Manual to deal with your child’s ADHD

If you have kids, you’ve probably heard of it. ADHD (Attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity). You will have heard more than one person argue, out of ignorance, that children now have all kinds of syndromes and that a few years ago they were simply moved kids. Science disproves it. ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder (not a disease) and requires treatment. They are not just fidgety kids. Spain lacks official figures, but the scientific community calculates a prevalence of this disorder among the child population of 5%.

In the Education and Upbringing Club of EL PERIÓDICO today we are talking about the very interesting talk that María José Mas, pediatrician, neuropediatrician, scientific communicator and author of ‘The brain in its labyrinth’ (Next Door Publishers)offered a few days ago on social networks under the framework of the #Educational talksan initiative of the university professor Ingrid Mosquera. The presentation of the doctoravailable on your website– served to dismantle myths and offer useful information to parents who have suspicions that something is wrong with their children.

Normally, parents come to the consultation moved by a school failure, which, in all probability, hides something behind. It is not easy to identify and diagnose ADHD. “There are no biological markers that detect it. It cannot be seen in an analysis or in an X-ray & rdquor ;, explains Dr. Mas. ADHD is so complex that it can be confused with other disorders. Epilepsy, for example. OR autism. Or something as simple as lack of night rest, which causes the child to be so exhausted that he does not stop still the next day. Or an emotional problem derived from a very complicated family situation.

There is no single profile, but the World Health Organization (WHO) delimits ADHD under three clinical criteria: lack of attention or difficulty maintaining it, an impulsive response to what is happening around, and intense movement. “The problem is that there is no clear line. There are many gray areas and different degrees. The only thing we doctors can do is base ourselves on the observation of behavior. That is, behavior, cognitive and motor action & rdquor ;, explains the disseminator Mas.

All young children are mobile, so if the ADHD is mild it can unnoticed. Before the age of six, it is very difficult to make a diagnosis, although if there are obvious symptoms, it should be done earlier.

Dr. Mas insists on what she calls “the look of the child with ADHD & rdquor ;, a kid who seeks acceptance and does not find it. “How unfair because the child is told all the time that he acts badly, but he does not understand what he is doing wrong & rdquor ;.

Pharmacotherapy

In many cases, the pharmacological treatment is necessary. It is up to the specialist, be it the neuropediatrician or the child psychiatrist, to make the decision about the medicine that the patient should take. Medical treatment must be accompanied by educational and psychological treatment.

As in all neurodevelopmental problemsthe school and the teachers are a fundamental part of the care that a child with ADHD should receive.

A child with ADHD has problems with attention, which is very complex, although there are two basic types: selective (choosing the most important stimulus of all those we are receiving) and sustained (maintaining it). “A good practice for teachers is, for example, to put students with ADHD in the front row and not too close to the window to avoid distractions. It is also advisable to have the desks in order and not with 50 notebooks on top & rdquor ;, recommends the specialist.

The teacher should help organize the information received by the student with ADHD. But it is a complex task in which they should not be alone. “I am in favor of inclusion, but inclusion involves providing teachers with resources and material,” insists the doctor, who demands that teachers receive the support of the school’s pedagogical counselors to draw up an individual plan, since be it curricular or methodological.

Dr. Mas concludes that the society must change the look towards this type of patients. Precisely to offer information and dismantle myths, the journalist Milagros Martin-Lunas beanie just published the book ‘My life with ADHD’, where -accompanied by the comments of the doctor César Soutullo- she narrates her experience as “mother of a prince & rdquor; with that disorder.

After noticing strange things about your baby and feeling frustrated as a motherthe diagnosis was a blow but, at least, it was the scientific evidence that something was wrong in neurodevelopment of her prince. “Finally someone understood me and agreed with me. Until then, the trend had been the opposite: you are not a good mother, you do not know how to educate himyour son has the emperor syndrome”.

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“My son -continues the journalist- was the terror of the park, he refused school and did not want to learn. My sixth sense told me that something was not going well. I was tired of being told at school that nothing was wrong, that everything was going well”. From the diagnosis, Milagros began a fight without quarter for the health of his son. Aware of the tunnel that many families go through, she has written the book to help them and tell them that they are not alone.