Transforming ADHD
Tame Your Kids' Disruptive ADHD behavior Today at Home or at SchoolDiscover 122 effective strategies, activities and programs to help hyperactive, impulsive or inattentive kids--even if they don’t have ADHD!
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The ability or tendency to hyperfocus is often a characteristic of ADHD.
Even though kids who have ADHD often have a lot of trouble paying attention at school, many of them can easily focus on something they're passionately interested in.
Although the tendency to hyperfocus in ADHD kids is often considered not good, I disagree. It can mean the difference between success and failure!
Of course, hyperfocusing isn't always positive. You probably don't want your kids hyperfocusing on violent video games, for example.
But helping them find something positive that they absolutely love can be a real boost to an ADHD kid. Maybe it's a sport? Maybe it's one particular subject at school. Or maybe one specific topic in that subject at school?
Could be dinosaurs, Civil War battles or Egyptian hieroglyphics. Maybe it's a craft or hobby? Making jewelry? Building model cars? Cooking?
Obviously ADHD kids still have to
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At least 63 common conditions can cause behavior that looks like ADHD. In other words, you or your child's teacher might think that your child has ADHD when in fact they have something else.
It’s easy to make the wrong diagnosis and well-meaning parents, teachers, even pediatricians are doing it everyday.
Misdiagnosing ADHD remains a serious problem because the wrong diagnosis often means a prescription for powerful stimulant drugs that your child doesn’t need.
If your child is taking a drug she doesn't need because of the wrong diagnosis, she could have side-effects, sometimes serious, to these drugs.
As a parent, when your child’s teacher says "I think Angela has ADHD," ask the teacher to describe Angela's specific behavior. Ask if Angela acts this way in other classes. Did she act this way in class last year.
Always keep in mind that teachers are not medical doctors or trained in psychology, much less psychiatry. They do not qualified to diagnosis ADHD, anymore than they are qualified to diagnose pneumonia, cancer, or brain tumors. That is not their job.
If the teacher says that he doesn't think Angela has problems in other classes and didn’t have a problem last year, then you know it’s a
Caitlin’s teacher called. Caitlin was acting up in class, wasn’t paying attention and often didn’t bother finishing her work. Sometimes she just "zoned out."
Caitlin’s teacher was concerned.
She knew that Caitlin was one of the brightest kids in her class. Knew Caitlin could do excellent work. Could get straight As.
Then the teacher suggested to Caitlin’s Mom that she thought Caitlin had ADHD.
That Caitlin should be tested. Perhaps put on a drug for the disorder. Caitlin’s Mom was stunned. How could she have missed this?
So what should Caitlin’s parents do? Agree with the teacher? Tell the pediatrician that the teacher said their daughter has ADHD? Ask for a prescription?
If Caitlin’s parents do a bit of homework—even a quick internet search—they’d soon discover that ADHD isn’t something a child (or an adult) has just at school or just at home or just when they go to Grandma’s house.
Children with ADHD have this behavior in at least two different environments and often in almost every situation--except for playing video games and doing things they're passionately interested in.
In Caitlin’s example, school was the only place she exhibited ADHD behavior, and she didn’t show any of these tendencies in school last year. So Caitlin’s folks can rule out ADHD.
But what’s going on instead? Why is Caitlin acting up at school?
Turns out Caitlin is
Jerrod’s pediatrician took him off stimulant drugs for ADHD—and all the other medications he was on.
Jerrod had been excessively hyperactive and impulsive, unable to focus on even the simplest schoolwork.
The drugs helped hyperactivity but Jerrod still didn’t pay much attention to school. His grades were still lousy.
Some days the combination of drugs made Jerrod sleepy and spaced out. At least he wasn’t getting into trouble every day.
Now Jerrod’s a happy 9-year-old, doing much better in school than last year, and rarely gets into trouble. What happened?
Some kids have ADHD. Some kids act like they have ADHD but they don’t really have it. What’s going on? Could be that these kids simply aren’t getting enough sleep!
Lack of sleep is so common and so serious now that teachers report kids in their classes falling asleep at school! How can your child learn math if they just fell asleep while the teacher was explaining how to do long division?
Motivation, alertness, and memory are three of the most important factors that help kids learn, get good grades and high test scores. If your child is sleepy at school, their motivation, alertness and memory are pretty low. Lack of sleep from pre-school through college is at epidemic levels.
Researchers are reporting that the average child is
By now, dear readers, you're well aware that I've been blessed with this thing they call ADHD. And oh, what a gift--I'm creative, have lots of brilliant ideas, am optimistic, funny, and pretty sharp.
Most ADHD kids and adults fit that description.
But thanks to an overload of brilliant ideas which is often accompanied by a complete lack of
Is your youngster only quiet when asleep or watching TV?Kids need quiet activities that require focus and concentration. The trick is getting them to do it.
And it's especially important for them to practice some quiet time before school starts. They'll be asked to sit quietly in school and often get in trouble if they don't.
You need the down-time too. Schedule some time every day which doesn't involve driving kids to the pool, and you'll stop counting the days till they're back in school.
O.K. I admit that hammering and building like the boys in the picture are doing isn't quiet. But it does require sitting still (or kneeling), concentration, and not too much talking. Plus it's creative. Count it as a great quiet time activity.
Succeeding in school requires the ability to be quiet and focus. Your kids will benefit by
ADHD always got in the way of school success for me. I loved school and had the very best intentions but my brain just wouldn't cooperate. Back then nobody had even heard the words "attention deficit disorder," much less had resources to provide for those of us who couldn't sit still, couldn't concentrate.
If you had ADHD when I was growing up, you just struggled, got in trouble at school a lot, and listened to your parents and teachers tell you that you weren't living up to your potential.
Now the challenge is
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