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Living with ADHD

Putting up with a child who suffers from ADHD might be hard but is definitely not impossible. Here are certain tips that can be used to help your child with his studies and to manage him at home:

Present composition: Everyone needs to know what is expected out of them. For this you need to plan out steps to be taken for achieving every day tasks such as getting ready for school or completing homework.

Keep instructions concise: A child with ADHD does not have a bad attention spam, hence his concentration will gist if instructions for something are too lengthy and incoherent. For this, it is necessary for the parents and teachers to break down tasks into little pieces.

Emphasize the positive: The word these children hear most is NO. The hardest bit is to find things that the child is good at and focus on them. Use labeled praise, focusing on the task that is being appreciated, such as, “You did a great job of cleaning up”, instead of a mere, “Thank you for helping me.”

Team work: It is necessary between the child, parents, teacher, physician and caregivers: It is necessary for the parents, teachers, and physician etc to stay in touch constantly so that everyone is aware of the condition of the child.

Use Rewards: Introduce a scheme to use in the classroom and at home for children to receive points that can be traded for other rewards or privileges. This is a trick that can be used to adjust the child’s behavior. The reward can be anything such as computer time or an activity of the child’s interest.

Become educated: Make sure that you are well-learnt and updated about ADHD, but make sure that your sources are real. Do not believe everything you hear.

Do not label: Take into consideration the child along with his talents, abilities as well as his temperament. Do not label him at all as it can overshadow everything else that you do. Make sure you do not look over other problems associated with ADHD such as depression, anxiety and learning difficulties.

You deserve a break: A lot of energy is required to live with a child suffering from ADHD, so it would be good for you to take a break at times and try to give yourself some space occasionally – either by taking up a babysitter or by soothing your demands for a scrupulous time period, so as to get some time off.