Parenting a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can be an exhausting, frustrating, bewildering, and overwhelming experience. But as a parent, there is a lot you can do to help your child manage and control his or her symptoms, and to quiet the chaos that the disorder often imposes on families and marriages. It all begins with a complete understanding of childhood ADHD.
The Everything® Parent's Guide to ADHD in Children is a comprehensive resource for parents of children of all ages and provides detailed information on recognizing and managing your child's disorder from preschool through high school. This health guide offers practical advice on the telltale signs and symptoms of childhood ADHD and information on getting a reliable diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment for your child.
By reading this book, you'll glean the basic medical knowledge necessary to talk intelligently about your child's condition to his or her doctor. You'll also learn about the condition's classic symptoms, new diagnostic and evaluation techniques, and an increasingly sophisticated arsenal of high-tech treatment and medication modalities used to treat childhood ADHD.
While practically all children have days when they don't complete their homework, blurt out the wrong things in class, or forget where they put their backpack, those days are the norm, rather than the exception for children with ADHD. As you'll learn by reading The Everything® Parent's Guide to ADHD in Children, not every child has the same ADHD symptoms, and a child's symptoms may change over time. While some children with ADHD are hyperactive, others are quiet dreamers who stare into space, miles away from their teacher and homework at hand. Still others are so impulsive that they butt into every conversation, are overly blunt and tactless, or invade everyone's space.
The Everything® Parent's Guide to ADHD in Children will also help remove any blame, shame, or guilt you may be harboring about having caused or contributed to your child's disorder. You'll learn that your child's ADHD was not caused by bad parenting, by eating a poor diet, or by watching too much television, but that it is a neurobiological disorder caused by biochemical imbalances in the brain. Scientists now believe that childhood ADHD is not one single disorder, but a cluster of disorders that affect different parts of the brain. Researchers also know that childhood ADHD is a genetic disorder. That means if you or your spouse have ADHD, all of your children are at a higher risk of developing it, too.
While there's no cure to date for childhood ADHD, perhaps the best news about this disorder is that most of your child's symptoms can be successfully managed and controlled through a combination of medication and behavior therapy.
It's not easy for parents or children to live with childhood ADHD. While early intervention won't cure your child's disorder, it can dramatically improve his chances of managing his ADHD symptoms and doing well academically and emotionally. In fact, studies show that most children with ADHD can be successfully diagnosed and treated and go on to lead more productive lives.
But the key to your child getting and staying well is parental knowledge. By picking up this book, you've made a commitment to learn as much as you can about childhood ADHD and taken the first step in you and your child's journey to improved health and happiness.