at the Student Counseling Center.

“Students then come to the Disability Resources, and based on previous documentation by a private psychologist and from the Student Counseling Center, I’ll decide what accommodations would be appropriate for the student,” Woodward said.

She said students may present a letter from Disability Resources that informs instructors how to accommodate them.

One accommodation is extended time for taking a test.

“Some students may come into a class and take some time to become focused, and if the test is 15 minutes long, they are in trouble,” Woodward said. “If every time a person moves, and the student can’t concentrate and has to refocus, the student is in trouble if he or she doesn’t have extended time for tests.”

Other accommodations are distraction-free rooms for tests, altering the response format of a test and providing students the opportunity to take exams over a period of short intervals.

Another symptom of ADD is difficulty in processing verbal information, Woodward said.

“Students tell me they can listen to the instructor and not take notes, or they can take notes and not have a clue as to what was just said,” she said. “Sometimes what students do is tape record it first and then go back and take notes. In some cases, we provide a note-taker for them.”

Woodward said she also recommends her students to take a reduced courseload of no more than 12 credits because of the amount of time it takes them to perform tasks.

“Some of them cut down to nine hours and are much happier and have better grades,” she said.

Royer said she is grateful to the university for its accommodations. “Professors will understand if I am caught up on huge projects and then have to write another paper and work on another project,” she said. “It’s very difficult for me to keep on going for long periods of time, so I usually will have longer due dates.”

Students also have the option of taking medication for ADD. According to Blaedel, about 40 ISU students are on medication for ADD.