Bengaluru: Is your child highly aggressive, restless, impulsive, has trouble focusing on studies and gets easily distracted? It could be a case of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and city doctors claim they are seeing a rise in such cases and it is more prevalent among boys.
Rani, a 37-year-old mother said, “My son is aggressive most of the time. I have even had complaints of him beating up his classmates. He gets very hyper when we don’t give what he asks for. So we have to be highly patient and handle him with care.” Studies have proved that many parents fail to recognise the symptoms of ADHD.
Dr Kishore Kotha, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist, BGS Gleneagles Global Hospitals said, “We see around 3-4 children per week with ADHD. It is the most common neuro-developmental behavioral disorder affecting 11% of school-age children (boys are affected more than girls) and often persists in adulthood. The cause of ADHD is multi-factorial while the increase in incidences may be due to over diagnosis, increased screen time, poor outdoor activities and lifestyle.”
Another parent Lokesh said, “My daughter pays very less attention at home and even in the class. She throws tantrums too many. We were looking at it only as a pampered child characteristic, but she is not that pampered. We are often called by the school teachers and have been advised to start behaviour therapy soon.”
The symptoms of ADHD are being highly aggressive, limited attention span, restlessness, distraction, impulsivity and hyperactive that leads to the child’s poor school performance or trouble in focusing on schoolwork.
Dr Bhaskar Shenoy, HOD Pediatrics, Manipal Hospitals, said, “There is no specific reason for ADHD. Genetic and environmental factors play a role. In modern society, there is no channel for spending utilization of energy so they show it up this way.”
Dr Kishore also said that usually the affected child is hyperactive, restless, has poor concentration and attention span, gets easily distracted, has decreased sitting tolerance, never waits for his turn and makes careless mistakes.
“Make ADHD the enemy, not your child. Stay calm and never punish a child for behaviour outside his control. ADHD is treatable with medication, behavioural therapy and positive parenting,” he added.
While Dr Bupendra Chaudhry, Consultant Psychiatrist, Manipal Hospitals also added that ADHD affected children respond well to treatment.
“Treatment includes medicines which are usually effective. Other treatments are behaviour therapy and family therapy; as parents have the maximum and most significant influence to have on the child,” he said. Parents should not hesitate seeing a therapist as these little steps can be life changing, he added.
