ADHD is the most important and most common psychiatric problem of childhood that concerns the individual, family and society in particular. It consists of 3 main symptoms.
Attention Deficit: Attention deficit is defined as a child’s attention span being short for his age and being easily and quickly distracted, especially in academic areas such as reading, writing and mathematics. Problems become more apparent with the start of school life. Children with ADHD do not listen to the lessons, do not like to do homework, they do homework with the force of parents or teachers. They often get up from the desk for various excuses (such as going to the toilet, drinking water). While studying, they always want someone with them. They run away from their responsibilities, have difficulty in completing the work they have undertaken, and switch to another job without completing a task. Children with impaired auditory attention give the appearance of not listening to what is being said. They execute a command after repeating it several times. When you give a command, they say they will do it, but they do not do as they are told. They have difficulty in listening to the teacher at school and are easily distracted by external warnings. They deal with materials such as pencils, notebooks and erasers, and they cannot follow the lessons regularly. Due to their boredom in the lesson, they may exhibit behaviors such as speaking, cursing at their friends and making strange noises that will disrupt the attention and peace of the class. Others are distracted while the lesson is being taught and their minds are elsewhere, they think about what happened or will happen during the day, and they dream. This situation prevents them from listening and following the lectures with quality. The classroom teacher complains that the child either talks a lot in the lesson or does not listen to the lesson.
Reading and writing quality may be worse than their peers, notebook layout and writing may be distorted. They can make frequent mistakes while reading. It is common to make up words, skip syllables or add them. This can sometimes be confused with learning difficulties.
They can be forgetful, and they can quickly forget information you taught and thought they learned well. This is especially evident in long-term memory. Their time management is not good, they cannot be organized. They cannot develop a working order and system suitable for them, and they mostly do not like to study. Careless mistakes in exams are added to all these learning difficulties. Their impatience and boredom cause them to misread the questions asked and thus to misunderstand them. They can even answer the question they know very well with simple mistakes. Some have problems with failing to pass the exams. In the end, they take notes on information and less than they know, their self-confidence is damaged and they start to fear and hesitate about exams.
Children with attention deficit do not want to take responsibility for their daily work at home. They are often messy and dislike rules. Children with attention problems may be interested in activities they love and enjoy (computer, TV, games) for a long time. They are more reluctant to learn with rules.
Some of the children with attention deficit disorder may not be overly active or even very sluggish. These children are also called hypoactive children. Some of those with hyperactivity during childhood do not have hyperactivity and may be hypoactive when they enter adolescence.
Hyperactivity (Excessive activity): Generally, every child is expected to be active and energetic. The child runs, jumps, falls and plays loudly. All of these can come naturally. However, when hyperactivity is mentioned, more active and fidgety children come to mind compared to their peers. Not every hyperactive child is mobile and uncontrolled enough to climb a flat wall. Hyperactivity can be briefly defined as being fidgety, unable to sit, or inability to sit. Hyperactivity is a more prominent and noticeable symptom in preschool children (3-6 years old). These children do not like to sit, they run around the house, they do not understand the word stop and do. When they have to sit, their hands and feet are fidgety. They love to jump, climb and jump. They take shape while studying or even watching TV. He talks a lot, they often get into words when two people are talking. They cannot sit at the desk, so they do not like to study at the desk. Falls, injuries, and accidents are common in these children. Hyperactivity may decrease with age.
Impulsivity: Impulsivity, which can be described as taking action without thinking about the end, is the most serious symptom cluster that disrupts the social adaptation of these children. Their impatience, difficulty in waiting their turn, and not listening to directions are typical. As a result, impulsive movements and difficulties in recognizing boundaries, which can be harmful to themselves and those around them, may arise. When they are with their peers, they are labeled as ‘naughty children’ in the society and school because they overreact to events and disturb their friends with verbs and words. These children do not like rules and go against rules and authority because of their difficulties in being disciplined. They like to act according to their own thoughts, they are quite brave, they cannot learn from their mistakes.
Unlike other children, children with impulsivity generally do not understand punishment and reward, nor do they learn from a sad or bad event that has happened to them. For example, when a child persistently tries to climb to a high place that he should not climb, he is either stopped by the obstacles of the adults or he does not repeat such an action once he falls and gets hurt. The child with an impulsivity can repeat the same action over and over, even if he falls and hurts, or even if one side is hurt or even broken.
Children with impulsivity always insist on getting their wishes fulfilled when playing with other children or participating in a group activity. They determine the rules of the game themselves, interpret the rules according to themselves, break the rules from time to time and want to take all the power. In such a situation, other children become very uncomfortable and either quit the game or make moves that will cause a fight. Not being able to share toys with a friend, wanting to always have the best, not being able to tolerate defeat, not being able to wait in line, not being patient in situations that require patience are among the important reasons that spoil friendships. These children love violence, violent images, games and toys. They prefer movies and games with such images at home and on the computer screen. They try to portray the characters of the movie. They act like that character and say words like that character.
Misconceptions about the disease
ADHD is not a modern-day disease. It was first described scientifically 100 years ago. It is one of the most researched and diagnostically valid disorders among medical diseases. Recently, there has been an increase in awareness of the disease and applications to physicians, as the public has been enlightened and conscious about the disease and access to specialist physicians has become easier.
Accepting the behavior of a child with ADHD as normal and saying that “he is a child, he does it, it gets better in time” is unfair to the child and the society. Untreated ADHD cases have a high risk of developing severe behavioral disorders in their future lives, especially academic failure.
