Young ADHD children at Risk for Nonsuicidal Self-Injury

Young children with ADHD are probably more likely to engage in nonsuicidal self-injury than children who are not ADHD.

Children with ADHD as a group are of course much more impulsive than children without ADHD. As most parents and teachers know, it’s that increased impulsivity that forms one of the core symptoms of ADHD and makes an accurate diagnosis of ADHD more likely.

Increased impulsive behavior in ADHD is felt to be caused by inefficient executive brain processing of sensory input and the subsequent lack of an ADHD child’s or adult’s ability to delay gratification. It’s often this tendency to act before thinking through the consequences of doing something that gets the ADHD child, teen or adult in trouble.

As I’ve previously pointed out, excessive and off-the-spur of the moment tattoos and body piercings tend to be good examples of impulsive ADHD nonsuicidal self-injury behavior (NSSI). However, quite a few parents would argue even one body piercing or tattoo was excessive and impulsive, but we won’t debate that opinion here.

ADHD experts have realized over the past few years that adolescents with ADHD suffered higher rates of self-injury not related to suicidal gestures or thoughts. In some cases, these ADHD teens were looking for attention. In other cases, they may have been trying to improve their self-image or fit in with a particular group. Whatever the reason, it’s been my experience that teenagers with ADHD are much more prone to self-harm than teens who are not ADHD.

Imagine my surprise when a community-based study of children as young as 7 years from central New Jersey and Denver showed that 8% of kids interviewed from grades 3, 6, and 9 reported at least one episode of self-harm behavior. Of those, about one-third admitted self-harm multiple times. Most of us just never suspected such a high rate of this behavior problem existed in kids as young as 7 years.

In this study, Benjamin L. Hankin, PhD states “girls in the 9^th grade appeared to be at greatest risk of engaging in NSSI, hurting themselves 3 times more often than their male peers.”

Reported self-injury behaviors in both boys and girls included:

• hitting themselves (55% in boys),
• cutting or carving skin (63% in girls),
• biting themselves,
• pulling their hair to cause pain,
• throwing themselves into walls or sharp objects.

These self-harm behaviors were much worse in 9^th graders where skin carving was reported at the unbelievable rate of 70%. It appears the closer a child is to becoming a teenager, the more likely self-harm occurs.

Obviously, as advocates for our children, we must be diligent in spotting these behaviors and seeking help for affected children as soon as possible. While children with nonsuicidal self-injury behavior don’t really intend to seriously and permanently injure themselves, they often don’t think about the consequences of their behavior before acting.

As a result, many times, they will be ashamed what they’ve done or scared they will be punished and will hide all traces of their behavior in hopes to avoid further pain and suffering. So, it’s rare that they will tell you when they’ve done something painful or disfiguring that they didn’t mean to do.

Here are a few things I’ve noticed in similar kids that caused suspicion of self-harm behavior and things that parents of children who self-harm have shared with me:

Kids who prone to self-injury tend:

• to suddenly wear long sleeves to hide scars, fresh wounds and sores or self-applied tattoos
• put their long hair up so as to hide areas where hair has been pulled from their scalp or areas of redness or sores
• to want to eat in their room and spend more time away from parents and close family
• keep unusual objects (knives, rope, rocks) in their room or backpack
• lose their “good friends” and attract more “bad friends”
• to become more irritable and moody for no reason (this always makes me suspicious of ADHD misdiagnosis).

As parents, teachers and healthcare providers, we need to keep our eyes open for signs of self-harm in our children. The earlier we detect and treat this type of impulsive and dangerous behavior, the more likely the child will avoid similar risk in the future.

A word of caution: not only are young children with ADHD more likely to engage in nonsuicidal self-injury, but adults with ADHD are probably at increased risk of self-harm as well. If your spouse has ADHD, you might want to discuss this topic.

