7 Ways To Manage ADHD In Children

Whether you decide to medicate your children or not, ADHD can be a difficult thing to manage. It requires constant monitoring and using special techniques to work with the altered mind. Just remember, the child with ADHD is different and thus requires different tactics. Here are seven ways you can help manage your child's condition.

Utilize Interactive Metronome Training

Because the mind of a child with ADHD doesn't function the way others do, they cannot execute a plan in steps. The use of this computerized tool helps ADHD kids to enhance their motor skills. After using this training, many can learn to plan step by step; something they couldn't do before. To use this method, users will hear a beat through headphones and then tap their hands and feet to the rhythm. The program records their accuracy. A study that was done showed that these children who used this program gained focus and were able to improve their motor controls.

Establishing Positive Parenting

Positive parenting is a method that is used to help children who feel that they are different. Rather than saying to your child "clean that room," give them directions one by one. They will be able to clean that room one step at a time; just as long as they have direction. For everything negative also incorporate something positive. Don't look at the disability as a negative, but show the kid all the things about them that are special and great. If you don't look at their challenges as a huge obstacle, neither will they.

Control Their Diet

There is much evidence that shows that the processed foods and dyes could be a major contributor to the hyperactivity in ADHD children. Red dye is found in juice drinks, candy, popsicles, and many other foods. However, experiments have been done that removed the dye, and children's hyperactivity problems decreased. Many parents choose to treat their children's ADHD with diet rather than medication. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains is showed to have some effect. Leaving out the processed and junk foods can often do more than medication ever could.

Vitamins

With all the processed food comes a lack of vitamins. More than ever before, people are vitamin deficient. They lack in Vitamin D, B-12, and many others. Some say that by taking mega-3 supplements, like found in fish oil, it will increase the brain's activity. Since the brain is the crux of the problem with ADHD, it's worth a try. Vitamins definitely cannot hurt a child in proper doses. If anything, they can help them to be healthier and to have a better immune system. If it can help with brain activity that is only an additional benefit.

Get More Sleep

It is a proven fact that children who have ADHD aren't getting the amount of sleep of other children their age. This can be because of a diet laden with caffeine, or it can be that a child has a sleep disturbance that is keeping them from getting the proper rest. Stimulants used to treat ADHD often cause a child to not be able to sleep too. It becomes a cat and mouse game of treating the condition and then giving another medication to treat the side effects of insomnia. Work with a doctor and find a great way for the child to sleep more, even if it means using natural remedies like melatonin.

Learn to Meditate

A child who has ADHD has their mind going 150 directions at once. Meditation is a great way to relax the mind and body all at once. Meditation affects the brain by reducing any stress or anxiety that the person feels. The prefrontal cortex is the area responsible for focus and attention. This area too feels the relief during meditation. In the Current Issues in Education magazine that came out in 2008, a study was mentioned that showed the improvement of behavior in those that utilized mediation and those who didn't. The results were uncanny. Mindfulness mediation may be the key for some ADHD kids.

Play More - Less Technology

One of the arguments with ADHD is that many say there was no such thing two decades ago. Now, it seems like two out of five children receive this diagnosis. Perhaps it can be linked to the fact that today's child stays inside playing video games and being on the computer, more so than the children of yesteryear.

Make sure that a child has plenty of time and gets out in the fresh air. Part of this pent-up energy can come from not allowing the body to fully exhaust itself during the day. Children are not getting the exercise they need, and in fact, it is not getting rid of all their energy. By running and playing and being outside, many report that some of the symptoms of ADHD diminish.