Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) refer to a group of related conditions in which kids, and sometimes adults, have trouble staying focused, fidget a lot, and tend to jump from one thing to another. These students struggle in school because of the need to sit and listen quietly to the teacher, get assignments done, and prepare for exams.
If you suspect that your child may have ADD or ADHD, he or she should be tested by a clinical psychologist, a psychiatrist, or a developmental /behavioral pediatrician to confirm the diagnosis. The standard treatment is either behavioral modification therapy (counseling and related techniques), such as may be conducted by a psychologist, or drug therapy, as may be implemented by a psychiatrist, with such drugs as Adderall (amphetamine) or Ritalin (methylphenidate), which are central nervous system stimulants, but which seem to help children cope with the disorder and stay focused.
ADD and ADHD are mainly medical illnesses. However, in my fifteen years as an educator and academic tutor, I have seen many borderline cases, kids that, if given the appropriate environmental stimuli at the right times, might have avoided the problem altogether.
Heading It Off at the Pass
Why is it that so many children are now diagnosed with ADD? Such a condition was uncommon back in the day. What’s the story? Well partly the observed trend may be due to increased diagnosis, as doctors are more likely to make a diagnosis of ADD if it is considered a common medical condition. But are there other factors that have led to an increase in actual prevalence of the condition, rather than just increased diagnosis?
School and academic objectives are focused on long-term gratification. Often times, the significance of grades is not brought home until a student is rejected by his first choice college, can’t get in to graduate or professional school, or can’t find a job that he wants or that pays enough. It is true that a parent can make academic success more concrete by tying grades to a system of carrots and sticks, but other than that, grades remain pretty abstract. Some students seem to be naturally motivated to keep up good grades; others don’t seem to care too much.
Let’s compare academics to other influences that may be competing for a student’s time and attention: video games, television, internet, instant messaging, cell phone text messaging, ipods, and boyfriends or girlfriends. All of these other ways that students can spend their time have an advantage over academic pursuits: they offer instant gratification. Because children are often exposed to these instant gratification inputs during critical brain developmental phases of their lives, children’s brains become hard-wired for instant gratification, possibly in the brain’s reward center, the limbic system. In this educator’s opinion, another name for being hard-wired for instant gratification is the medical diagnosis of ADD or ADHD. A study published in the New York Times (www.nytimes.com) seems to support this assessment. Two groups of toddlers were studied for language development skills: one group interacted with people and practiced saying words, and the other group spent an equivalent amount of time watching the Baby Einstein educational DVD. It was found that the babies who watched the DVDs had developed language skills less advanced than those babies who interacted with adults practicing speaking words. So if your child is or could become ADD, what should you do to sidestep this problem?
Mainly, get rid of the garbage- video games, TV, DVDs, instant messaging and the internet at too young an age- and start interacting with your toddler, reading books, and providing stimulating play environments that encourage exploration and discovery. Get your kids involved in activities that require discipline and focus as early as possible. Reading, playing sports, especially with a competitive bent as opposed to just running around, learning musical instruments, doing regular chores, building things, taking care of a garden, working outside with a parent, and learning languages are great examples of things that children should begin to do as early in life as possible. What these activities have in common is that they all involve delayed gratification: the idea that if you want to do something well and get real enjoyment out of it, you have to work at it; success does not just happen instantaneously. Great violinists are not born, great violinists are made. Also, for kids who are primarily hyperactive, it is especially important to channel their abundant energy in constructive ways by getting them involved in intense physical activities, in which they can release some of that excess energy.
As an educator, I have noticed a correlation between children who have played video games from an early age and the likelihood that they will be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD as teenagers. Correlation does not prove causation, but the coincidental emergence of ADD or ADHD in a large percentage of children who have played video games extensively from an early age is troubling. Therefore, I recommend other activities than video games for very young children, and as much as possible, avoidance of electronic media in general for very young children.
In most families, it is very likely that kids will spend at least some time on the previously mentioned distracters, such as instant messaging and TV. So what is a parent to do? First, try to delay introduction of these distracters into your child’s life as long as possible. Second, put time limits on the distracters, or make your children balance time spent with distracters with time spent constructively engaged in the positive activities previously mentioned. Third, put content limits on the distracters, as not all distracters are equally troublesome; a child who discovers pornography on the internet is much more likely to run into addiction and time loss issues than that one who watches Gilligan’s Island on Nick-at-Nite. This may mean installing internet monitoring software such as Net Nanny or Surfwatch. Fourth, put the distracters into the category of a privilege to be earned rather than an automatic right; students who are not performing up to their capabilities should lose these privileges, until their performance improves. Fifth, allow the student time with distracters only after they have completed what they are supposed to do. This means that you as a parent need to know what is happening with your kids’ academics so that you can monitor their task completion. Of course, children who lack motivation need more monitoring than those who are highly self-motivated. Finally, keep in mind that distracters can be in the form of people just as much as technology. Before your send your child away for that weekend sleepover, ask yourself the question: “Would I be happy if my child were to become more like their friend Sally?” because, whether you like it or not, that will be the effect of your child spending time with that friend. Help your son or daughter cultivate friendships with people whose values are the same as your own, and exercise your veto power when it comes to their friends who do not share your values. Relative to ADD and ADHD, there is nothing worse for an ADD student than putting them in the company of friends who are also ADD. Each person reinforces the other’s inappropriate behavior, worsening the condition for everyone. So help your son or daughter to achieve academic success by encouraging relationships with high achievers. If you put these recommended techniques into practice, it does not guarantee that that your son or daughter will never develop ADD; however, it does decrease the likelihood that, if he or she is a borderline case, he or she will develop full-blown ADD with all of its concomitant troubles.