Frank Barnhill, MD

Here’s a previous article dealing with self-harm you might find interesting:

Children with ADHD at Risk for Bullying and Self Harm
http://www.mistakenforadhd.com/2012/05/children-with-adhd-at-risk-for-bullying-and-self-harm/#more-1595

ADHD Impulsive Behavior and Risk of the Choking Game
http://www.mistakenforadhd.com/2012/04/adhd-impulsive-behavior-and-risk-of-the-choking-game/

Why ADHD Kids Get Tattoos and Piercings
http://www.mistakenforadhd.com/2010/10/hey-adhd-kids-get-tatoos-and-piercings/

Reference:
Young Children Engaging in Nonsuicidal Self-Injury
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/766097

P.S. Please share this article with friends and family who might have the same concerns.

www.adhdbehavior.com

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New Learning Resource for ADHD Children Now Available

Amazing Grades, Pat Wyman’s Compilation of learning experts is now available at Amazon.com

Here’s a description….

Amazing Grades is a worldwide goodwill book with 101 best-selling authors and experts, from 13 countries around the world, sharing their strategies for getting better grades faster.

It is the result of a year’s collaboration by those 101 authors and is the first book ever to include 3 learning style strategies so that help students master the information in their own style and improve their grades faster. There are video strategies, (scan tags which include related videos); auditory strategies (all authors read their chapters aloud) and kinesthetic strategies so that students can interact with the material in the book.

In addition, the book contains life skills strategies in all areas that affect student achievement as well as learning strategies that outline specifics on:

How to decrease study time by at least half by using picture maps

How to get motivated in 5 minutes or less

How to get rid of learning roadblocks using these 5 specifics

How to read faster than you ever thought possible

How to handle any special learning differences such ADHD

How to speed read so you can finish college faster

There are special sections for parents and teachers; in addition to those for students ages 12 all the way through college.

For those who are struggling while trying to help their ADHD children get ready for this school year or improve their grades from the very start…Amazing Grades should be a great investment.

Dr. Frank

You can get your copy at www.howtolearn.com or www.amazon.com…it’s about a $25 investment…less than the cost of eating out at a good restaurant. (While I wrote one of the chapters in Amazing Grades, I don’t receive a commission on Pat’s book…I just think it’s a good book to help parents and teachers with the learning problem child or teen…happy reading)

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Successful Treatment of ADHD Kids may require Treating Parents

Children with ADHD may not respond to therapy unless their ADHD parents are treated at the same time.

It’s true…no matter how many drugs a child with ADHD takes, no matter how many counseling sessions he or she attends, no matter how many promises or threats a parent makes; sometimes the only way ADHD kids will respond to treatment is to treat their parent for ADHD.

ADHD experts estimate 50% to 70% of all ADHD teenagers will still have one or more elements of their ADHD persisting into adulthood. Likewise, we’ve found 70% of all children and teenagers with ADHD will have one or both parents who are ADHD or had the core symptoms of ADHD during childhood.

It is indeed very difficult to effectively diagnose and treat ADHD in a child when his or her mother or father have undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or untreated ADHD. Most adults who fall into one of these three groups deny the existence of their ADHD, think they have “out-grown” their ADHD, or have serious subconscious doubts about whether ADHD is real or not.

Denial of ADHD symptoms and doubts about whether ADHD is real or not; actually causes parents to:

• Passively or actively delay seeking medical help when the signs and symptoms of ADHD rear their ugly heads
• With-hold or down-play information needed to make an accurate ADHD diagnosis in their child or themselves (A grandmother once told me her grandson was a perfect angel when he was with her and she couldn’t understand why everyone else thought he was ADHD. Three months later, when she and he ran into my wife and me at a local restaurant, she slipped and called him a hyperactive little devil and fussed at him for interrupting our conversation so many times.)
• Blame ADHD behavior on everything but ADHD (one of the most common excuses…I think he’s just a rambunctious little normal boy, not really hyperactive)
• Bias the ADHD doctor’s opinion in advance of making the correct diagnosis by insisting another disorder is responsible for the child’s behavior (E.g. She’s wired all the time because all she does is eat sweets…maybe she’s diabetic)
• Decline ADHD medications when indicated (Many parents of course are worried about ADHD drugs being addicting and causing brain damage. Research thus far has not supported either one of these problems when an accurate diagnosis of ADHD was made.)

