How to Treat a Child with ADHD: 7 Practical Tips

Tips for raising or educating children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Children diagnosed with adhd (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) present a series of particular characteristics, which make their development, their interactions, their communication and their evolution to be in a certain way.

Logically, each child is different, but knowing these basic characteristics can help us to know how to treat a child with ADHD. how to treat a child with ADHD..

In this article, in addition to explaining the profile of a child with ADHD, we explain some guidelines (and how to apply them) that will help us to relate to them, improve their quality of life and improve their self-control and behavior, among others.

What does a child with ADHD look like? Symptoms

Before offering some guidelines on how to treat a child with ADHD, in order to promote their development, facilitate their learning and the emergence of appropriate behaviors, improve their wellbeing, strengthen bonds with them... We believe it is important to make a brief "x-ray" of the characteristics that children with ADHD may present.

To do so, it is important to understand that each child is different, it is important to understand that each child is a worldand that a diagnosis does not have to - and should not - pigeonhole or label him/her in any way.

It is true, on the other hand, that ADHD, like all disorders, presents a series of characteristic symptoms that will manifest themselves idiosyncratically in each child. The key symptoms in ADHD are three: hyperactivity, impulsivity and inattention.

For its part, the DSM-5 (Diagnostic Manual of Mental Disorders) considers that ADHD can be of three types: with predominance of inattention, with predominance of hyperactivity or combined (with predominance of both types of symptoms).

1. Hyperactivity

Let us remember that there are ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). In the case of presenting hyperactivity, this translates into a constant need to move around.

Parents often speak of their children with ADHD as "kids who have a motor in them, who have an engine inside them. "children who have an engine inside, which never shuts off".. In other words, referring to this symptom, these are children who are mobile, restless, have difficulty sitting or standing, etc.

Impulsivity

Impulsivity, another key symptom in ADHD, consists, broadly speaking, in the inability (or great difficulty) to reflect before acting. Thus, they are children who act on impulse, who find it difficult to think before doing or saying things. who find it hard to think things through before doing or saying them, who have difficultyThey have difficulty waiting for turns, are impatient, etc.

Logically, all this can be worked on, and like the rest of the symptoms, it is not something that defines them or "catalogs" them as such indefinitely. It is simply another characteristic of ADHD. Often, as a result of this impulsivity and difficulty in waiting, behavioral disorders associated with the disorder (or for some other reasons) appear..

3. Inattention

Inattention, also present in many cases of ADHD (specifically in the combined and inattentive subtypes), consists of the following difficulty in maintaining sustained attention (concentration) for a certain period of time to a specific stimulus.to a specific stimulus.

Often there is also a deficit in selective attention (ability to change the attentional focus), although what predominates is the deficit in sustained attention.

4. Interference

Finally, in order to be diagnosed with ADHD, it is necessary that the aforementioned symptoms interfere in the child's life, and that they also appear in the child's life.and that they appear in more than one context: for example, at home and at school.

How to treat a child with ADHD

How to treat a child with ADHD? Yes, normally, but if we want to adapt to him, empathize, understand him, enhance his learning and improve his quality of life, we must follow a series of guidelines. Here are some of them (although there are more):

1. Work on self-control

Self-control is a difficult area in children with ADHD, since, mainly due to their impulsivity, they have problems in relation to the modulation of their own actions. That is, they find it difficult to control their actions in an appropriate way, and they have difficulties to reach that sense of internal control so necessary many times.

Thus, a first guideline on how to treat a child with ADHD is to work with him/her on his/her self-control. How can we do it? Whether we are teachers, educators, psychologists, parents... here are two resources.

1.1. The turtle technique

The first tool that we propose is the turtle technique, which ct consists of teaching the child to respond to the key word "turtle" (by shrinking, closing his or her mouth, closing his or her mouth). (shrinking, closing his body, putting his head between his arms in a kind of imaginary shell...).

He will do this when he feels overwhelmed, angry or threatened, in order to be able to control his emotions and impulses in front of environmental stimuli, for example.

1.2. Self-instruction training

Another useful technique for working on self-control is through self-instructions, which involve helping the child to internalize the following steps, before making a decision:

• STOP
• THINK
• I ACT

We can work with images or pictograms, for example through the "STOP" symbol (traffic sign).

2. Reinforce appropriate behavior

It is important, in relation to how to treat a child with ADHD, to work also on his behavior. For this there are different strategies. One of them is recognizing, reinforcing and rewarding their appropriate behaviorsin order to increase these behaviors.

3. Apply behavior modification techniques

Beyond reinforcing appropriate behaviors, we can also use different behavior modification techniques in order to improve their inappropriate behaviors (reducing them and replacing them with others).

This can be done through different techniques (either at school, at home...), such as:

3.1. Time out

It consists of removing the child from the reinforcing context in which he/she is immersed (e.g. the classroom or the playground), so that he/she "loses" the reinforcers. (for example, the classroom or the playground), so that he/she "loses" the reinforcers (that maintain his/her problem behavior) temporarily, and can reflect on his/her inappropriate behavior. It is recommended to apply one minute of time-out for each year of the child's age.

3.2. Response cost.

This technique involves the child losing a reinforcing object (or token, in the context of the child's age). (or a token, in the context of a token economy), as a consequence of inappropriate behavior.

4. Avoid criticizing him in front of others

It seems obvious enough, but sometimes it is not. Another guideline on how to treat a child with ADHD is the following: do not criticize his behavior, or speak ill of it, in front of other children.

This is important so as not to diminish their self-esteem and that they do not feel ashamed, since many times it is something they cannot control, or they simply have not been taught how to act better in an alternative way.

5. Avoid excessive use of punishment

Many times, punishment serves little purpose, because it does not teach the child alternative behaviors to the inappropriate behavior. In addition, it is not easy to find a truly effective punishment, it is not easy to find a really effective punishment.

That is why we should avoid its use with children with ADHD, and replace it with: reinforcing appropriate behaviors, using overcorrection (which does teach the child a positive behavior), etc.

6. Explain the behavior that is expected of him/her.

Another important guideline we can use is the following: explain to the child what is expected of him, for example when he is at home and must do certain tasks, or in the classroom, at the park, etc.

Many times, they do not do it (or even act inappropriately) precisely because of ignorance, because no one has explicitly explained to them what is expected of them, and not because they do not want to or do not know how to do it..

7. Describe their behavior, avoiding the verb "to be".

This is important not only for interactions with him/her, but also for possible school or psychological reports that we should make on a child with ADHD.

Thus, the ideal is to describe his/her behavior (e.g., "to be"), the ideal is to describe his/her behavior (e.g. "his/her behavior has been inappropriate..."), and not to describe him/her (e.g. "he/she is a bad child..."). (e.g. "he/she is a rude child...").

Bibliographical references:

• American Psychiatric Association -APA- (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Madrid: Panamericana.
• Caballo (2002). Manual for the cognitive-behavioral treatment of psychological disorders. Vol. 1 and 2. Madrid. Siglo XXI (Chapters 1-8, 16-18).
• Redondo, J.J. (2011). TDAH. Educational intervention program. MDELC SÁNCHEZ. International Journal of Developmental and Educational Psychology, INFAD Journal of Psychology, 1(1): 621-628.