Do you wonder if your child has ADHD?
Do you feel like your child is always the one getting into trouble or has difficulty behaving around other children at play dates or parties? Have you noticed other parents giving you the stink eye? Is going to a restaurant exhausting? Is your child always in motion? Does she talk your head off and interrupt constantly?
Or perhaps the opposite is true. Maybe your child is always a bit “out of it,” lost in her thoughts, day dreaming and not paying attention. She may forget school assignments and lose jackets, library books and other personal possessions.
Or your child may be a little bit or a LOT of both.
All of these might be indications that your child has ADHD (or ADD as many people refer to it).
Perhaps a teacher or school counselor has suggested your child is overly active or lacks focus. Maybe your pediatrician has brought up the possibility of ADHD. Deep down, you wonder if your child has ADHD. You may be a bit frightened of a diagnosis, fearing your child will be labeled by others. Whether your child is officially diagnosed or not, some people in their lives have probably labeled them, and with worse labels than a child with ADHD. They may refer to them as the “space cadet” or the “bull in the china shop” or the loud, boisterous or even angry kid.
Myself, I’d much rather have a child diagnosed with ADHD than be labeled with such derogatory terms.
And guess what, having ADHD is OK.
Read this next line multiple times ….
Your child can still lead an amazing, joy-filled, successful life. The key is for them to learn to manage their ADHD.
The first step in that process is finding out whether or not they have it.
In general, a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may have some of the following behaviors:
- Forgetful
- Lacks focus
- Makes careless mistakes
- Day dreamer
- Has many unfinished tasks
- Can’t manage emotions – gets especially angry or upset, can’t tolerate frustration or when things don’t go their way
- Loses things
And/Or
- Interrupts
- Fidgets and squirms
- Can’t sit still
- Can’t wait their turn
- Talks too much
- Lacks good social skills
- Extremely active
- Impulsive
If you think this sounds like your child, it may be time to have them evaluated. Heather England is a Licensed Clinical Psychotherapist at Sana Holistic Care who conducts thorough ADHD evaluations. Parents consistently say completing an evaluation truly helped them to better understand their child and was the start of their child learning to manage their “ADHD” behaviors.
Heather is currently taking a hiatus from psychological testing, including IQ testing and ADHD evaluations. If you would like names of other local providers, please see this page for options.
https://heatherengland.com/colleagues/
Thanks!