What is ADHD
This article can be found at http://www.spark.org.sg. I personally find it is a great resource to read up on understanding ADHD.
You can compare and see what kind of traits your kid possess if you suspect them to have ADHD. Words in blue are my findings of Miloboy and Sweetie, my second child, when compared to the article.
(Miloboy did an assessment of ADHD earlier this year and he is diagnosed with ADHD, with inattention as the Primary Characteristic.)
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ADHD is generally considered to be a neurobiological disorder. Researchers believe that the symptoms of ADHD are caused by chemicals in the brain not working properly. It is characterised by the inability to sustain focused attention, impulsivity and hyperactivity.
There are 3 types, based on the latest diagnostic criteria of the American Psychiatric Association, the DSM-IV:
- ADHD with the combined characteristics of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention,
- ADHD with inattention as the primary characteristic, and
- ADHD with hyperactivity and impulsivity as primary characteristics.
Both my kids have ADHD with Inattention as the Primary Characteristic. Miloboy has ‘more’ displays of ADHD than Sweetie. Her Inattentiveness and Hyperactivity is most evident when she is at a shop, or an enclosed area. You will see her playing, touching, or even climbing up things….. and yes, she likes to climb to the window, and we had our window grills fixed up when we had our house.
The first and third types are most often and easily identified because these children tend to have symptoms that are highly noticeable. These are the ADHD children who are loud, always on the go, take risks, engage in dangerous behavior, and talk back to adults.
My Miloboy talks loudly, especially so when he is excited. My therapist taught me to let him know what ‘level’ he is operating at.
E.g. Level 1 is Whispering. Level 5 is Shouting.My Miloboy always operates at Level 4 and 5. Now, when he talks loudly, I will tell him to operate at Level 3, and sometimes he will listen to me with a smile. And when I need to whisper, I will tell him I am now operating at Level 1. And it never fails to bring a smile to his face.
Another noticeable symptom is Miloboy talks back to adults. He talks back to his teacher, not only me…. But well, he is sometimes cute when he does that. Cos he likes to be funny at times.
The second group, which is often where females are placed, are the quiet daydreamers. They lose personal belongings, can’t work alone, don’t finish tasks, and are often lost in their own thoughts.
Miloboy loses belongings but Sweetie seldom loses, rather, you will see new things in her pencilcase…. She can’t work alone. She needs me by her side in order to finish her homework. (This is a very common trait amongst kids)
As for Miloboy, he can do it all by himself, provided nobody distracts him. Sweetie likes to distract Miloboy as she wants him to play with her. Miloboy displays more “Daydreaming” trait than Sweetie. Not that she doesn’t.
Researchers estimate that ADHD occurs in as few as 1% and as many as 20% of children under 18 years of age. The most accepted estimate is 3-5% of school-going children. That translates into 2 such students in a class of 40 in Singapore’s context.
List of Problems typically faced by ADHD children:
- Poor attention in class (Miloboy always gets this complaint)
- Poor classroom participation and failure to ask teachers for necessary help (applies to Miloboy too)
- Poor understanding of material taught (unless they are ‘gifted’ with high IQ) (If so, Miloboy should have high IQ, cos he can understand)
- Poor study skills (Hmm, what’s study skill?)
- Poor organization skills (ie. does not know how to organize time and work) (applies to both Miloboy and Sweetie)
- Great difficulty in doing homework (Applies to Sweetie, she knows her work but simply refuses to do it…)
- Failure to complete (and hand up ) homework (Applicable to Miloboy at times)
- Sloppy or illegible handwriting (Miloboy is slow, so he rushes to finish his work and his handwriting is sloppy now compared to first half of this year.)
- Disrupting the classroom (Not applicable to both kids, lucky…)
- Getting into fights with peers (due to poor social skills) (Miloboy’s classmates find him funny and likes to play rough to Miloboy, e.g. pulling his shirt, chase after him and you will see hand marks on his shirt..)
- Low self esteem (Both kids display some traits of low self esteem….)
