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Kath's Korner
A.D.D /A.D.H.D Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
My oldest son was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder at the age of six, while at school. He was having problems long before this of course, but as he was my first and only child almost up to when he was diagnosed, I thought his activity level was normal. I had heard much about young boys being very active and so I put it down to this. In retrospect there were many other signs but I wasn't aware of it at the time. And so began my long journey to understand what ADHD is, and how it affects my son, and what we could do. I learnt very quickly to only ask people who were directly affected by it. Others were very mis-informed and often suggested it was a lack of parental discpline that was the problem. The largest source of good information actually came from other parents with ADD/ADHD children. Hence my reason for this web page. I wanted to tell others the things that have helped us in the hope it may help someone else. These are my own thoughts and tips on ADHD and what works for us. Some of the suggestions may not work for your child, but they are here for you to try out if you wish. In my experience, and from hearing from many other parents with ADD/ADHD children, changing diet or discplining techniques or other things such as below, will only help to elivate some of the problems of ADD/ADHD, (mainly the wriggly hyperactive movements), but it will NOT cure ADD/ADHD. So please, don't expect miracle cures! However, I'm sure that you will find something that will help your child, or just some encouragement for youself. Please let me know if you have been helped with anything or if you have some ideas. My email address is down the bottom. Please note: These pages are still under construction.
For myself learning about ADD/ADHD has taken a relatively short time, learning how to handle it and implementing new ideas takes longer. I'm always keen to hear from others how they live with it and what works for them. Let me know if you have some tips you would like to add. My email address is down the bottom of the page. I look forward to hearing from you! I also wanted to add here that while learning how to live and deal with ADD/ADHD seems daunting, there are some benefits in having ADD/ADHD. I know it can be hard to appreciate, especially when the going gets rough, but it does help to keep the benefits in mind! Also when your child's self esteem is getting low, it can do wonders to remind them of the things which they are good at. The benefits? They have great lateral thinking skills, often finding solutions to problems that others haven't thought of. They are good at motivating others to do things. They often become very knowlgeable about a particular interest as they have the ability to hyperfocus on something of interest to them. They are usually more empathic with others, especially with older people and disabled people.
LINKS Below I have some favourite links to others who have positive ADD sites and some articles. I hope you enjoy them too and please let me know if you find any other good sites.
Coping with ADD - A mother's point of view - I don't think I could of written a better list for mothers myself. Especially helpful for those whose children have just been diagnosed with ADD. ADHD and Children who are Gifted - Often, but not always, children with ADHD are also gifted. To make it even more confusing for you, the bored gifted child and the ADHD child acts in much the same way. They can be both gifted and have ADHD, or just be gifted, or just have ADHD. Make sure your child has been correctly diagnosed! Even though they may act the same way, they need different things. Pay Attention! Coping with Central Auditory Processing Disorder - CAPD is one of those things that often accompanies ADHD, or can be misdiagnosed as ADHD. One of the main symptoms with CAPD is that sounds are often heard as 'noise without meaning' by the brain as the pathways from the ear to the brain become overloaded. (Therefore someone who has CAPD may have heard something but not comphrended it, and then you get that same blank look that ADHD children are well known for.) Also sound levels seem to be higher than what they are. Believe me, CAPD is not only annoying, but also actually hurts the ears. 30 Tips on Managing ADD at Home - These are tips that our family has used with much success, with the exception of no.22 - Children with ADD respond to rewards and incentives. I found that Jonathon couldn't last any sort of time frame to get a reward. He always gave up very quickly after starting and I found the pressure put on him made his behaviour worse. Unexpected rewards worked much better for us. And heaps of praise. 25 Tips on the management of ADD within Families - Great article written by a doctor. Many helpful points and well worth reading.
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