Adhd Impact On Family

The Impact on the Family

After reading the articles Driven to Distraction and Lost in Translation, both from Today's Parent magazine, I have learned many new things. I learned that it is sometimes not very easy to pick out a child with ADHD, even if it is your own child. It could take years to discover that a child has ADHD. It can be easily detected once the child has entered elementary school. One of the signs of ADHD is falling behind in school, or acting up and not being able to pay attention for long periods of time. This causes frustration for the child, the parents, teachers and the other students in the classroom. It is difficult for parents because they do not want to believe that their child has a disability. It is even harder for the child because they are the ones that have to deal with the name calling, being held back a grade or two and just knowing that they are different. The issue of being different for a child living with ADHD is very stressful and could make the child not want to learn new things or pay attention in school. They just give up on trying to learn.

From these articles I have also learned that it is easier to pick out boys with ADHD than it is with girls. This is because the boys are generally more active, restless and known for impulsiveness. Girls with ADHD are normally up and down in regards to their grades. One day she will get zeros and the next will be perfects on the same assignments. The attention level that boys show tends to be the same in girls with ADHD.

Choosing How to Live with ADHD

In the article, Growing up Hyperactive, a girl named Amber has ADHD. She struggled in school and was always known as the problem child. She did not have many friends, and she was never really welcomed in extracurricular activities. She once cried to her school principle because she wanted to be sterilized (isolated) from the other children so she could concentrate on her school work. Today, Amber gives talks to high school and university students about what it was like growing up hyperactive. Her stories are emotional and she still hasn't dealt with a lot of the rejection and anger. She has not outgrown her hyperactivity but she has learned how to control it.

In the article, The Gift of ADHD? a boy named Sam grew up thinking he was a failure and that he was stupid. But now at age 24 he is a partner in a real-estate firm. He states that the key to his success is his ADHD. There