10 Signs Your Child May Have ADHD
By Carolyn Rogalsky

Are you alarmed that your daughter constantly misplaces schoolwork and other items? Does sitting still for more than five seconds seem an impossible feat for your preschooler?

The three main traits of ADHD, a neurobehavioral disorder that makes it difficult for children to control their behavior, are inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. What child doesn't ever display these "symptoms," you may ask? Since most healthy children struggle with aspects of these behaviors it can be difficult for parents to know when to seek help.

So how do you distinguish between normal behaviors and those which indicate your child may have ADHD, a treatable disorder, that affects four to 14 percent of children? There are many overlapping traits, but here are 10 signals that your child's actions may be worrisome. It's when your child exhibits several of these behaviors and they are the rule, rather than the exception, that you may want to pursue a professional diagnosis.

1. Forgetfulness. She often forgets or loses routine items, like her lunch box or
backpack.

2. Trouble paying attention to details. He doesn't appear to be listening and
struggles with following directions.

3. Overly impulsive. She often acts before thinking, without considering consequences or previously discussed plans.

4. Over focused on tasks. She may get "stuck" in a routine or behavior and have trouble disengaging.

5. Has trouble shifting focus. This behavior becomes especially noticeable at
school.

6. Doesn't complete tasks. When assigned a project or chore, she finds it hard to finish and is easily distracted by her "more interesting" surroundings.

7. Constantly fidgets and squirms. When asked to sit in a chair, he may try to get up and run around or fidget and squirm endlessly.

8. Talks excessively. She routinely interrupts others and doesn't give them a
chance to respond.

9. Can't keep powerful emotions (good or bad) in check. He may over react with outbursts of anger or throw a temper tantrum that seems unwarranted.

10. Has difficulty waiting for her turn. In class or when playing games she grows impatient and irritable while waiting.


If you're concerned that your child is displaying some of these signs of ADHD, keep in mind that most children who are diagnosed have some combination of these behaviors. Also, signs and symptoms may be noticeable as early as 2 or 3 years of age, but a school setting often makes symptoms more apparent. The first step might be to compare notes with your child's teacher, and if you still have questions, see your pediatrician or family doctor. Your doctor may refer you to a specialist, but it's important to have a medical evaluation first to check for other causes of your child's difficulties

Parenting an ADHD Child, Age by Age
By Carolyn Rogalsky
Establishing good parenting skills, educating yourself and advocating for your child are the most important tools for successfully raising your ADHD child. While the challenges you face may be more intense than those of most parents, the benefits of following some tried-and-true parenting techniques can provide you with even greater rewards. Your ADHD child will learn appropriate behaviors when you create clear routines and expectations, as well as set and enforce limits. Don't make things too complicated. Just establish some straight-forward rules and time lines, and your child will be better able to navigate at every stage.

Preschoolers
Because the brain is still developing, and few medications are approved for children at this age, this is the period in which parents are most "on their own." Most helpful at this stage is behavior modification and environmental adjustments. In our world of super stimulation, it may be best to minimize your child's surroundings -- a smaller classroom, with less activity, and a clear routine can help improve preschoolers' ADHD symptoms.

The National Institute of Mental Health conducted a Preschool ADHD Treatment Study and found that when parents consistently used techniques such as offering consistent praise, ignoring negative behavior, and using time-outs, they were successful in helping their ADHD children adjust to the preschool setting.

School-age
Most children are diagnosed with ADHD once they start grade school because their difficulties with focus and lack of control become more apparent when faced with more formal learning and social situations. For parents this can actually be helpful because while your child may face greater challenges, it's also possible that you'll receive more supports. Be sure to talk to teachers, administrators and counselors to see what resources are available to you and your child within the school community.

Children at this stage need to know exactly what others expect of them. Behavioral parent training programs can be very effective here. They will help you narrow your focus to a few specific behaviors and help you to set limits, and follow through in a consistent manner.
Tweens
In middle school, a more challenging curriculum and the onset of adolescence can certainly intensify the lives of ADHD kids and their parents. Parents may need to try new approaches, from adjusting medications to developing new strategies to help cope with more complex schedules.

Parents should steer their middle schoolers to take more responsibility for their overall well being. Behavioral therapy should also focus on strategies that kids, rather than parents, can use to get their work done.

It's also important at this stage to reassure your tween that having ADHD is not a fault or a punishment. Remind your child that ADHD is a medical conditions, like asthma or nearsightedness, and that with treatment she can prevent it from limiting her success.

Teens
Although symptoms may seem less severe in the teen years, it's important for parents to continue to advocate for their children. ADHD students may qualify for accommodations like extra time on standardized tests in school.

The issues that prove challenging for all teens -- identity, independence, drugs and alcohol, sexuality -- can be magnified for teens with ADHD. If you've been dealing with the disorder since childhood, you may have an advantage over non-ADHD parents in that your child is comfortable with all-important limits and boundaries.

Probably the best thing you can do for your ADHD teen is to help him find his strengths and give him opportunities to experience success. Reinforce some of the positive or "surplus" aspects of ADHD symptoms. Remind your child that impulsiveness can lead to creativity; intrusiveness can be interpreted as eagerness, while sincerity is just plan heartwarming, and sincere.

