3 interesting things parents may not know about ADHD
Roelien Herholdt
Masters in Educational Psychology, Educational researcher, Project manager, Teacher or Learning instructor, Learning designer and Strategic thinker.
You can't help to admire their energy and creativity, jumping from one idea or thought to the next. But let's face it, all this additional energy can be a strain on the best of parents.
Discriminating between normal high energy levels in pre-schoolers and pre-schoolers with ADHD is a task best left to qualified clinicians.
However, here is just 3 of the risk factors placing pre-schoolers at higher risk for ADHD.
1) The mighty clinic card or birth history.
Birth asphyxia (or lack of oxygen) increases the risk for ADHD. Moreover, the neurological effect of prenatal or perinatal lack of oxygen is long-lasting and more pronounced in boys.
A low apgar score (<7) is also associated with increased risk for ADHD. So is being born prior to 37 weeks of gestation.
2) Smoking
Maternal smoking during pregnancy is linked to increased risk for ADHD. A good reason to stop smoking before getting pregnant.
3) The family tree
Children of parents with ADHD is at higher risk to develop ADHD. It is a good idea to take a closer look at the family tree.
Overall, the exact causes of ADHD is not well known. However, we do know ADHD is not caused by:
- Allergies
- Food additives - but note healthy eating habits is beneficial for all pre-schoolers. So avoiding too many artificial additives is still a good idea.
- Bad parenting - although well developed behavioural techniques such as contingency management is highly useful in controlling the symptoms of ADHD.