Managing Life with ADD/ADHD at Any Age
- RobbyXO
- Oct 20, 2020
- 2 min read
Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADD/ADHD) are disorders that effects millions of children and adults around the World.
These disorders can affect a person’s behaviors, moods, cognitions, and can even cause depression and learning disabilities.
Infographic Reference: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/index.shtml http://info.nspt4kids.com/adhd-infographic/
Nikki Carmack was diagnosed with ADD in high school. “I was having difficulty keeping my attention on very important assignments and sometimes I couldn’t focus in classes,” she says.
Her mother, a Montessori teacher of 30 years, sees signs of ADD/ADHD from time to time in her own students that are 3 -6 years old. “The signs/symptoms are more noticeable in the boys. They tend to be more hyperactive and show signs of aggression compared to the girls the same age,” Noemi states.
However, the signs weren’t obvious in her daughter, Nikki, until high school. Noemi says, “I didn’t know that what she was experiencing at the time were actually symptoms of the disorder.”
Nikki says that she wasn’t sure what was happening at the time either. Due to her grueling schedule as an honor student, Academy of Science participant, and lacrosse player, the thought was her late nights and lack of sleep were the reasons for her issues.
Noemi has noticed that as time has gone by, technology is being introduced to children at a very young age and it is affecting their attention span and focus in the classroom, “It’s getting tougher each year because you can tell by the way the students work in the classroom that they are having hours of screen time each night.”
According to the CDC, there were over 6 million children from the ages of 2-17 years old that were diagnosed with ADD/ADHD in both 2011 and 2016. Which is significantly higher that the numbers from the 2000’s
As a teenager in high school, medicine was what worked best for Nikki in order to manage her ADD. However, what works for one person is not going to work on others.
“As a teacher and child advocate, I tell my parents to consult their child’s doctor and a behavior therapist if they are noticing their child having behavioral problems and issues focusing in the classroom. At a young age, the first option of managing these issues shouldn’t be medicine,” Noemi states firmly.
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