Tuesday, January 25, 2011

How do you know if your child with ADHD experiences anxiety before they participate in a new activity?

Many children with ADHD experience anxiety that follows them everywhere. Clearly, not all children with ADHD have paired anxiety, but that being said, many of them do. You might be asking yourself that you start a new activity without any anxiety and your other children begin a new activity without any perceptible anxiety, so why does your child with ADHD have anxiety when he participates in a new activity? Oftentimes, there is no actual reason, except for the fact that anxiety may be part of a child’s symptoms of ADHD.

What are some signs that will alert you as to whether or not your child with ADHD experiences anxiety upon beginning something new? Here are a few signs:

 He refuses to go to the activity

 He goes to his room and refuses to come out

 He says, “I’ll go next time, but not today.”

 He shows some of the more typical external signs of anxiety, such as, shaking, perspiring, pacing, twitching, shortness of breath and/or an upset stomach

Oftentimes, parents do not wait for a professional to tell them that their child has a diagnosis of anxiety before having a conversation with their child about his anxiety. (However, it is ESSENTIAL to obtain a diagnosis from a professional if you suspect that your child has anxiety, in terms of what symptoms to anticipate, in addition to when, why and how to predict those symptoms, as well as to decide if medication is indicated.) What I mean, is that a parent typically observes a child’s symptoms of anxiety before anyone else does so. How can you help your child to diminish his anxiety? Check out my next entry…

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