The culprit in the development of ADHD is not the family. ADHD is a disorder with a biological basis. Therefore, ADHD is not a problem of discipline. The problem only deepens when timely and appropriate approaches are not taken.
ADHD must be diagnosed by a Child Psychiatrist. ADHD has a risk of being confused with other psychiatric disorders with similar symptoms. In addition, ADHD can be seen together with other psychiatric and organic disorders. For example, Depression, Anxiety Disorder, Tics, Obsessions, Anemia, Hyperthyroidism etc.
Drugs used in ADHD treatment are not addictive. It has no permanent side effects physically. Families can safely use these drugs under the supervision of a doctor. In fact, there are many studies showing that drug treatment in children with ADHD prevents future alcohol and substance addiction. Since some of the drugs also increase academic performance, they are sold with special prescriptions (red prescription) in order to prevent unnecessary and high doses. Being sold as such does not mean that the drug is dangerous.
Each drug may produce some undesirable side effects when used for the first time. In such a case, you should consult your physician before stopping the drug and if the physician deems it necessary, you should discontinue the drug. Different drug alternatives may be considered in the treatment.
Apart from the scientific treatment of ADHD, there are few people who use alternative methods that will attract the attention of the family. Families should not trust these unscientific methods. (for example, music therapy, computer therapy, biofeedback application, diet therapy, polyvitamin applications).
Treatment:
The first condition of ADHD treatment is close cooperation and accurate information between family, school and physician. ADHD causes problems at home as well as at school. In addition to the problems related to learning, the problems experienced in friendships and the difficulty in obeying the rules can be overcome with the joint and healthy approaches of the family and the school. In order to regulate our relationship with the child, it is necessary not to misinterpret the symptoms of ADHD. Parents who interpret the child’s behavior or difficulty with the lessons as mischief or laziness tend to punish constantly to the extent that it disrupts their relationship with the child. However, it will be seen in a short time that these children do not understand much about punishments. In treatment, ways to re-establish a healthy relationship with the child are sought. The family’s attitudes towards the child are reviewed and mistakes are tried to be eliminated. Parents and educators should read scientific works on ADHD.
Medications have an important place in the treatment of ADHD. Drug therapy to increase attention and control behavior has been used for many years. The results obtained from drug treatment are affected by factors such as the child’s age, intelligence level, family compliance and persistence. With the introduction of drugs developed specifically for ADHD, the success rate of treatment has increased considerably. In addition to their success in treatment, these drugs are preferred because they are safe, not addictive in children, and have few side effects.
In our country, misinformation about psychiatric drug use also prevents children with ADHD from using drugs when necessary. The family’s refusal of the drug for fear of side effects delays the treatment and may cause irreversible results later on. If recommended by a child psychiatrist, drug treatment should not be avoided.
Which drug to use, how long the drug treatment will last and when it will end depends on the child’s condition, the course of ADHD, and his response to treatment. However, if the treatment is started in the early period, the rate of obtaining results is higher. Very few people need to use drugs after puberty or for life.
Special education programs should be applied to children who have learning difficulties due to attention deficit. Various supportive and behavioral psychotherapy techniques can be applied to correct negative behaviors and replace them with positive ones.
Recommendations for families and educators
Attention Deficit Disorder is a structural problem. It is a problem associated with the biochemical structure of our brain. It is a disorder that develops due to the poor functioning of the attention center. First of all, the family should accept the existence of attention deficit disorder problem in their child and should take this situation into consideration when directing the child’s behavior. If the attention problem negatively affects the child’s quality of life and/or reduces academic success, medication is definitely applied. The family should be informed about this issue and should continue the treatment with a child psychiatrist. Attention Deficit Disorder is a problem like “vision impairment”. Just as a child with astigmatism does not see well, it is not the fault of that child, nor is it the fault of attention deficit. It is a clinical picture that develops without the child’s control. In this case, not treating the child is actually an injustice to the child. It is inevitable that a child who encounters an undeserved treatment will have a self-confidence problem in the long run. The following approaches for parents with ADHD children can help them be constructive and minimize problems.
1. Accept that your child has ADHD.
2. Create some habits at home and things that are tied to rules and calendars.
3. Be patient, do not act impulsively, do not project your anger onto your child.
4. Spend time with your child and try to be with him
5. Listen to your child and pay attention to what they say.
6. Try to make eye contact while speaking and listening to your child
7. Treat your child softly and respectfully
8. Reassure your child that you will love and depend on him for life. please give.
9. Show your child that you love him
10. When you see your child’s positive behavior and success, say praiseworthy words
11. Share your feelings with your child
12. Do not expect your child to be perfect and do not ask him to be perfect
13. Trust your child and show that you trust him
14. Encourage the emergence of positive traits and abilities in your child
15. Do not call your child with unpleasant names
16. Do not fight or argue with your child.
17-Make sure your child attends a sports activity.
18. Help the child to design the study environment.
19. Warn him often about his responsibilities at home (such as tidying his room, arranging his clothes, washing his hands, brushing his teeth).
20. Do not get into arguments with your child on relatively simple matters.
21. Use fewer “no” words to your child with ADHD than other children. When you say “no”, try not to take a step back. The child needs to know that when parents say “no” to him, it won’t change it.
22. As parents, give common messages to your child.
In addition to all these, it is vital to always get expert support and to be followed closely. For this, it is necessary to apply and get help from child psychiatrists. I wish success to all parents in the most sacred and responsible task in life.
