The Southeast Missouri Chapter of Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder will host the Missouri ADD Council's fourth annual conference on Friday and Saturday at Southeast Missouri State University.

The conference will be held at Robert A. Dempster Hall. The theme of the conference is "Empowering the Child and the Family."

Thom Hartmann, psychotherapist, and Dr. Ronald E. Reeve, education professor at the University of Virginia, will be the keynote speakers.

Hartmann is the former executive director of the New England Salem Children's Village, a residential treatment facility for disturbed children. He has written six books about ADD. He will sign books at 5:30 p.m. Friday at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Cape Girardeau.

Reeve is the director of Curry Programs in Clinical and School Psychology at the University of Virginia. He is the co-author of the CHADD educator's manual.

Attention deficit disorder is a neurobiological disability that affects up to 5 percent of all American children. It interferes with a person's ability to sustain attention on a task and to delay impulsive behavior. Experts say as many as 50 percent of children with ADD are never properly diagnosed.

CHADD is a national organization designed to help children, parents, adults and professionals deal with attention deficit disorder.

The conference is sponsored by the Missouri ADD Council, which consists of 14 CHADD chapters.

The registration fee for the conference is $120 for a profession, $70 for a family member of an individual with AD/HD and $50 for each additional family member.

Those interested in attending the conference can contact Karen Rhodes at (314) 644-8803.

In conjunction with the conference, Southeast Missouri Hospital will hold a special dinner and presentation at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the hospital's Generations Department classroom.

The presentation on attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is designed specifically for doctors.

Dr. Garret Burris, pediatric neurologist and clinical associate professor for pediatrics and neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will discuss the disorder and various treatments.