We all know kids who can’t sit still, who never seem to listen, who don’t follow instructions no matter how clearly you present them, or who blurt out inappropriate comments at inappropriate times.
Sometimes these children are labeled as troublemakers, or criticized for being lazy and undisciplined. However, they may have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), formerly known as attention deficit disorder, or ADD.
ADHD makes it difficult for people to inhibit their spontaneous responses—responses that can involve everything from movement to speech to attentiveness.
The signs and symptoms of ADHD typically appear before the age of seven. However, it can be difficult to distinguish between attention deficit disorder and normal “kid behavior.”
If you spot just a few signs, or the symptoms appear only in some situations, it’s probably not ADHD. On the other hand, if your child shows a number of ADHD signs and symptoms that are present across all situations—at home, at school, and at play—it’s time to take a closer look.
According to Barkley and Murphy, one of the most effective treatments for managing the symptoms of ADHD is educating parents and teachers about the nature of ADHD and its management. To understand the nature of this diagnosis, helps parents and teachers to effectively take care of children with ADHD.
Here are some tips to parents, guardians, and teachers on how to manage children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder:
Always repeat and repeat your words- Most people lose their patience when it comes to repeating their words for this can be frustrating. However, when dealing with children with ADHD, you must be ready to make every word you say a refrain for assimilation, for ADHD children, are easily distracted.
Repetition of words would eventually give a corresponding response from the child for the communication to be effective.
Commend their positive outputs and inputs. Everyone loves a pat for every good deed. In most cases, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder get negative feedback from some teachers to parents and in some cases, parents also if not careful might tend to focus on their child’s negative outputs and inputs. Children with ADHD also oozes out positive attitudes and actions too that need to be commended. Parents and teachers need to watch out and commend good attitudes and actions from these children other than focus more on what they didn’t do or failed to do or forget to do. This builds up their self-esteem.
Let them mingle with other children suggestively one child at a time. Another way to help any child with ADHD is to allow them to mingle with other children with the supervision of an adult this is because they can say, do or act in ways other children might find annoying (this is definitely not their fault anyway). Once friendship is birth, another child can be introduced, then another. This will help their social interaction and social integration.
Help them with their organization- Since children with ADHD has difficulty in getting themselves organized, adults really need to help out. Help them with their activities for them to be effective both at home and at school. Naturally, they seemingly are belabored with work so this is why they need assistance for their organization.
Seek medical attention – Another tip to help children with ADHD is to seek medical attention. ADHD happens genes are expressed in the brain and affect neurological functioning in ways which impact attention and self-regulation because the chemicals in the body, neurotransmitters, may not be at the levels which they need to be in certain areas of the brain. This is because they are not being released properly, or perhaps they are being re-absorbed too quickly. Thus, there are various medication for this. And aside from the medication, parents might also employ the services of a therapist.
Ref: Helpguide.org
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