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My husband describes us as ADD++. Finding activities that help her to focus and encouraging them is exactly the right thing to do. We used karate very effectively until they were teens and went on to other activities. Also making sure the classroom teacher understands the child needs challenging work is a good help too. Bored kids become labeled as ADD kids very quickly.
I am going off on a deep whatever here but I will say this - not one of my kids were ever medicated. The school wanted them medicated even at 6 yo, but I see no reason why any 6 yo needs medication. They are simply six years old. In my experience I have only seen 1, and I repeat only 1, child at 6 that really needed medication. The rest would have done fine with intervention and behavioral modifications. The medication is simply easier to dispense and less work. But the behvior modifications and interventions are more useful for the child long term.
The sad thing is that the medicine works, even if the kid is not really ADD. Make sure your child is checked for higher ability (giftedness) the list of adjectives that describe ADD and giftedness are synonyms. So many kids that are simply bright and question what is being done are mislabeled as ADD so they can be medicated and controlled.
These kids are bright. You need to have definitive discipline. And all behaviors have consequences, both good and bad. My kids knew what they were. When they misbehaved, even at six, I would ask, what are the consequences? They knew the answer and said what it was. It calms them down amazingly. Holding them accountable is important. They know this and need it.
My oldest's form of discipline was writing sentences, even at 6. He would beg me for them when he did something wrong. He would then go and write, and write, and write, sometimes over 100 lines (we would start at 10 and count by fives until he stopped what he was doing). He went crazy if I didn't follow though. And he NEEDED to do the lines. Once they were done he knew he had completed his discipline.
Hope this isn't too much. But havng been there and done that, and I distrust an education system and its insistence that most kids have ADD and need to be medicated etc etc without the proper training of both the parents and teachers. This is not in the best interests of any child, but is easier for the teachers. (BTW I am an educator).
Yes it is HARD raising such a child. Try three. I stayed at home because it was a full time job raising them. I home schooled them at various times because the schools did not understand them. Some days I wanted to pull my hair out and give up.
Stepping down from my soapbox
My husband describes us as ADD++. Finding activities that help her to focus and encouraging them is exactly the right thing to do. We used karate very effectively until they were teens and went on to other activities. Also making sure the classroom teacher understands the child needs challenging work is a good help too. Bored kids become labeled as ADD kids very quickly.
I am going off on a deep whatever here but I will say this - not one of my kids were ever medicated. The school wanted them medicated even at 6 yo, but I see no reason why any 6 yo needs medication. They are simply six years old. In my experience I have only seen 1, and I repeat only 1, child at 6 that really needed medication. The rest would have done fine with intervention and behavioral modifications. The medication is simply easier to dispense and less work. But the behvior modifications and interventions are more useful for the child long term.
The sad thing is that the medicine works, even if the kid is not really ADD. Make sure your child is checked for higher ability (giftedness) the list of adjectives that describe ADD and giftedness are synonyms. So many kids that are simply bright and question what is being done are mislabeled as ADD so they can be medicated and controlled.
These kids are bright. You need to have definitive discipline. And all behaviors have consequences, both good and bad. My kids knew what they were. When they misbehaved, even at six, I would ask, what are the consequences? They knew the answer and said what it was. It calms them down amazingly. Holding them accountable is important. They know this and need it.
My oldest's form of discipline was writing sentences, even at 6. He would beg me for them when he did something wrong. He would then go and write, and write, and write, sometimes over 100 lines (we would start at 10 and count by fives until he stopped what he was doing). He went crazy if I didn't follow though. And he NEEDED to do the lines. Once they were done he knew he had completed his discipline.
Hope this isn't too much. But havng been there and done that, and I distrust an education system and its insistence that most kids have ADD and need to be medicated etc etc without the proper training of both the parents and teachers. This is not in the best interests of any child, but is easier for the teachers. (BTW I am an educator).
Yes it is HARD raising such a child. Try three. I stayed at home because it was a full time job raising them. I home schooled them at various times because the schools did not understand them. Some days I wanted to pull my hair out and give up.
Stepping down from my soapbox
