If your child is suffering from ADHD, your worry is justified. However, what you must know that there may be no cure for the condition but there are indeed effective treatments that can help relieve the symptoms of ADHD, so that your child can learn, achieve set objectives in school, develop unique strengths and also work on establishing strong social skills.
Many adults, who have ADHD, are in fact very successful today, as they have a slightly different way of thinking and organizing thoughts and things, which help them, be creative and energetic.
The best way of treating ADHD is multimodal, which is typically a combination of a few different modes of treatment.
Primary treatment modes include: Behavioral interventions, parent training and education, medication and education support. It is important that professional guidance is sought, as each treatment program has to be specially developed after examining the child and the family. The needs of the child have to be assessed and a plan has to be put in place.
Behavioral Approaches
Behavioral approaches help in establishing structure, positive reinforcement, feedback, communication, self-advocacy and problem solving skills. Older children or teenagers should be involved when creating agreements or goals. A few families have benefitted from following a ‘report card’ approach, where parents along with teenagers set a contract of sorts for family behavior.
In this case a therapist can work with the family and the child to explore the issues that are at hand and focus on thoughts and feelings related to family life or self-esteem or incidents at school. Through therapy one can also develop social skills and learn new behavior.
Praising and rewarding are two key aspects that are very important to the behavioral approach in ADHD. Children with ADHD are often used to being scolded, criticized and harshly disciplined, while it is understandable for parents to become frustrated, harsh discipline and scolding can only make the problem worse as apposed to offering relief. On the other hand, parents should focus on setting goals and offering praise on achieving those goals, this approach will help the child learn new skills and feel better.
Learning More
Raising a child with ADHD is a very different experience from raising a normal child. It can be extremely stressful for parents and family members. The first step for parents should be to get educated about the condition. Parents should learn how their kids organize, and process information and control their impulses, when they do so, it is easier for them to understand how to deal with their kids. Doing so will help you create an atmosphere that is conducive to learning and less stressful for everyone around. Children who have ADHD need to follow extremely structured, consistent, and positive approaches to behavior. Since therapists cannot intervene on a daily basis, and therefore cannot provide the reinforcement and feedback that a child needs to learn new skills. Parents should consider training so that they can deploy essential steps at home to help improve a child’s social and self-management skills. This approach helps establish strict and clear limits for misbehavior – for instance penalties and time outs in the reward system. However, there should be no arguments, no yelling and any other emotion filled negative interactions, as these do not help children with ADHD.
Behavioral approaches to help ADHD are not enough. Children do respond well to medication that has been provided by doctors, and in fact some parents will also insist that there is a night and day difference in the behavior of the child. While medicine does not cure ADHD, it definitely helps ease symptoms, and therefore gives both parents and children some breathing space, which allows them time to learn how to use behavioral approaches to tackle the problem from a long-term perspective.
Most of the medications approved for use with children with ADHD are stimulants. These medicines stimulate the parts of the brain dealing with attention and impulse control; they work on the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine. A healthcare provider can work with you and your child to find the right medication at the lowest dose that provides benefits, and go over any possible side effects to watch for.
Connect with schools
The condition of ADHD stays with your child, no matter what environment they are in. One of the most important criteria for establishing the problem is that the symptoms appear in different environments, for instance at home and in school. As concerned parents you may be following behavioral approaches diligently, but what about school?
You can ask the school authorities to help you, by creating an educational plan for your child, so that your child can benefit from the time spent there.
Be there for your child, and you can be sure that your child will indeed learn how to succeed even while battling this condition. Eating the right food can too help this problem and a Registered Holistic Nutritionist can help you learn what diet you should prescribe to help your child feel better. Homeopathy has a host of natural cures for this condition as well, and getting in touch with your nearest Homeopathic Centre could indeed do you and your child some good too.
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