What is ADHD?
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a mental health condition. That affects how well someone can sit still, focus, and pay attention. People with ADHD may also be restless and almost constantly active. About 5% of school-age children have ADHD. It’s usually diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood.
Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a childhood mental health condition. It affects how well a person can sit still, focus, and pay attention.
Signs and Symptoms
Any parent will tell you that there are days when it seems like his or her child has ADHD. But to improve a child’s behavior, you need to make sure they actually do have ADHD. This can be frustrating because at this point, the child may already have been given a host of diagnoses, such as oppositional defiant disorder. I’m sure you’ve noticed that some kids are just a little bit different than others. Some kids are naturally more active and impulsive, while others might have a harder time paying attention and staying on task.
How ADHD Diagnosis
If a doctor wants to make an ADHD diagnosis, he or she will begin by taking a medical history and performing a physical exam. This helps make sure that the symptoms aren’t due to some other physical condition. (In fact, up to 90 percent of kids with ADHD have one or more other conditions, such as learning disabilities, anxiety, depression and oppositional defiance disorder.) Your child’s doctor will also want to find out about your child’s behavior at home and at school. This may include asking for information from teachers, school nurses, parents and people who know the child well, such as caregivers and coaches or teachers. The doctor may also ask you to fill out questionnaires about your child’s behavior.
Treatments
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is best treated with a combination of adhd therapy treatment and medication for children ages 6-12. But what works best for a child can depend on the child and family, so treatment plans should be tailored to each person’s needs.
Behavioral Therapy for ADHD
Changing behavior can be tough when you have ADHD. Luckily, there are strategies which therapists use to help you learn to change habits that don’t work. These techniques may seem strange at first, but behavioral therapy is one of the most common treatments for ADHD.
Behavioral therapy can involve the family, teachers, caregivers and other therapists with whom the child interacts. It’s important to use strategies that work for individual children.
Power of Exercise in the Treatment of ADHD
By exercising, you can improve your overall brain health by stimulating the chemicals and growth signals in your brain. This will help you maximize all aspects of your cognitive and emotional functioning, with some even suggesting that exercise is as good as or better than prescription medications for ADHD.
The Importance of Sleep in ADHD Treatment
In many ADHD groups online, there is a lot of talk about sleep. For example, one friend told me that his son was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of two and a half, and while he was initially on Adderall, that had to be reduced when his doctor saw him yawning in class. Wow! That is incredibly early for medication in my book because I did my first Ritalin prescription at age twenty-four. In addition, we are all aware that sleep can help heal the symptoms of ADHD, so when we are not getting enough sleep by the standards of many adults, the impact on our lives can seem very debilitating.
Sleep is essential for everyone, but more so for people with ADHD, who can often be short on time and struggle to get a full night’s sleep. With the right medication and some good old-fashioned parenting, however, it can be possible to build up to healthy sleeping patterns.
