Thursday, September 16, 2010

How to Avoid Frustration by the Child with ADHD: Keep him Correctly Informed

The child with ADHD must be taught to self-regulate his socially inappropriate behavior. The child must learn mechanisms for self-calming and exhibiting socially appropriate behavior in a consistent way. After the child calms down, the teacher or parent can offer the child cues to encourage him to talk about why he is so upset. They can also help the child with ADHD to try to prevent that problem from occurring again. Sometimes the answers are simple.

For example, the child with ADHD is overtired and demands that his parent buy him
a new toy now. Sometimes the answers are complex. For example, the parents of the child with ADHD are divorced. The child thought that his dad promised to take him out for the day, and the dad does not arrive. Let us think about what really may have happened.

The child did not listen carefully when his father told him the day that he was planning to come for a visit. The child, therefore, mixed up the days that his father was planning on coming to visit. When his father did not arrive on the day that the child with ADHD thought that he would, the child became very frustrated. Instead of asking his mother if this was the correct day, he became angry and overwhelmed with disappointment. This child was vulnerable and reacted to incorrect information, which resulted in him having a temper tantrum.

Children with ADHD are very vulnerable. It is vital for the teacher as well as the parent to make sure that the information the child is told is completely and correctly understood, so that socially inappropriate behavior does not erupt as a result of a misunderstanding of that information.

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