May 16th, 2009 | by admin |
Abhishek Agarwal asked:
As parents, I am sure that many of you will have spent sleepless nights concerned that the strange behavior our child exhibited today may be the first signs of Attention Deficit Disorder. Our concerns are justified in many ways as most of us believe we know the fundamental signs of the disease are, and we obviously panic at the thought we might have to deal with it.
The fear of the disease, its effects and the way it will impact on the family is only one part of it. There is often an underlying guilt that in some way our actions may be responsible for this having happened. Most of us will in some way or another blame ourselves, believing that we have not been strict enough or applied enough discipline, or conversely that we have been too strict. While these apprehensions may be quite normal the ideas aren’t always rational or well-founded.
There are usually assed to be three broad stages in any normal childhood development;
The first is observable in babies / infants. During this stage infants become focused on and preoccupied with certain objects to the exclusion of what else is around them. If a kid’s development stalls around this point it may later show as signs of autism.
In the second recognisable stage, which is observed in older children, the child becomes interested in a range of things at the same time and they then become incapable of concentrating or focussing on any one thing or action for any length of time. This is the key to ADD, as If the child stalls in their development at this stage they may later in their childhood go on to suffer Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
The third stage assists a child to mature to a point from which they can comfortably focus and voluntarily apply their attention in one certain direction for longer periods of time. They can then alter their focus or actions as and when they have a need to. This stage is therefore a crucial transitional stage which moulds a child for success in the classroom and in the real world.
But ADD does not only make a child or young adult incapable of focusing. It also reduces their ability to take decisions. They can then become indecisive even in normal everyday life. An example may be that they become disoriented when crossing a road and turn back into on-coming traffic, or lose the reason why they were crossing in the first place.
At the opposite end of the scale, ADD sufferers can also become totally focussed on a specific object or task. They can become consumed by it and are as a result are absolutely cut-off and oblivious to everything else. an example of this manifesting is that they may watch the same movie again and again without realising, or read a certain part of a book repeatedly with no reaction or loss of concentration. Later in life this behavior might turn into over-eating or substance-abuse or other compulsive behavior.
Another increasingly reported variation of ADD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder known as ADHD. This leads to sufferers always needing to stay busy, moving from place to place or being unable to slow down. It is increasingly being diagnosed in young teenagers. This can drive parents mad and keep them up nights in an attempt to calm their child and entice them to sleep. These children and young adults will find it difficult to switch off but they can experience many of the events above. While experience of this type of patient has led Psychologists to conclude that ADD is not a problem that a child will grow out of naturally they have also quite strongly rejected any link with the parent causing this disorder. There is no direct causal relationship between what a parent does an how likely a child is to develop ADD or ADHD. So if your child is suffering from ADD stop blaming yourself, instead recognize the problem for what it is and contact a specialist as soon as possible.
Lisa
As parents, I am sure that many of you will have spent sleepless nights concerned that the strange behavior our child exhibited today may be the first signs of Attention Deficit Disorder. Our concerns are justified in many ways as most of us believe we know the fundamental signs of the disease are, and we obviously panic at the thought we might have to deal with it.
The fear of the disease, its effects and the way it will impact on the family is only one part of it. There is often an underlying guilt that in some way our actions may be responsible for this having happened. Most of us will in some way or another blame ourselves, believing that we have not been strict enough or applied enough discipline, or conversely that we have been too strict. While these apprehensions may be quite normal the ideas aren’t always rational or well-founded.
There are usually assed to be three broad stages in any normal childhood development;
The first is observable in babies / infants. During this stage infants become focused on and preoccupied with certain objects to the exclusion of what else is around them. If a kid’s development stalls around this point it may later show as signs of autism.
In the second recognisable stage, which is observed in older children, the child becomes interested in a range of things at the same time and they then become incapable of concentrating or focussing on any one thing or action for any length of time. This is the key to ADD, as If the child stalls in their development at this stage they may later in their childhood go on to suffer Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD).
The third stage assists a child to mature to a point from which they can comfortably focus and voluntarily apply their attention in one certain direction for longer periods of time. They can then alter their focus or actions as and when they have a need to. This stage is therefore a crucial transitional stage which moulds a child for success in the classroom and in the real world.
But ADD does not only make a child or young adult incapable of focusing. It also reduces their ability to take decisions. They can then become indecisive even in normal everyday life. An example may be that they become disoriented when crossing a road and turn back into on-coming traffic, or lose the reason why they were crossing in the first place.
At the opposite end of the scale, ADD sufferers can also become totally focussed on a specific object or task. They can become consumed by it and are as a result are absolutely cut-off and oblivious to everything else. an example of this manifesting is that they may watch the same movie again and again without realising, or read a certain part of a book repeatedly with no reaction or loss of concentration. Later in life this behavior might turn into over-eating or substance-abuse or other compulsive behavior.
Another increasingly reported variation of ADD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder known as ADHD. This leads to sufferers always needing to stay busy, moving from place to place or being unable to slow down. It is increasingly being diagnosed in young teenagers. This can drive parents mad and keep them up nights in an attempt to calm their child and entice them to sleep. These children and young adults will find it difficult to switch off but they can experience many of the events above. While experience of this type of patient has led Psychologists to conclude that ADD is not a problem that a child will grow out of naturally they have also quite strongly rejected any link with the parent causing this disorder. There is no direct causal relationship between what a parent does an how likely a child is to develop ADD or ADHD. So if your child is suffering from ADD stop blaming yourself, instead recognize the problem for what it is and contact a specialist as soon as possible.
Lisa
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.