What is ADHD?
ADHD is a chronic, lifelong disorder of childhood that is characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are inappropriate for the child’s age and developmental level. About 1 in 20 children have ADHD. However, most of them do not go to the doctor and therefore are not identified and diagnosed accordingly. Boys are more likely to have ADHD compared to girls.
The behavioral characteristics of ADHD vary widely among individuals.
The typical symptoms of children with ADHD fall into three main categories: inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. These symptoms can occur separately or together.
Children with ADHD should be alerted to the presence of the following symptoms.
In class, they do not pay attention to lectures and often wander off, turning their heads as soon as they hear a sound in the classroom or see someone walking by outside the window. When doing homework, he or she does not pay attention to it, and is careless in doing it.
Whether at home or in the classroom, he is always busy like a motor, as if there is never a quiet time, talking too much, making too many small movements, and being particularly nosy.
In the classroom, he often answers questions before the teacher finishes asking them. When playing games with children, if they need to take turns in line, they often cut in line because they can’t wait, so they are often criticized by teachers for this. At home, they often talk back to their parents, do not listen to them, and often lose their temper.
Because of these bad performance, some parents always blame their children are not as good as other children, and even scold; some parents think that children are small, all will be naughty, and will be good when they grow up; some parents because of their children’s learning difficulties, reluctance to learn, disobedience, often by the teacher detention, often by the teacher to complain, appear anxiety, and even because of the children and family disagreement. These ideas and practices are incorrect p negative.
First of all, we should know that ADHD is a “neurobiological disorder”. Because the central nervous system of children with ADHD is metabolically disturbed, the concentration of certain important chemicals responsible for transmitting nerve impulses (doctors call them “neurotransmitters”) is too low, thus weakening their normal function, making the body unable to effectively filter extraneous stimuli entering the brain, resulting in the child’s inability to respond to any external stimuli. As a result, the child reacts indiscriminately to any external stimulus, and thus becomes inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive at the first sign of trouble. The disorder itself can cause many hazards.
At school, the child cannot pay attention to lectures, does not stop moving in class, and does not finish homework on time, so his or her academic performance is always low. They often have conflicts with their classmates, making teachers feel very headache.
At home, the child can’t stay idle for a while, and is particularly stubborn and insubordinate. When communicating with others, the child is absent-minded and seems to be listening, so he or she doesn’t have a good relationship with parents or friends.
Socially, due to the “King of Pi” hat, they often encounter barriers in making friends, so they are often alone, and sometimes they feel very lonely.
Psychologically, children lack self-confidence and feel that they are not smart, can’t do anything well, and are not liked by others.
Accidental injuries Children do not like to stay at home, often running and jumping around outdoors, always making adults worry about their safety. When walking, they like to jump around on the roadside; when crossing the road, they are not afraid of danger and often run quickly; they often rummage through boxes and jump up and down, and get hurt if they are not careful.
Therefore, ADHD is a behavioral disorder that needs to be treated. If treatment is not actively carried out early, it can be a serious danger to the child’s physical and mental health, and will not only affect the child’s present, with many of the above-mentioned adverse manifestations, but as the child enters adolescence, more problems will ensue.
Long-term academic backwardness, or mid-school suspension, dropping out of school, which in turn affects the college entrance exams.
Tendency to get into conflicts or fights with others and to become violent.
Risk-taking behaviors are more likely to develop and rebel easily, and the risk of accidental injury remains.
Loses self-confidence and feels inferior due to long-term environmental discomfort and experiencing setbacks.
Lack of social interaction skills and find difficulty in making friends.
More likely to lead to unsafe sexual behaviors.
In 65% of children with ADHD, symptoms persist into adulthood, and if not properly treated, the behavioral characteristics of ADHD may remain in the child’s adult life. Manifestations are
Career development: low education and difficulty in finding a job; acting impulsively and losing things can also affect work performance and career development.
Family relationships: poor financial management skills; poor relationship between husband and wife.
Social relationships: low self-esteem, social interaction barriers; even anti-social tendencies or criminal problems.
Health and safety: greater risk of driving accidents; more likely to develop vices such as smoking and drug use.