The symptoms of ADHD in adults are not all that different from those in children and teenagers, but by the time a teen has reached adulthood several things might have happened that make ADHD harder to spot. These changes include:

• The parent has developed ways or coping mechanisms that help them suppress, deal with, or hide their ADHD behavior
• The adult has grown out of the tendency to be hyperactive and openly impulsive
• They have found non-prescription medications, illegally obtained prescription drugs or illicit-illegal street drugs that help alleviate their symptoms
• The ADHD parent has been diagnosed with a medical condition that requires medications that just so happen to also treat ADHD behavior (For example, Provigil used to treat narcolepsy and clonidine for high blood pressure can both be used to treat core symptoms of ADHD.)

The signs and symptoms of ADHD in adults include:

• Difficulty staying on task or completing chores and assignments at home and work
• Jumping from one profession or job to another without establishing tenure. Many ADHD adults will have 5 different jobs over a ten year period.
• Loses interest in hobbies and self-improvement activities easily-rapidly
• Tendency to engage in high risk behaviors such as sky diving, scuba diving, big game safaris, excessive tattooing, and experimental sex
• Problems with social interactions in some or most situations-has few close friends and a hard time making friends
• Legal problems, including speeding tickets, parking tickets, stealing at work and shoplifting
• Greater tendency for drug and alcohol abuse
• Higher divorce and separation rates
• Increased risk for low self-esteem and depression or panic attacks and generalized anxiety disorder
• Problems learning from mistakes

Obviously, if you really want your behavior disordered ADHD child to be evaluated and treated successfully, then you must start by being honest with yourself. If you, the parent, are really ADHD or have been denying or hiding your diagnosis of ADHD then you are doing a great disservice to your spouse and child. You, the parent are the most potent and important source of therapy for your ADHD child or teen. No medication…no type of behavior therapy will be successful in treating your child’s ADHD behavior if you are not an effective parent model.

Frank Barnhill, MD

P.S. You might want to take a look at these previous articles…

19 Signs Your ADHD-labeled Child May Not Be ADHD or Was Misdiagnosed

http://adhdbehavior.com/mistakenforadhd2/?p=100

The Ten Most Common Reasons Professionals Misdiagnose ADHD

http://adhdbehavior.com/mistakenforadhd2/?p=104

Diagnosis ADHD In Adults – Are My Parents ADHD?

http://adhdbehavior.com/mistakenforadhd2/?p=132

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This article might have been better titled; “Building self-esteem in kids, whether ADHD or not.”  The reason is that it’s terribly important for parents and teachers to learn ways to build self-esteem and confidence in all children and teens, not just those kids with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Most children with ADHD suffer low confidence levels, poor self-image and poor self-esteem as a result of their impulsive behavior and terrible communication and social skills. Therefore, building self-esteem and confidence in ADHD teens and children is often viewed as next to impossible and many teachers and parents become frustrated and give up too easily.

I know each and every one of you wants what’s best for their children-both parents and teachers alike.Also, I know how frustrating it can be to deal with an ADHD child’s ups and downs as I have helped raise many of them, including one of my own. So, please let me help by sharing a few of the important things I’ve discovered about dealing with ADHD kids (and kids who are not ADHD) who are suffering low self-esteem:

• 85% of children with ADHD behavior problems have poor self-image and low self-esteem.
• 25% of children who are not ADHD will suffer low self-esteem at one time or another between ages 5 and 19.
• The worse a child’s impulsive or inattentive behavior, the more likely they have poor communication skills and therefore are prone to low self-esteem.
• Likewise, any child who can’t communicate well is likely to have mild behavior problems and low self-esteem.
• Just like non-ADHD kids, kids with ADHD are influenced by the behavior and opinions of those around him or her. We call this the “cohort effect”. For example, if your friend, mother, father, or teachers are generally happy in dealing with you, then you tend to be overall happier… If they treat you unfairly, then you tend to treat others unfairly.
• ADHD children and teens are much more heavily influenced by those around them than are those children who are not ADHD. In some cases, even those kids misdiagnosed as ADHD fall into the same category.
• It can take weeks, months or years to build confidence and a positive self-image and good self- esteem in a child with ADHD who is experiencing all of these negatives.
• The more dysfunctional the family in which the child lives, the more likely attempts to improve confidence and self-esteem will fail or take very long times to accomplish. This includes kids suffering through: their parent’s separation and divorce, death of a loved one, severe illness in a teacher or family member, an abrupt move to a new town or school, family financial problems, and parent or sibling use of alcohol, drugs or promiscuous sex.

Here are the first couple of tips on how to build confidence and self-esteem in ADHD kids I’d like to share with you:

• Firstly, try to figure out exactly what aspects of your child’s confidence and self-esteem are lacking or have been damaged. The fastest way to do so is to take a look at what his or her friends (cohorts) are doing. Are they primarily sports enthusiasts, musicians, the out-door types or highly motivated to meet physical goals? If your child is trying to keep up with these guys and gals and can’t do so, he or she will suffer lack of confidence and thus poor self-esteem.
• Secondly, try to teach your ADHD child or teen at least one new skill per week that will help them deal with their short comings. Caution: Teaching them how to do chores is not the same as teaching skills that build confidence. After all, chores are just chores. Boys generally do better when taught something that has a little risk attached to it…like learning to crank a lawn mower or use a hand-held power tool.  Girls tend to adapt better when learning skills that deal with things that improve their physical appearance or personal communication skills or emotions.
• Thirdly, spend one-on-one time each week doing a life-essential learning adventure. Some examples include: Hiking and learning how to survive in the wild. Starting a fire without matches. Color coordinating clothing during a shopping trip. Organizing and buying supplies for social events such as pajama parties. These should not be family events or outings, as they must be age appropriate and when taken along, younger children often disrupt the experience for the older child who needs it the most.

As you can see, the basics of building good self-esteem in children and teens are not very demanding, nor hard to implement. You just need to get started and remember; “Building confidence and good self-esteem in children isn’t magic and it doesn’t happen overnight”.

We’ll discuss more tips on building confidence and self-esteem in children, whether ADHD or not, in my next article.

Dr. Frank

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As we discussed in my previous article; Parenting Style Can Cause ADHD Behavior in Children; the manner in which a parent applies parenting skills, whether good or bad, can cause behavior problems that mimic ADHD in their children, thus leading to the misdiagnosis of ADHD.

In this article we’ll discuss some of those parenting mistakes previously mentioned and in more detail discover ways to help your children, whether ADHD or not, grow emotionally, academically and socially-all without you having a nervous breakdown.

Some of the most common parenting style mistakes we see in our medical practice include:

•  Parents expecting their child to be perfect or almost perfect-in school, in social settings, in getting along with friends and siblings, even when doing so creates undue stress and anxiety for the child and sometimes for everyone else involved.

Several years ago I interviewed a ten-year old child with ADHD whose mom had him on “restriction” as a disciplinary measure for a total of 3 out of 5 months of the school year for failing to do a book report and thus getting his first “f” in English. Unfortunately, she used “restriction” to mean he was not supposed to have fun of any type, not supposed to play, not supposed to watch TV, not supposed to visit friends and not supposed to go on school and church outings-a harsh form of punishment .

Of course, this type of discipline rarely works, because in this case, it was actually punishment, not discipline, as it exceeded  the one day per year of age limit on restricting things that we discussed in an earlier article. Likewise, it did not define exactly what it meant that he couldn’t do anything fun or have fun and didn’t provide a way in which he could right the wrong.

