ADHD – Attention deficit hyperactive disorder

As the name itself is explanatory, kids with ADHD suffer from lack of attention, are very hyper or restless and are very impulsive which is not appropriate for a kid’s age. They are unable to control their anger, pay attention to one particular task at hand, or sit in one place for even a short duration of time. Now many people say it’s common for kids to be inattentive in class or be hyper or impulsive but when situations become very hard to control that’s when kids need to be intervened through correct diagnosis and therapy and/or medications.

Now next question which arises is what causes ADHD in kids? Reasons may vary.

Environmental factors: Intake of alcohol or smoking by pregnant mother, even exposure to tobacco smoke, high level of stress or tension during pregnancy, intake of junk food or more amount of caffeine etc. effects the foetus brain development. Kids prefer crunchy & processed food like wafers, etc. sugary foods, cocoa, coffee, aerated drinks contains high level of caffeine, which affect their moods, and also affects their attention capacity and trigger hyper-activeness. Also now-a-days kids are addicted playing games on smartphones and laptops. That can also trigger or it may be one of reasons which trigger ADHD.

Genetic factors: Many doctors say if dad had trait of hyperactive or impulsive nature it gets carried to the kid.

Other factors: Premature birth, low birth weight of the kid, or infections during pregnancy or birth or early childhood also can result in ADHD in later stages. Family dysfunction or poor educational system, high academic expectations or emotional abuse can also be some of reasons for ADHD. The youngest child in a class can develop ADHD traits as being youngest and developmentally behind than their older classmates and constant comparison can affect their moods too.

Reasons may be numerous but how to tackle this behavior in kids? The only remedy is once you realize the kid’s behavior is not normal or you feel he/she is getting more restless or is getting difficult to control, get the child diagnosed by your pediatrician. Most of the kids get late treatment mainly because most of parents have difficulty in accepting that their kid needs help. They just treat their kids behavior as normal childhood behavior until something big or untoward happens.

My 1 request to all parents, if you ever find anything different in your kid’s behavior, please speak to your pediatrician and get it ruled out. It’s not only for their betterment but also for ours.