Children with ADHD also have other co-occurring disorders, which are often referred to as “co-occurring disorders” (also known as “co-occurring disorders”).
Co-morbid depressive disorder 20%
Co-morbid anxiety disorders 10.6%
Co-occurring sensory integration disorder 62.7%
Tic disorder 26.7%
Concomitant oppositional defiant disorder 34.6%
Associated learning disability 44%
Co-morbidities may make the clinical presentation of ADHD less typical, thus interfering with the early detection and diagnosis of ADHD.
Therefore, ADHD not only affects children’s schooling, it is also very harmful to children’s psychosomatic development. If you suspect that your child has a tendency to have ADHD, you should see a doctor early p for early detection p early diagnosis p early treatment.
Because ADHD is a chronic neurobiological disease, so just rely on painstaking persuasion or strict discipline will not improve the symptoms, but also trigger the child’s rebellious psychology, so once you suspect that your child has ADHD, you should promptly go to a regular hospital to get a child ADHD specialist, child health department, psychology department or child psychiatry consultation. After the diagnosis is confirmed, the child should receive standardized treatment and long-term follow-up. Since up to 65% of children with ADHD have symptoms that persist into adulthood, ADHD is a chronic disease in this sense, so it is important to adhere to regular, long-term treatment.
At the hospital, the doctor will first ask about the child’s recent abnormal behavior (at home, at school, and in several other settings) and conduct a physical examination. The child’s performance will also be scored using various ADHD assessment scales in order to get a more complete picture of the condition.
In order to rule out other disorders or to determine the presence of comorbidities, the doctor will recommend the following tests: intelligence, psychometric, electroencephalogram, cranial CT, blood and urine biochemistry, trace elements, etc.
Finally, the doctor will make a definitive diagnosis, taking into account the uniform diagnostic criteria.
Treatment of ADHD
Currently, a comprehensive treatment plan of “medication + non-pharmacological treatment” is used.
Medication is currently the most effective treatment method.
Medication is complemented by non-pharmacological treatment to further strengthen and improve the outcome. This includes behavioral therapy, psychological counseling, parent training, and school intervention.
The cooperation of parents and teachers is crucial to the treatment of children. It is important to create a harmonious and warm environment for children with ADHD, so that they can establish good learning communication and living habits in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.
What can parents do?
Educational management.
Usually we should show more concern and sympathy for hyperactive children, give encouragement to children’s quiet behavior, and give timely praise to every small progress, i.e. positive reinforcement education; at the same time, parents should set an example to protect children’s self-esteem and avoid mental trauma. Neither coddle, indulge the child’s capricious and unreasonable demands; nor use corporal punishment, scolding means of management.
Dietary modifications.
Children hyperactivity and diet may have a certain relationship, eat less food containing additives, should eat more zinc-rich food, such as eggs, beans, liver, fish and shrimp, etc.
Attention training.
Every day after school you can arrange for your child to have free time for 20-30 minutes, followed by supervising your child to finish his homework.
Specific methods.
1, each time 15-30 minutes to focus on one content, do one and then change one. For example, writing, reading a book, telling a story, etc. After finishing the homework, you can watch TV or play games for about 30 minutes.
2. When doing homework, you should put only one content on the desktop. For example, when doing math practice problems, only math-related reference books, etc., so as to avoid distractions when doing homework. It is better not to do homework while listening to music with headphones.
Positive reinforcement training.
Use the above methods for a period of time and ask to repeat them several times. It is on this basis that the homework can be completed better (correct calculation, correct handwriting and neat writing). If it is completed well, it should be promptly stimulated by using various encouragements such as appreciative words, hugs, kisses and other positive ways of skin contact.
Mental stability training.
Do not arbitrarily deny or agree to the child’s requests, and try to meet appropriately.
1, appropriate to meet: adults keep their word, to ensure delivery, the child will be in a happy mood, there to promote learning.
2, arbitrarily satisfied: the child will be capricious, good tantrums, etc.
3, rarely meet or never meet: the child will be depressed or anxious, etc.
Comprehensive treatment is more effective
After all, children are children, and their growth and progress cannot be achieved without the full cooperation of the children themselves, their parents, their teachers and their doctors.
I hope this article will be helpful to parents!