I later discovered his brother and sister also suffered from this parenting mistake, because to insure Geoffrey didn’t have fun, mom had placed similar restrictions on the other two siblings. (Siblings of ADHD kids are prone to suffer directly just because their brother or sister has ADHD!) She told me she had to do that because she couldn’t figure out a way to punish Geoffrey and still let them have unrestricted fun by playing with him. Are you confused? So was I! Just think about how confusing all of this must have been to Geoffrey, his brother and his sister.

• Both parents and teachers of children with ADHD and sometimes those who are not ADHD, many times unilaterally decide they must be the ones to set goals for the child. Unfortunately, more often than not, they tend to set a child’s goals just out of his or her reach thinking that by doing so, the child will try harder. Wrong!

What usually happens? When they set the bar higher than the child could possibly reach, these adults are just setting the child up to fail and to do so miserably. Almost all children will become terribly frustrated and disillusioned when they can’t see a way to get out of failing or losing something, when they can’t see a way to make their parents happy, and when they fear they will be labeled dumb or stupid.

The majority of these kids will just simply give up, suffer loss of self-esteem, and have to live with damaged egos and depression-anxiety-guilt. In addition, their parents and teachers will suffer as they have to deal with the child’s emotions and continued academic and social problems.

Good parenting skills can prevent misbehavior and behavior that mimics ADHD in children.

The parenting skills most suggested for preventing the above two discussed catastrophes include:

• Using reasonable methods of discipline when trying to change a child’s behavior and temperament, instead of using harsh punishments
• Following restriction-punishment guidelines of one minute per year of age up to age 6 years for time out and one day per year of age for loss of toys and privileges
• Allowing the child a reasonable way-out, a way to make amends and restore his or her place in your life-all without guilt
• Involving each child age three and older when setting goals so that the bar won’t be set too high. Some psychologists recommend a stepped goal plan that allows the child to easily achieve a couple of things while working toward the ultimate goal. I know a few adults that have used this approach in helping their employees reach production goals.
• Making sure that whatever parenting skill or style you use is not designed to cause frustration, anger, guilt, anxiety, depression, damage egos, have drastic consequences, or place blame on the child. Once a child suffers from any of these self-esteem damaging events, he or she will be much more difficult to parent and will sometimes fulfill your worst fear, becoming a failure in school and in life.

In the next article of this series, we’ll discuss more common parenting mistakes and how to avoid them.

Dr. Frank

Here are a couple of articles you might have missed that will help build great parenting skills:

Good Discipline may help change misbehavior in ADHD Children

http://www.mistakenforadhd.com/2012/01/good-discipline-may-help-change-misbehavior-in-adhd-children/

Principles of Good Discipline in Children and Teens with ADHD

http://www.mistakenforadhd.com/2012/01/principles-of-good-discipline-in-children-and-teens-with-adhd/

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Parents and teachers can use good discipline techniques to improve ADHD behavior.

In a previous article we discussed how parents might employ good discipline techniques to improve misbehavior in their ADHD children and ADHD teens. Once again, let me reiterate discipline and punishment are not the same things. They are actually 180 degrees apart in intent and in improving behavior.

The Latin word discipline literally means to teach, while punishment in both ADHD kids and those who are not ADHD is often defined as giving pain or attaching negative consequences to a particular event or behavior. Unfortunately, more than 75% of parents, caregivers and teachers consider the two words and actions to be the same.

It’s been often said that children learn best when nurtured in a positive manner, not when punished or provided with negative reinforcement! If you pause to think about what things were like when you were growing up, I’m sure you can clearly remember learning better and being able to recall what you learned when you were relaxed, not afraid, praised, encouraged and given that proverbial pat on the back for what you had done.

With your childhood experiences firmly in mind, let’s take a look at what I consider to be the essential principles of good discipline in ADHD kids and teens. These include:

• Consistency
• Fairness
• Accountability
• Flexibility.

Let’s take a look at each of these and explore how you can apply good discipline to improve your ADHD child’s behavior and even use them in dealing with your non-ADHD child or teen.

