How to Talk to Your Young Child About His or Her ADHD Diagnosis

Now that your young child has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, you might be wondering about how to inform him or her about the diagnosis. What level of detail should you convey? Should you even say anything at all and wait for behaviors to improve once parenting techniques, medications and other treatments have…

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Carolyn Hax: I think my husband is too hard on my ADHD son

DEAR CAROLYN: My 8-year-old son does not have the greatest relationship with my husband, and I am clearly his favorite. My son is a bit challenging in general; he has ADHD and is gifted and sensitive to boot. Anyway, my husband’s expectations of him just don’t seem to match reality.

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ADHD Medication Leads to Better Performance on Post-Secondary Entrance Test Scores

ADHD medications are generally considered to be effective at reducing the symptoms of ADHD, but less research has been done to measure the real-life impact of medication use on individuals with ADHD. Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden examined the medical records and test scores of 61 640 individuals with a diagnosis of…

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Smoking more common in girls with ADHD

ADHD symptom type and gender influenced risk for smoking, according to recent findings that indicated greater association between ADHD and smoking outcomes in females…To determine associations between ADHD symptoms and development of smoking in adolescents, researchers analyzed three population-based, same-sex twin samples (n = 3,762) using twin difference methods.

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ADHD increases the likelihood of becoming a teen parent

Teenagers with ADHD have a much higher chance of becoming young mothers and fathers than their contemporaries. That is the conclusion of a large Danish register study, which shows that individuals diagnosed with ADHD are twice as likely to have children in their teenage years (between the ages of 12 and 19).

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Inattentive kids show worse grades in later life

Researchers found that inattentiveness in childhood was linked to worse academic performance up to 10 years later in children with and without ADHD, even when they accounted for the children’s intellectual ability. The results highlight the long-term effects that childhood inattention can have on academic performance, and suggest that parents and teachers should address inattentiveness…

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Does Your Child Have ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder – or Both?

It’s no secret that a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may have coexisting conditions such as depression and anxiety. However, each person’s situation varies – from genetic factors to environmental issues and everything in between – which can potentially muddy the waters for parents seeking a clear diagnosis. ADHD and autism spectrum disorder present…

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Can ADHD Meds Help With Emotion Regulation?

In particular, ADHD can make it harder to regulate your emotions. One way to think of it is that impulsivity is a core symptom of ADHD, and that includes impulsivity in feeling and acting on emotions…So, naturally, the question is: what treatment helps people with ADHD regulate their emotions? Recently, a team of psychologists addressed…

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10 Tips for a Smooth School Year for Students With ADHD

I worked for five years as a special education teacher, and know that teaching kids with ADHD can be quite a challenge. While medications may help many students cope with the stress of coming back to the classroom, drugs alone often aren’t enough. Here are 10 strategies to help students with ADHD have a smooth…

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How to Raise an ADHD Child When a Family Conflict Strikes

“All families encounter stressors,” says Dr. Francisco X. Castellanos, a professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and director of the Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at NYU Langone Medical Center…Add a family member with attention deficity hyperactivity disorder into the mix, and existing stress can be magnified. Castellanos says that an ADHD child,…

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