Coping with ADD/ADHD Children
Handling Hyper Behavior in the Attention Deficit Disorder Child
Sep 8, 2007
Medication and Exercise
If this route is taken, be patient as you try to find the right type and dosage to use. Once the correct amount and timing have been discovered, be consistent. Or leave it alone if nothing seems to work adequately. Medication does not work for everyone and there is still some debate over side effects with certain drugs.
Busy bodies not only need an outlet, they may need several outlets. If your child is interested in ballet, soccer and Tae Kwon Do, for example, sign them up for as many as your pocketbook will allow. Ask about possible scholarships if your budget is tight.
School Issues
If sitting in one place is too difficult for the ADHD child, especially when it can take an hour or more for some tests, oral presentation may be a workable alternative for grading purposes. Speak with your school to see if this is an option.
Teachers are supposed to help children achieve certain benchmarks. Unfortunately, this can mean an amount of paper assignments that can be overwhelming for many special needs. Instead of being graded on the amount of work handed in, see if your child can be graded according to what they are capable of producing, even if it’s only one or two pages plus whatever tests need to be passed. This could be done in combination with oral presentations. Again, check with your school to see if this is an alternative.
Despite a lot of information already available through the media and medical community and despite constant updating of an educator’s knowledge, misinformation still abounds. What information is accurate does not fit every case. Speak with your child’s teachers and let them know what specific symptoms your child exhibits. Even more importantly, let them know of any techniques you have learned that work with your particular child.
Many education programs allow for a special needs child, like one with ADD/ADHD, to ask permission to leave the main class to go to a quieter area, like the library or another room. Sometimes the simple act of walking away and then back again can help an overactive body use up some of its energy and be able to sit more quietly upon returning to regular class.
At home, allow exercise or other breaks after fifteen to thirty minutes of homework time. Once break time is over, it’s back to tackling those assignments. Using this see-saw method can work well for some distractible children. Just be sure to ‘distract’ them back to the homework.
As well as taking breaks from class, a special study time may be arranged as part of the ADD/ADHD child’s regular schedule. A teacher, tutor or other aide should be available during this period to help the student organize assignments and other paperwork. Sitting with your child at home and going over assignments together is also recommended.
Handling Physical Contact
The hyperactive child can become overexcited and may harm others, often without meaning to. Recess horse play and other outdoor fun can result in all sorts of bruises and contusions, to the ADHD child as well as to others around them. If actual harm occurs, a full time out is called for.
Whether the incident is on purpose or by accident, an apology should be offered after a decent amount of cooling off time. This will not only help to sooth ruffled feathers, but can help the ADHD child recognize their behavior and its consequences, hopefully allowing them to try and avoid making the same moves or mistakes again.
More often, physical contact involves poking and kicking at anyone who gets too close, which can be annoying as well as disruptive. This can happen especially when waiting in line or other situation that requires staying in one place within a group. In the case of irritating behavior, frequent reminders to ‘behave’ may have limited results, but should still be used. Instead of or in addition to these constant reminders, perhaps the ADD/ADHD child can hold something interesting to distract them from prodding at others. As with all other school related techniques, check with your child’s teachers to see what is permitted.
ADD /ADHD children usually want to get along and behave. If medication and or other accommodations are unable to curb enough of their disruptive behavior, teaching family members and peers what the condition is and what is does might help forge better understanding.
For further suggestions, you can contact any ADD/ADHD support groups that may be in your area. One suggestion is CHADD. This is an advocacy and support group with branches all across the country that has been founded and run by parents of, adults with and others affected by this special learning disorder.
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