Most of us have a pretty good idea of what we consider to be fair. Unfortunately, fairness is like beauty-it’s all in the eye of the beholder. When I explain how to be fair in dealing with the behavior of an ADHD child or teen, these are the key points:

• Consistency-For some reason, it’s very difficult for many of us to practice what we preach. But…if you want to use excellent discipline in dealing with a child’s, teen’s, or another adult’s behavior; you must learn to do so.Great discipline techniques must include you doing exactly what you say you are going to do. If you tell little Frankie that he can’t play his PSP until his room has been cleaned; you should not give in just because he pitches a temper tantrum. Conversely, in order to insure he understands exactly what you mean by the words “clean your room”, you should show him how you expect him to clean his room. In fact, helping him do so the first couple of times will turn the whole event into a real learning experience!

The show and tell type of learning is essential when dealing with discipline in children and teens with ADHD! Most ADHD kids learn best when they hear, see and touch what they are expected to learn-kinesthetic learning.

• Fairness-If you truly want to be fair to your child, then don’t ask them to do something that you would not do yourself! Likewise, you should not expect them to achieve the unreachable-don’t set their bar too high by expecting them to meet your goals. You should have agreed upon goals that belong to them, not you.If you want your ADHD child to reach for the stars, then you must be willing to invest your time in helping him or her soar to such great heights. And, if you’re unable or not willing to invest the essential time, then you should be willing to find someone who is, even if you must pay them.Setting unrealistic expectations and goals for your child (and for yourself) is a surefire recipe for disaster. Just like when you fail at something, your child becomes depressed, anxiety and gun-shy when it comes to trying to do something similar in the future. In many cases, it simply destroys self-esteem and that innate ambition that normally drives up to succeed.

Ironically, inconsistent and unfair discipline techniques can actually cause a child to show behaviors that look just like ADHD, confusing the real diagnosis, thus causing the misdiagnosis of ADHD. When good discipline replaces bad technique, many of these faux ADHD children will mysteriously seem to lose or out-grow their ADHD.

In my next article we’ll discuss the other two elements of good discipline-Accountability and Flexibility. Both of these are just as important as Consistency and Fairness when it comes to dealing with misbehavior and training behavior in ADHD children, teens and adults.

I bet you have dozens of ideas about how you can use all of the above to get started in shaping your child’s ADHD behavior into something more acceptable-a behavior pattern that will help him or her become a success in life, instead of a failure. Please share!

Dr. Frank

Here are a couple of previous articles that deal with discipline principles:

Why Kids Don’t Show Respect

http://adhdbehavior.com/mistakenforadhd2/?p=160

Teaching Positive Attitudes for Kids

http://adhdbehavior.com/mistakenforadhd2/?p=170

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Parents of ADHD children can empower their child to change unwanted impulsive behaviors in the New Year by using simple training tips!

Here we are at the end of one year and about to start a new one. Most of us are happy to see the year end, as our optimism says we’ll definitely see new and better things as the New Year progresses.

However, as I’ve discovered in the past, there’s always a group of parents who are indeed happy the old year is at a close, but are dreading having to deal with their ADHD child’s behavior in another school session.

Maybe their ADHD teen has a bad attitude and is making failing grades. Maybe their ADHD daughter answers every question with “duh” or “whatever”, frustrating both parents and teachers. Maybe they can’t take their 9 year-old to the mall or to church or just about anywhere without being embarrassed by his behavior or constant butting-in adult conversations.

Whatever is going on…ADHD behavior can cause so much personal, family, and classroom stress that no one wants to be around the child or teen with ADHD. In fact, research has shown that teachers, siblings, other family members when asked, stated they tried to stay-away from or avoid being around ADHD children if possible. Some were even worried that ADHD could be contagious.

