Often the most common cause of a child’s hyperactivity is a lack of attention. With his excessive mobility and busyness, he is trying to attract parents, peers, and teachers to himself. Sometimes, such a cause may be a feature of a person’s character. However, many other factors have the greatest influence: at risk children who were born through cesarean section, artisans, etc. Therefore, it is important to understand the root cause.
Judging by the statistics, hyperactivity occurs in almost every twentieth child, by the way, it should be noted that boys are two to three times more likely. It turns out that in the classroom you can meet at least one kid with excessive activity. Advice to parents of a hyperactive child is distributed to all and sundry, but in fact, you need to listen only to specialists.
Scientists have proven that hyperactivity is a diagnosis
For a long time, this diagnosis was considered only a feature of the child’s behavior, but more recently it was proved that this is a mental deviation that cannot be corrected by simple pedagogical methods. And if there is a hyperactive child in the family , what should parents do ? The advice of a psychologist will help you figure this out.
Interestingly, in 1970, studies were conducted that showed: the underlying physiological and genetic causes of the disease, and the syndrome itself is not only related to pedagogy and psychology, but also related to medicine.
The main causes
- The lack of necessary hormones in the body of the child.
- Past diseases and injuries.
- Diseases of the mother during pregnancy.
- Any diseases that the child suffered as an infant. They could affect brain function.
And regardless of the fact that medicine has achieved great success in this matter, and there are pharmacological methods of treatment and psychological and pedagogical, nevertheless, children's hyperactivity is considered an incurable syndrome that can be corrected in adolescence. Based on this, we will try to draw conclusions and make recommendations: hyperactive children, what should parents do?
The advice of a psychologist can help the baby adapt to society and in the future become a comprehensively developed personality.
Adulthood disease
In fact, many adults suffer from this disease, but most often they simply consider them too impulsive, active and unbalanced. This syndrome occurs in childhood, it has not yet been fully investigated, therefore it has not been proven that it remains in a more mature age.
How to recognize a hyperactive child
Parents may encounter the first signs at once: the children sleep poorly, cry a lot, are very irritable during the day, and can respond to any noise and change of scenery.
A hyperactive child in a year already begins to show itself, for example, in speech delay, awkward movements due to impaired motor skills. Nevertheless, he is constantly active, trying to go, move, he is fussy and mobile. His mood is also constantly changing: at one moment the child is cheerful and joyful, and the next minute he can be very capricious. So, before you is a hyperactive child (1 year). What should parents do? Such children will have to pay much more attention, and efforts must be made to achieve results.
Critical age
When it comes to preparatory classes, it is also difficult for a child to concentrate on one task: he cannot sit still, finish at least one thing, or do the exercise carefully and intently. The kid does everything after the sleeves to finish the job and start something new.
Reasonable advice to parents of a hyperactive child can be given only by a specialist, as well as recognizing hyperactivity. But before turning to a professional, mother and father should watch their child, determine how excessive activity and impulsiveness prevents him from learning and building relationships with his peers. What situations are alarming?
Main symptoms
- Inattention. It is always difficult for a child to concentrate on a task or a game. Parents constantly have to remind about everyday affairs, because the child simply forgets about them, and also constantly breaks or loses his things. In addition, attention is impaired: the baby never listens to anyone, even when the speech is addressed directly to him. If he independently does the task, he often cannot organize his work correctly, constantly being distracted and not completing the task.
- Impulsiveness. In the lessons, the child, not waiting for his turn, shouts from his place. It is difficult for him to follow the established rules, he constantly intervenes in the conversation, etc.
- Hyperactivity. It is difficult for a child to sit still, he constantly fidgets in a chair, talks a lot, constantly runs even where it is impossible to do this. The kid cannot play or relax calmly, he always asks a lot of questions, but cannot remember even one answer. Many of the actions and actions of the child are completely thoughtless, he often breaks objects, or hits the dishes. Even during sleep, he is not calm - he constantly wakes up, tosses and turns, and sometimes screams in his sleep.
Hyperactive and active: differences
Often when parents say about their child that he is hyperactive, they put a positive meaning in this word. But most people simply confuse two different concepts - active and hyperactive. It is really good when a child is inquisitive, shows interest in the world around him, and is drawn to new knowledge. But hyperactivity disorder and attention deficit disorder, which are often interrelated, are neurological-behavioral disorders. They most painfully make themselves felt after five years, which, undoubtedly, negatively affects the child, preventing him from developing along with other children.
Active children can be mobile at home, on the playground with friends, in the kindergarten, but when they come to any new place for them, for example, to visit or to see a doctor, they immediately calm down and begin to behave like real quiet people. With hyperactive children, everything is different regardless of the circumstances, places and people who surround them: they always behave the same and simply can not sit still.
An active child can be carried away by a regular game, for example, by checkers or by collecting a puzzle, while a hyperactive child does not have enough perseverance.
In any case, everything is very individual, therefore, only on the basis of observations can we give recommendations to parents. Hyperactive children are more difficult to scare, they have an underestimated pain threshold, they are not afraid of anything, completely not thinking about their safety.
