Solutions For Children With ADD/ADHD

In addition to appropriate medication, parents can experiment with the following recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

  • Put your child on a daily schedule; structure helps keep a child calm.
  • Minimize time spent in overly stimulating environments, such as shopping centers and arcades.
  • Reward your child for good behavior. Kids with ADHD get plenty of attention as a result of their negative behavior -- it's important to balance this with an equal amount of praise.
  • If your child does become disruptive, do not resort to physical punishment. Instead, remove your child from the situation, distract your child with some other activity, or have your child spend some quiet time alone.

Fundamentally, much more time/effort has to be invested in raising ADD/ADHD children. A difficult concept for older generations to accept is that there is no such thing as a BAD CHILD that lacks DISCIPLINE. ADD/ADHD children require additional supports/training to enable them to be successful. The techniques listed here are by no means exhaustive nor are they all applicable to, or useful for all ADD/ADHD children.

Transitioning -- ADD children have a difficult time adjusting to changes (see item c) whether they be immediate requests or longer term ones. Alerting children of upcoming changes (i.e.: we are leaving in 5 minutes) can lessen the impact of the change.

Rules - rewards/consequences -- the simple act of outlining house rules complete with punishments is the first step in defining behaviors.

Time-outs -- these are probably the most widely used form of punishments. These have two benefits: removal of your child from the situation and time for contemplation/learning.

Removal of privileges -- these should be defined by the parents and identified to your child.

Physical violence -- washing the mouth with soap, spankings or other forms of physical punishment is discouraged. It generally only reinforces negative behaviors.

Structure/consistency -- ADD children seem to be more effective in highly structured environments. Consistency is also a form of structure.

Deflection/redirection -- sometimes rather than facing a situation/behavior directly, it may be more useful/timely to refocus your child on to something else.

Planned ignoring -- the act of ignoring (but letting your child know that you are deliberately doing it) a child's wants/behaviors when they are inappropriate should not be used too regularly as it may adversely affect your child's self-esteem.

Advocacy -- education -- the parent must become an advocate on behalf of their children. Parents must ensure relatives, teachers and peers understand the issues of your child. This may include teaching people about ADD.

Praise -- this is a very simple but effective method of highlighting things that your child is doing correctly and may include rewards/prizes.

Medication -- there is a great deal of pressure from the media and from uninformed/uneducated people that attempt to make parents feel guilty for medicating a diagnosed ADD/ADHD child. This may come from the thought that children are being given tranquilizers to slow them down, when, in fact, in most cases the children are being given stimulants. A simple analogy is to that of a child with diabetes. Should the child be denied a chemical that allows is system to function correctly? Educate yourself about the medication and its impact on your child, and then educate those who criticize you and your diagnosis/treatment team.