Dr Archana Gupta
What is ADHD?
It is an innate attention deficit disorder including attention difficulty, hyperactivity and impulsiveness. It was first diagnosed in 1902 and has become more prevalent in last 10-15 yrs. Presently it may be found in 5-10% children especially males.
What are its symptoms?
The symptoms of ADHD can be categorized into following three categories:
Cognitive symptoms : They include absentmindedness, difficulty in focusing, forgetfulness, problem in paying attention or short attention span.
Behavioural symptoms : Aggression, Fidgeting, Hyperactivity, Irritability & noisy behaviour, Persistent repetition of some actions, More Talkative, Restless, Problems with their siblings.
Symptoms related to Mood : Anger, Anxiety, Boredom, Excitement, Mood Swings.
Besides this depression and learning disability can also be found.
They often don’t listen parental instructions, so they don’t obey them.
They are disorganized and leave most of their work inbetween. Most of the time they demand attention. They usually speak before they think.
It can be found in the most smart people also and most importantly it is not under voluntary control.
The siblings of such children face a lot of challenges like:
They often get less attention than their other sibling with ADHD. They may be rebuked more when they do something wrong and at the same time their success is taken for granted. As a result, a feeling of jealousy or resentment can develop in the siblings of the children with ADHD.
Role of parents
Listen to your child.
Treat them respectfully.
Don’t believe all the bad about your child.
Make sure you know the difference between discipline and punishment.
Pay more attention to the positive behaviour of your child.
Be a good role model for your child.
Love them by hugging, tickling etc.
Look for their strengths, interests and abilities and encourage them.
Reward them with praise, smile and a pat on their back as often as you can.
Involve them in making rules, regulations, schedules and family activities.
Give them responsibilities.
Decrease their television time.
Help them correct their mistakes by demonstrating how to do and don’t nag.
Help him to develop self esteem and to compete with self than with others.
To sum up, you may need to change your home life a little bit to help your own child.
Impact of ADHD on parents
The demands of monitoring a child with ADHD can be physically and mentally quite exhausting and may lead to frustration and finally to anger. This action of theirs may be followed by guilt about being angry at their own child. It leads to a lot of stress to the whole family in dealing with such kids.
Superbrain Yoga
It is an exercise which can benefit hyperactive children, autistic people and people with ADHD. It is a simple exercise that involves touching the ears and doing squatsas.
But as every coin has two sides similarly if you as a parent learn to look at the gifts of ADHD – exceptional energy, creativity and interpersonal skills, they can see the shine inside their child. There are so many wonderful professions where these children may do wonders in contrast to their calm and regular energy level children may not fit. So these are the special blessed children who can do havocs if their learning environment is regulated and they get the help they need. Moreover, it may give a sigh of relief to the parents to know that some of the above discussed symptoms may lessen or disappear as these children grow up.
“So remember that your child isn’t giving you a hard time but your child is having a hard time.”
“So help them grow into a complete and a happy individual.”
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