Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) –

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common mental disorders. It can affect between 5 and 8% of children, mostly boys, and often lasts into adulthood. ADHD affects a child’s learning and her daily life.

Main features:

  • Lack of attention: difficult to focus.
  • hyperactivity: excessive movement not appropriate for the environment, being excessively restless, tapping (light blows) or talking a lot.
  • Impulsiveness: act hastily without thinking and with a high potential to cause or cause harm.

Common signs and symptoms

ADHD symptoms are not the same in all children, the condition can range from poor attention to hyperactivity and impulsivity or a combination of both. Symptoms can sometimes occur in children who do not have the condition, the difference is that children with ADHD have frequent, severe symptoms that cause them problems:

  • Children with poor attention span can often be forgetful, easily distracted, unable to stay focused on a task and finish it, seem not to listen, are disorganized, take time to get things done, and frequently lose personal possessions.
  • Children with hyperactivity can often be restless, full of energy, noisy, talk a lot, have difficulty sitting still, run around or access inappropriate places, and are unable to play or engage in leisure activities in silence.
  • Children with symptoms of impulsivity may often do things without thinking, have difficulty waiting their turn in games or in line, interrupt people in conversation, give answers before the question is finished, seem intrusive, and start to use other people’s objects without permission.
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Causes The exact causes are not clear. These may be some factors:

  • Genetic, can be hereditary.
  • For a significant traumatic experience in childhood.
  • Premature delivery.
  • Brain damage.
  • Exposure to environmental toxins, such as high levels of lead at a young age.
  • Smoking, consuming alcohol, having extreme stress, or being exposed to lead during pregnancy.

It’s important to seek help from a professional if you think your child has ADHD.

  • If a child has ADHD but is not diagnosed, they may be mislabeled as naughty and irresponsible and blamed or punished for their behavior, and the punishment may make their behavior worse.
  • When children with ADHD do not receive attention and support they may drop out of school.
  • Children with ADHD tend to have more accidents and injuries of all kinds.

Treatment

ADHD cannot be completely cured, but treatment can help control symptoms and improve a child’s daily functioning, life at home, and at school. A specialist must establish a treatment plan and carrying it out requires good communication and teamwork between doctors, parents and teachers.

A standard treatment plan for ADHD includes:

  • Medicines. Not all kids with ADHD need them, but many do. These can reduce hyperactivity and impulsivity, improve the ability to concentrate, work, learn and your physical coordination.
  • Psychotherapy. It can help patients and their families to better solve daily problems. Parents and teachers help the child gain control over her behavior by establishing clear rules, chore lists, and other structured routines.
  • Education and training. A child with ADHD needs to learn about social skills, such as taking her turn, sharing toys, asking for help, or responding to teasing. Parents need to learn how it affects their family and how to deal effectively with the feelings that may develop within their home due to their child’s behavior.
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How to help a child with ADHD?

Parents and teachers can help you feel better by following a few simple steps:

  • Make a schedule for all activities, from when he wakes up to when he goes to bed, trying to get him to follow the same routine every day. Children with ADHD find it difficult to cope with unpredictable and sudden changes.
  • Organize your home so that everything (clothes, toys, school supplies) has its place and everything stays in its assigned place.
  • Children with ADHD usually respond well to positive reinforcement. Rewarding or reinforcing a new good behavior can encourage new, positive habits.
  • When you ask your child to do something, give simple, clear, and consistent instructions. Stand close to him, look at him and tell him slowly and calmly what you want him to do (it is important not to yell). Praise his good behavior. Children with ADHD often receive and expect criticism.
  • Divide any task, for example doing homework into small time intervals like 15-20 minutes.
  • Be careful with your diet, some foods, additives or dyes can make the symptoms worse.