From the foregoing, it follows that if a baby likes outdoor games, he likes to learn something new, and this curiosity does not interfere with his studies and social relationships, then he should not be called hyperactive. The child simply develops normally for his age. If the baby can’t sit still, listen to the tale to the end or finish the task, constantly requires attention or rolls tantrums, then this is a hyperactive child. What should parents do? The advice of a psychologist can help in this difficult matter.
Schooling
If before the start of classes at school, parents are not particularly worried about this trait of character, then with the start of training, seeing a lot of problems that their child faces, they begin to worry a lot. It is difficult for these children to understand how to behave, and how not. The child does not know where the permissible line is located, it is difficult for them to establish relationships with other children and the teacher, and simply calmly learn the lesson. Therefore, in the adaptation period, recommendations are necessary for parents of hyperactive children, since this age is the most critical. You can take the child to a psychologist. If you have a hyperactive child, the recommendations of specialists must be followed literally in everything.
It is important to remember that hyperactivity and attention deficit often go along with other serious problems.
Tips for parents of a hyperactive child
A hyperactive child: what should parents do? Psychologist tips to follow, read below.
It is important to carefully approach safety precautions, remove all unsafe and sharp objects when leaving the room, turn off household appliances, as ordinary children often break something, or fall and hit, and this happens twice or three times more often with hyperactive ones.
If a hyperactive child needs to learn something important, the advice of a psychologist will be helpful to parents. You need to make sure that he is listening. It is not enough just to call him - you need to establish contact, remove toys from the field of view, turn off the TV or computer. And only after making sure that the child is really listening to you, you can start a conversation with him.
It is necessary to establish rules in the family that the child would follow steadily. And it is very important that they are always carried out every day without exception, regardless of the circumstances. It is important to constantly remind the child about them, to repeat that some tasks must always be performed, and something to do is strictly forbidden.
A very important nuance is the mode. The kid needs to be taught to do everything on time, and exceptions can not be made even on the day off. For example, always get up at the same time, have breakfast, do homework, go for a walk. Perhaps this is too strict, but the most effective. It is this rule that will help the child to adapt to school and learn new material in the future.
These children are very susceptible to mood, so it is very important that the emotions they received are positive. It is necessary to praise them even for the smallest achievements. Let them feel that his parents are proud of him. You should support the child in difficult moments for him, more often speaks of love for him, hug.
You can organize a reward system, for example, if he behaved well all week, then on weekends he receives a small present or a sortie to nature, a movie trip, a museum. Let the parents come up with joint games that will captivate the baby. Of course, time, patience and ingenuity will need a lot, but the result will not be long in coming.
It is important in general to monitor the atmosphere in the family so that all conflicts pass by the baby, and it is especially impossible for him to participate in them.
If the child behaved badly, then it is possible to punish, but slightly, but it is better to refuse assault.
A hyperactive child never runs out of energy, so it is constantly necessary to create conditions for him to do something somewhere. The kid should walk more in the air, go to the sports section, play. But there is also an important nuance: the child should be tired, but not too overworked.
When forbidding something to a child, it is extremely important to provide him with an alternative, while explaining in a calm tone why his actions are wrong.
You can’t lead your child to places where large crowds of people predominate: his psyche is already too sensitive and weak, and the crowd can lead to overexcitation of the nervous system, so mass events and supermarkets should be avoided during rush hours. But walks in the fresh air, outings in nature have a beneficial effect on the baby. Such a child is best played with only one friend.
It will be nice if parents keep a diary of observations in which they can note all the changes and reactions to the world around them that occur with a hyperactive child. After this diary can be shown to the teacher (it will be much easier for him to compose the big picture).
A hyperactive child: what should parents do? The psychologist's tips listed above will help solve many problems.
School work
Initially, the teacher should be aware of the presence of a hyperactive child in his class in order to subsequently properly work with him, so parents should warn the teacher in advance and also share all the information available.
First of all, the child should sit as close as possible to the teacher - so the latter will be much easier to control discipline. It is also important that the baby has the opportunity at any time to ask all the necessary questions.
The teacher must write all the tasks on the blackboard and give only one task for a certain period of time. If the task is too large, then it must be divided into several parts, limit the execution of time and constantly monitor their implementation.
It is difficult for a hyperactive child to sit in one place for a long time and still remember the material presented. Therefore, it is necessary to train him consistently, to engage him in the lesson, even if the baby is spinning, shouting, fidgeting in a chair. Next time, let the baby focus only on being calm.
He just needs to move, so it’s better not to follow his behavior in the lessons much, let him run on the school playground or sports hall.
Also, children often fall into a vicious circle: praise is simply necessary for them, but it costs them incredible effort to study well. Due to the fact that they are inattentive and cannot concentrate normally, they make many mistakes and their work is inaccurate. Therefore, you should initially treat them less strictly.
During the class, activities can change several times, and if ordinary children benefit from it, then hyperactive switching is much more difficult. Therefore, they must be warned in advance, given the opportunity to prepare.
It is very difficult for a teacher to work with such children, but still if you find the right approach, the result will be excellent. Hyperactive children are well developed intellectually, as evidenced by many tests, but it is difficult for them to cope with their temperament.