Understanding ADD/ADHD in Your Child or Teen
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The Facts About Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is characterized by a constellation of problems with inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. These problems are developmentally inappropriate and cause difficulty in daily life. ADHD is a biopsychosocial disorder.
That is, there appear to be strong genetic, biological, experiential, and social factors that contribute to the extent of problems experienced. ADHD affects 3% to 5% of the population. Early identification and proper treatment dramatically reduce the family, educational, behavioral, and psychological problems experienced by individuals with ADHD.
Accurate diagnosis and treatment can help individuals with ADHD manage or even avoid the many life problems usually associated with ADHD, including school failure and dropout, depression, behavioral disorders, vocational and relationship problems, and substance abuse.
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Girls With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Girls with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often are not identified at an early age. However, even when they are identified and treated successfully for the primary symptoms of ADHD, these girls often face other significant difficulties as they become young women and begin to confront the Effects of their attentional challenges on their ability to fulfill gender role expectations.
Parents increase the chance for long-term success when they help their daughters develop an internal voice that both explains and values their differences so that by the time these girls leave home, they feel confident and capable of leading satisfying, successful lives as women with ADHD.
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Psychoeducational Therapy
Psychoeducational treatment is a term used to describe an integrated approach to managing difficulties with concentration, attention, and distractibility in children and adolescents with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Children and adolescents respond best to multiple approaches, including medication, skill building, and changes in the environment.
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Medical Evaluation of the Child With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Parents often bring their children to the doctor’s office when they or the teachers have noticed attention problems or overactivity. Sometimes the teacher or parent has said “Get this child on medication!”
The doctor must conduct a medical examination of the child before making the decision to begin using medications. You should stay with the child for at least the beginning of the exam.
It also will help if you bring report cards or progress reports and examples of schoolwork for the doctor to review. If you have them, bring reports from school testing and letters from the teacher describing the child’s behavior and academic work.
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The Family Physician’s Perspective on Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
The family physician or pediatrician is usually the first professional to evaluate and treat the Child with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Although educators’ and parents’ role in assisting children with ADHD have been described thoroughly, many parents and teachers might not appreciate the physician’s perspective.
The physician is a vital and important member of the ADHD treatment team. This article can help parents, teachers, and others working with children who have ADHD better understand the physician’s vantage point.
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Coping Successfully With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in the Family
It is estimated that separation or divorce is three times more likely to occur in family that include a child with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Mothers of children with ADHD are more likely to suffer depression and feelings of self-blame. Additionally, friends and extended family members might not be emotionally supportive because of a lack of understanding about this disorder (Alexander-Roberts, 1994)
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The Developing Child
Parents of young children always have known how important they are in their children’s lives.
Children who receive warm and responsive care from their families along with the essentials find it easier to cope with difficult times when they are older, despite possible learning challenges.
L Alan Stroufe, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of Minnesota have found that children who are securely attached to their caregivers get along better with other children and perform better in school than children who are less securely attached.
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Early Childhood Identification
Early identification of children who are at risk for attention deficit disorders helps both the child and the parents because it can prevent many further difficulties.
Early intervention will benefit the child’s behavior and development. Parents will need to develop a variety of strategies to help the child between the ages of 2 and 4 years learn to manage his or her attention and activity.
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Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in Adolescence: Common Dilemmas for Parents and Teens
We’ve onlyjust begun to appreciate that Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is likely to be a lifelong condition for many people.
There are often unique issues for adolescents who have ADHD. The teen years present new challenges even for individuals who were diagnosed in early childhood and have been treated for a number of years.
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Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder are argumentative, negative, and frequently irritable (“touchy”).
Preschoolers (3 to 4 years) and young adolescents (12 to 14 years) sometimes have periods of these behaviors, but they tend to be fairly brief. Refusal to interact with children when they are exhibiting these behaviors usually reduces these common tantrums.
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Conduct Disorder
Conduct Disorder, a pattern of socially disruptive behavior, can develop along with ADHD. Conduct Disorder also occurs without ADHD.
Children with Conduct Disorder exhibit a long-term pattern of disobeying accepted social rules and violating others’ rights. Younger children with Conduct Disorder are sometimes cruel to animals, deliberately set fires, or intentionally destroy property.
Whereas many young children are aggressive and disobedient at times, the child with Conduct Disorder does not seem to learn from the consequences of punishment, and the behavior becomes more severe.
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Childhood and Adolescent Depression
Depression among children has been recognized only recently as a serious mental health problem. Researchers now accept that even infants can become clinically depressed.
One of the problems in knowing whether or not a child is depressed is that the symptoms are not as clear-cut as they are for adults. With adults, there is typically an episode of sadness or a general loss of satisfaction or pleasure in usual activities.
There also are several other symptoms that commonly include disruptions in sleep, changes in appetite and weight loss/gain, decrease in energy level, slower motor movements, thoughts of death and/or suicidal thinking, and difficulties with attention and concentration.
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What to Expect: Entering Adulthood With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
How quickly they grew up! One minute it seems we are teaching our children how to tie their shoes; the next thing we know, they want the keys to the car.
In the big picture, the time children spend at home with their parents is pretty short. Parents can have a lifetime of input into their children’s lives, but all in all, children become adults very quickly.
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College Students With Learning Disabilities
College students with learning disabilities have average to superior levels of intelligence and are talented and capable individuals.
Most have developed a variety of strategies to compensate for some of the academic struggles they’ve experienced over the years. At most colleges, students with learning disabilities must go through the same competitive process of admission as students without learning disabilities.
Further, most students disclose their learning disability only after they have been admitted.
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