Warren Buffet's advice to children.
http://www.smckids.com/episodes/too-good-to-be-true?icid=maing%7Cmain5%7Cdl11%7Csec1_lnk3%7C51832

10 Signs Your Child May Have ADHD
By Carolyn Rogalsky

Are you alarmed that your daughter constantly misplaces schoolwork and other items? Does sitting still for more than five seconds seem an impossible feat for your preschooler?

The three main traits of ADHD, a neurobehavioral disorder that makes it difficult for children to control their behavior, are inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. What child doesn't ever display these "symptoms," you may ask? Since most healthy children struggle with aspects of these behaviors it can be difficult for parents to know when to seek help.

So how do you distinguish between normal behaviors and those which indicate your child may have ADHD, a treatable disorder, that affects four to 14 percent of children? There are many overlapping traits, but here are 10 signals that your child's actions may be worrisome. It's when your child exhibits several of these behaviors and they are the rule, rather than the exception, that you may want to pursue a professional diagnosis.

1. Forgetfulness. She often forgets or loses routine items, like her lunch box or
backpack.

2. Trouble paying attention to details. He doesn't appear to be listening and
struggles with following directions.

3. Overly impulsive. She often acts before thinking, without considering consequences or previously discussed plans.

4. Over focused on tasks. She may get "stuck" in a routine or behavior and have trouble disengaging.

5. Has trouble shifting focus. This behavior becomes especially noticeable at
school.

6. Doesn't complete tasks. When assigned a project or chore, she finds it hard to finish and is easily distracted by her "more interesting" surroundings.

7. Constantly fidgets and squirms. When asked to sit in a chair, he may try to get up and run around or fidget and squirm endlessly.

8. Talks excessively. She routinely interrupts others and doesn't give them a
chance to respond.

9. Can't keep powerful emotions (good or bad) in check. He may over react with outbursts of anger or throw a temper tantrum that seems unwarranted.

10. Has difficulty waiting for her turn. In class or when playing games she grows impatient and irritable while waiting.

If you're concerned that your child is displaying some of these signs of ADHD, keep in mind that most children who are diagnosed have some combination of these behaviors. Also, signs and symptoms may be noticeable as early as 2 or 3 years of age, but a school setting often makes symptoms more apparent. The first step might be to compare notes with your child's teacher, and if you still have questions, see your pediatrician or family doctor. Your doctor may refer you to a specialist, but it's important to have a medical evaluation first to check for other causes of your child's difficulties.

Dads' Postpartum Depression Ups Odds of Spankings
By Catherine Donaldson-Evans
Growing evidence shows that fathers can suffer from postpartum depression too. A new study finds that dads' post-baby blues can have a negative effect on their parenting and increase the chances that a child will be spanked.

Researchers from the University of Michigan studied more than 1,700 fathers of 1-year-olds and found that 7 percent of them reported a "major depressive episode" in the time since the birth of their babies.

In many cases, the black moods apparently were taken out on the children, making it four times more likely that they had been spanked recently and half as likely that their dads read them stories on a regular basis, according to the paper in the April issue of Pediatrics.

Pediatricians could play a bigger role in suggesting ways to combat fathers' postpartum depression, since about 77 percent of the fathers who were down said they'd talked to their baby's doctors in the past year.

"Pediatric providers should consider screening fathers for depression, discussing specific parenting behaviors [e.g., reading to children and appropriate discipline], and referring for treatment if appropriate," wrote the authors led by Dr. R. Neal Davis.

The new dads' experience with depression resembled that of new moms, as they were most likely to suffer symptoms within the first year of the child's life.

Experts attribute the trend to fathers' increased role in child care. Though that heightened participation has been supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics, what's difficult is getting doctors to recognize postpartum depression in men and help them do something about it.

Pediatricians need to "embrace paternal perinatal depression screening with the same vigor" they do with mothers, which could pose a challenge, wrote Dr. Craig F. Garfield of Northwestern University in Chicago and Richard Fletcher of the University of Newcastle in Australia in an editorial published with the study.

"The field of pediatrics is now faced with finding ways to support fathers in their parenting role much in the same way we support mothers," they said.

The latest research relied on interviews with 1,746 fathers of babies who were a year old. The data had been collected for a large-scale national study on families and children in the U.S. born between 1998 and 2000.

About 7 percent of the men said they'd been very depressed at some point during the previous year.

The sad fathers were more likely to be unemployed and have substance abuse problems, which probably contributed to their state of mind, according to the paper. But they were just as likely as the other fathers to have spoken to their child's pediatrician during the time period in question.

Forty-one percent of depressed dads reported spanking their babies in the prior month, compared to only 13 percent of other fathers, and 41 percent of them said they'd read stories to their children at least three days a week versus 58 percent of the happier dads.

Put another way, the depressed fathers were 62 percent less likely to say they'd read to their children at least three days a week and 3.92 times more likely to have spanked them in the past month.

Both groups of fathers were equally likely to sing songs to their kids and play with them, the findings showed.

The issue of spanking children has been hotly debated, but the researchers found it worrying that these babies were a year old or younger, at "a developmental stage when children are unlikely to understand the connection between their behavior and subsequent punishment and when spanking is more likely to cause physical injury."

Postpartum depression occurs after the birth of a child and is typically accompanied by significant feelings of sadness, emptiness, anger, irritability and listlessness. Insomnia or sleeping too much are also common symptoms.