How to identify ADHD in your son or daughter

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a relatively common psychological disorder that encompasses a series of cognitive, emotional and behavioral symptoms that hinder the normal functioning of the person in his day to day.

ADHD is usually diagnosed in childhood due to the visible symptoms that are usually present at this stage and that affect both to academic performance and to attempts to apply consistent parenting standards and guidelines by parents and mothers. However, there are cases of adults and adolescents who have not been diagnosed and experience problems in their daily lives because they do not understand what is happening to them.

Below we present a summary with the main keys that will help us to identify a case of ADHD in our children or adolescents.

• Related article: "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), also in adults"

What are the main signs that allow us to identify ADHD in children?

ADHD commonly presents symptoms related to inattention, hyperactivity or both related elements. These symptoms eventually

decisively affect many areas of performance and life of the person, as well as your general well-being and mental health.

In this sense, there are a series of signs that allow detecting and diagnosing cases of ADHD in children and adolescents; however, this diagnostic process can only be carried out by health professionals and parents cannot unilaterally assume that their son or daughter has a case of ADHD. And we must not forget that this disorder lends itself very well to being confused with patterns of behavior that are simply uncomfortable or inconvenient from the point of view of view of adults, especially considering that in childhood it is more difficult to feel motivated to respect rules whose benefits are very abstract or long-term. term.

However, there are several behavioral patterns that help people detect signs of this alteration, something necessary to seek professional help and establish a diagnosis. Therefore, this list of signs that a child may have ADHD from the parents' point of view may be helpful.

1. constant motion

Hyperactive and impulsive behaviors are one of the most characteristic symptoms of ADHD and constitute a of the main keys that help both parents and psychologists to identify and diagnose the disorder.

These hyperactive-impulsive behaviors can be of a diverse nature, but the most common are constant movement, the need to stand up from a sitting position, the urge to climb by inappropriate places quite often and a permanent inability to be still in a certain place.

Children with ADHD, especially at very young ages, tend to tap their hands or feet on some surface both when they are standing and sitting, because the fact of being relatively still generates discomfort due to the lack of stimuli.

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2. Lack of attention

These children show noticeable difficulty paying attention both at home and at school.They are easily distracted, make mistakes at home and at school due to not being focused on what they are doing, and have trouble following directions of all kinds.

In addition to that, they also tend to have a lack of ability to focus on what they are told or a difficulty hearing when someone speaks directly to them or repeating anything they have heard Recently.

All these symptoms are defining signs that we may be facing a case of ADHD.

• Related article: "The 15 types of attention and what are their characteristics"

3. self-focused behavior

Children and adolescents with ADHD often have real difficulties in recognizing the needs, intentions and desires of other people, which causes them multiple difficulties when it comes to relating socially.

This inability to put themselves in another's shoes is due both to their impulsive behavior and to their lack of attention to others and to the internal states of those around them; In general, they are more interested in the environment than in the introspective processes.

4. Trouble staying silent

Problems staying quiet for a long time and constant interruptions to both adults and peers of the same age are also signs that may indicate a case of ADHD.

This can be effectively checked by testing the child's ability to silence. proposing as a challenge to keep quiet for a certain time.

5. Difficulty playing with other people

Difficulties in following directions and in participating in planned games with other people are notable in children and adolescents with ADHD, because they find it difficult to take into account the rules of the game in everything moment. This again affects both their social life and their self-esteem and psychological well-being.

Another of the essential characteristics of people with ADHD, especially in young children, is a constant inability to wait your turn, which prevents you from successfully performing all kinds of games and activities of group.

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6. organization problems

Organizational problems are another of the classic symptoms of ADHD, a deficit that is associated both with the impulsiveness that the person presents and with the inability of her to pay attention and concentrate.

This prevents the person from satisfactorily performing tasks of all kinds in everyday life and also those tasks that are required in the academic field, which causes a notable decline in the performance of the boy or girl and leads him/her to think that school "is not for him/her".

In addition to that, people with ADHD also tend to habitually forget things, such as doing homework, and they also tend to recurrently lose many objects of their property, such as school supplies or toys.

7. Difficulty completing tasks

Difficulty successfully completing tasks of all kinds both at home and at school It is also due to the lack of capacity for sustained attention that children and adolescents present with ADHD. Thus, projects that could bring them benefits in the medium and long term resist them, something that can affect your education.

How is ADHD treated?

ADHD intervention can be carried out from the field of psychology, and from psychiatry. From psychiatry Psychostimulant drugs are often used As the methylphenidate, based on the hypothesis that stimulating her mental activity will make the boy or girl stop having the need to search sources of external stimuli and can channel its energy through processes based on introspection and the management of thoughts.

However, this form of intervention only serves to mitigate the symptoms, not to train the person to better self-manage their behavior patterns and their ways of modulating their emotions. For the latter, psychotherapy is necessary.

Secondly, in the field of psychotherapy, a cognitive-behavioral treatment is usually chosen. This type of therapy offers support both in the internalization of routines and life habits that predispose the patient to better manage their impulses and counteract its influence, such as enhancing ways of thinking and feeling that facilitate the task of concentrating on what is being done without giving in to constant distractions. In other words, a double path is used: behavioral, on the one hand, and cognitive, on the other.

In this sense, if you are looking for psychotherapeutic support for a case of ADHD, we invite you to contact us.

In Cribecca Psychology We serve people of all ages and families both in person and by video call.