Parents can help their children with ADHD learn to deal with their impulsive-annoying behaviors, often preventing those terrible meltdowns that eventually happen when the behavior goes unchecked.  Once an ADHD child learns to deal with his or her impulsive behavior before it gets out-of-hand, parent’s and teacher’s stress levels will usually go way down and the child’s or teen’s learning experiences and social skills will improve dramatically.

So, how do you change an ADHD child’s or teen’s behavior, attitude, or habits?

•  Slowly…rapid change is frightening and intimidating for ADHD children
• Consistently…if you aren’t consistent in what you do, how can you expect your ADHD child to do so?
• By example…your ADHD child or teen learns best by watching and listening to you and others around him or her!

Before we close…

Please let me recommend a new book I read on changing children’s behavior-“The Changing Behavior Book”; A Fresh Approach to the Difficult Child by Dr. James Sutton.  In his book, Dr. Sutton offers a realistic insight into all types of child or teen difficult behavior, whether the child is ADHD or not.

What is even more enlightening about The Changing Behavior Book is the way in which Dr. Sutton describes practical and effective approaches to dealing with the difficult behaviors that he discusses.  Parents, teachers, counselors, and doctors will find his instruction easy to understand and implement and likely to be successful in empowering difficult children to change their unwanted-annoying behaviors.

I believe every parent of an ADHD child should consider investing in this book. By using Dr. Sutton’s techniques, you will probably help your child control or even get rid-of those irritating ADHD impulsive behaviors and might just prevent your child or teen from becoming a failure in life.

You can get a copy at www.thechangingbehaviorbook.com.

Dr. Frank

You’ll find more tips in this article: ADHD kids and New Year Resolutions

http://www.mistakenforadhd.com/2010/12/adhd-kids-and-new-year-resolutions/

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Stopping ADHD Therapy during the Christmas holidays might cause worsened behavior and relapse of ADHD.

The holidays are rapidly approaching and more and more parents are asking about stopping their ADHD child’s medications or therapy while they are out of school.

So just what are the best answers to these questions: “Should I stop Andrew’s Adderall while he is out of school for Christmas?” “Doesn’t he need to take a break from these pills and all of that behavior training?”

The answers to both questions are…it depends. Yes, whether or not you should stop an ADHD child’s medication and behavior training over the holidays should depend on:

• How well your child is doing on his or her ADHD therapy. Is their behavior so much improved that if you were to stop the ADHD drugs or therapy he or she will once again become very hyper or impulsive? Will annoying attitudes show back up?
• Have you tried supervised ADHD drug holidays in the past? Were they successful or were you ready to pull out that last grey hair until therapy was restarted?
• What are your expectations (or your child’s expectations) for your child over the holidays? Do you expect him or her to learn additional social skills? Children often learn very important social-family skills during vacations. They learn what to do and what not to do when certain things happen at parties and church gatherings by observing what others do or don’t do…and it’s difficult for them to observe and learn when they can’t pay attention. Do you want them to read a book to get ahead on that next book report or work on a science project?
• Have you outlined a game-plan to deal with your ADHD child’s misbehavior, bad attitude, and inattentiveness while off of ADHD medications?
• Do you realize that it will take several days for his or her ADHD medications to start working well once started again? That means you’d have to restart the pills at least a week before school begins and you probably should not even think about stopping coaching at all.

As you can see, there are many things that parents of ADHD children and teens need to consider before stopping therapy for the holidays. ADHD drugs don’t work like flipping a light switch or turning on a faucet. Both ADHD medications and counseling require days to weeks to start working and many times even longer to be fully effective.

Maybe you might want to think twice about taking your child off of his or her ADHD medications or therapy over the Christmas holidays!

Dr. Frank

Here’s a previous post that might help…

Stopping ADHD drugs for the holidays may make it worse

http://mistakenforadhd.com/439/stopping-adhd-drugs-for-the-holidays-may-make-it-worse/

Should you stop ADHD drugs during holidays and vacations?

http://mistakenforadhd.com/429/should-you-stop-adhd-drugs-during-holidays-and-vacations

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