Menu:
The symptomes of ADHD may appear and be observed by the parents in very small and preschooler children. The things that should worry them are the lack of attention, hyperactivity, the manifestation of a certain impulsive behaviour, but also the fact that the child suddenly starts running arround and becomes impossible for them to control, or loses interest in objects or activities he used to enjoy (games, television, etc.). The oppinion of an expert is required in order to establish whether a child is behaving normally, considering the fact that the rate of maturation is different from a child to another, that they have different personal features, temperament and level of energy. Specialists, such as psychologists, psychiatrists or even the child's pediatrician will establish the cause of the unusual behaviour , not necessarily provoqued by an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but possibly by the immaturity and exuberance of age.
At school age,the teacher's experience in working with children will most certainly detect anomalies in the child's learning behaviour. But there are times in which a quiet and cooperative behaviour draws no attention of the teacher on the difficulties to focus manifested by the child. Only the situations that demand greater attention and self – control make the difference between the children who need special attention and the „normal” ones. Even teachers can fail in the identification of this condition. But parents should be alarmed by problems in school, because this is where ADHD manifests most strongly. The lack of attention, doubled by hyperactivity in classes is often enough to detect the presence of this disease, and it will most probably get the attention of parents or teachers.
In case of suspicion of the ADHD condition who are the qualified proffessionals the family may address to?
The doctor of the family, or the child's pediatrician in colaboration with a specialist in mental diseases may be a good first choice. The present document provides names and addresses of national and local organizations that can help children and their families to achieve proffessional help.
It should be a specialist in ADHD, properly qualified to give the diagnosis for this disease, because psychologists and psychiatrists of children usually give differential diagnosis, but it may also be given by trained social workers.
Appropriate information regarding help services and qualified persons according to their needs is vital for the families in question. There are persons specialized on that affection. A colaboration is required for the psychiatrists that can provide means of treatment and indicate the necessary medication, the pediatrician which is familiar to physical and mental problems of a child and some psychologists able to help in the diagnosis and treatment of this illness. The family of the child needs more than knowing the proper therapy, they need instructions on how to deal with this problem. Because the complexity of the illness, more kinds of specialists should work together in order to deal with all its aspects: psychologists and psychiatrists will cover the emotional aspects while a neurologist deals with the very mental disorder and prescribes medication. As there are different specialities among the doctors and other proffessionals, there are also different levels of experience in dealing with ADHD, so the selection must be very carefull.
In order to perform an accurate expertise, one of the first things the specialist must do is to eliminate the possibility of taking similary symptoms for ADHD, as the following:
Taking into consideration the environments in which the child performs, the specialist should analize all the records for information that may exclude the false symptomes and also have a strong documentation on the family and schoolar life of the child to determine possible causes and effects of the child's unusual behaviour. It is important for him to know what is normal or strange in the child's current behaviour, in order to verify whether it matches the diagnosis criteria given by the DSM-IV-TR, which also means comunication with the child, not only accurate observation.
Best methods of analizing a child's behaviour to determine whether it can be considered normal (average) or not are developed by school teachers due to their experience in scaling social behaviour of children in small comunities such as classrooms. The accuracy of these scale ratings is given by great number of children evaluated by them, which sharpens their skill to perform a reliable evaluation.
Every person or tutor who had contact with the child will be questioned for information regarding the child's attitude in different circumstances, frequency and severeness of his behaviour, developing a rating scale. Tests of abilities, intelligence and other skills should be taken to determine whether the child in question presents dissabilities and the domains in which they manifest.
All the situations that may impose any kind of restrictions for the children with ADHD will be analized, focusing on the circumstances that demand a greater self – control and attention such as reading, math exercise, or a solicitating game, or those circumstances that don't follow a path or plan like parties. Less important are the situations in which the child has control, or finds himself in the middle of attention.In these cases,the free from restrictions child acts differently.
A series of questions the specialist must follow in his research, like to determine the kind of specific behaviours for the disease the child presents according to the most recent DSM, the frequency and the period of manifestation of these symptomes, the age of the child when he was struck by disease, whether the problems are chronic or periodic in their nature, whether his behaviour influences his relationships and activities, whether he has other kinds of problems. The importance of the answeres is crucial, because they determine the signifiance and duration of the child's behavioural features, so that he may be diagnosed with ADHD.
The accuracy of the diagnosis clarifies the problem's causes, allowing both the children and their families to move on with their lifes, aware of the nature of the problem and of the ways to get help. The colaboration of the school personel, and of the medical one, with the child's family drives to the best results in helping the children to get appropriate care and also the parents to control them.
The symptoms for ADHD are sometimes similar with a temperamental character for very young children. They can't keep interest in things for too long, they are very active impulsive. The best thing a parent can do is try work with his or her child to improve his or her behavior and look for abnormal manifestations for the age of the child. Wait to see the changes that take place in a period of time like 6 months or more and if after this time the symptoms haven't improved or had serious consequences, then it is best to see a professional.Click Here to Read More
It is not compulsory for any very active person,which lacks attention or proves himself/herself impulsive to be affected by ADHD. It is difficult even for the specialists to determine whether is ADHD,considering that many healthy people may be distracted, may forget things or speak too much spontaneously in certain situations. Click Here to Read More