Understanding ADHD/ADD
What is ADHD?
There are basically three types of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
ADHD - primarily Inattentive Type:-
These children will be highly inattentive as well as distractible. Even though the word "hyperactivity" is included in the title, these children do not possess any hyperactivity. This type is commonly known as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)
ADHD - pimarily Hyperactive Impulsive Type:-
These children are very overactive and hyperactive.
ADHD - Combined Type:-
This is where you will find the child exhibiting all characteristics of both types. They will be inattentive and distracted, as well as hyperactive and impulsive. This type will also be referred to as ADHD.
There are basically three types of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
ADHD - primarily Inattentive Type:-
These children will be highly inattentive as well as distractible. Even though the word "hyperactivity" is included in the title, these children do not possess any hyperactivity. This type is commonly known as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)
ADHD - pimarily Hyperactive Impulsive Type:-
These children are very overactive and hyperactive.
ADHD - Combined Type:-
This is where you will find the child exhibiting all characteristics of both types. They will be inattentive and distracted, as well as hyperactive and impulsive. This type will also be referred to as ADHD.
What does an ADHD child look like in daily life?
The ADHD or ADD child is usually a very cooperative child who simply finds it difficult to function well in situations that require sustained attention and organisational skills.
These children are not born to be defiant but have great trouble in finding the mental energy needed to pay attention to things that they find very unexciting and unstimulating.
They find it challenging to remember daily routines, seeming to have never heard the rules and routines before and I'm sure there are a few heads nodding to that! When requested to add they will subtract and mutiply when they should be dividing. They will show more interest in a noise outside than listening to the teacher.
While many will have absolutely no problems playing video games for hours, doing any kind of math's homework leads to tears and tantrums. They will lose their backpack, homework, jacket and even their lunchbox. Trying to get them to complete chores and homework rarely gets finished without some form of effort and frustration by the parents.
Parents and even teachers will find their desk, backpack and bedroom looking like a mystery science project and are inevitably scared away. All this goes on while they seem happy to daydream the day away!
As long as no one is asking them to do something, they are fine. It's when it's time to pay attention and complete a certain task that all hell breaks lose and trouble surfaces.
The real dfficulty for any parent raising a child with ADHD/ADD is that the symptoms cause other very challenging problems. When they are expected to apply any mental effort to complete homework, will often lead the ADHD child to lie about having homework, hide the homework or purposely forget the homework at school.
Anything that an ADHD/ADD child finds boring will lead them to procrastinate, argue, cry, throw tantrums and in more severe cased, hit their parents and break things in the house. Something that should only take 15 - 30 mintues can end up taking two to three hours, interfering with playtime, dinner, bath and bed time.
These daily struggles between parent and child causes resentment in both their relationship. What should be a special and unique time where parent and child can bond and grow closer, causes relationship erosion, as this prevents the parent from having fun time, building happy son/daughter memories. Life during the child's school year can be a very unhappy time for both parent and child.
These children are not born to be defiant but have great trouble in finding the mental energy needed to pay attention to things that they find very unexciting and unstimulating.
They find it challenging to remember daily routines, seeming to have never heard the rules and routines before and I'm sure there are a few heads nodding to that! When requested to add they will subtract and mutiply when they should be dividing. They will show more interest in a noise outside than listening to the teacher.
While many will have absolutely no problems playing video games for hours, doing any kind of math's homework leads to tears and tantrums. They will lose their backpack, homework, jacket and even their lunchbox. Trying to get them to complete chores and homework rarely gets finished without some form of effort and frustration by the parents.
Parents and even teachers will find their desk, backpack and bedroom looking like a mystery science project and are inevitably scared away. All this goes on while they seem happy to daydream the day away!
As long as no one is asking them to do something, they are fine. It's when it's time to pay attention and complete a certain task that all hell breaks lose and trouble surfaces.
The real dfficulty for any parent raising a child with ADHD/ADD is that the symptoms cause other very challenging problems. When they are expected to apply any mental effort to complete homework, will often lead the ADHD child to lie about having homework, hide the homework or purposely forget the homework at school.
Anything that an ADHD/ADD child finds boring will lead them to procrastinate, argue, cry, throw tantrums and in more severe cased, hit their parents and break things in the house. Something that should only take 15 - 30 mintues can end up taking two to three hours, interfering with playtime, dinner, bath and bed time.
These daily struggles between parent and child causes resentment in both their relationship. What should be a special and unique time where parent and child can bond and grow closer, causes relationship erosion, as this prevents the parent from having fun time, building happy son/daughter memories. Life during the child's school year can be a very unhappy time for both parent and child.