ADHD, Preschoolers and Kindergarten

Parenting tips, art as therapy.
Information from CHADD's Attention Magazine for ADHD.

Art is a wonderful preventive and creative activity for young children. It can help children to learn to focus and works better than medicine for many children. Photo: Microsoft-cannot be reproduced.

The boy, six years old, had dark rings under his eyes. He was slightly withdrawn socially and his primary classroom interest was computer video games on the internet. Preschool and kindergarten children diagnosed with ADHD are frequently prescribed stimulant medications as a form of behavior control. Sometimes it seems to help their behavior. However, side effects are evident, and many parents and teachers are concerned about the overuse of medications for young children. One preschool teacher studying for special education said that she always knew who the children were on medication by the dark rings under their eyes, as in the real example of the boy mentioned here from an inner city school.

CHADD's Attention magazine directs attention to intervention with preschoolers who demonstrate symptoms of ADHD. Surprisingly, rather than recommending medication as a first choice, the author of the article recommends a number of other of possible interventions, with these young children include parental training.

According to the Wolraich article in Attention, most clinicians prefer to be conservative with treatments, opting for parental training first. This is due to the potential negative impacts stimulant medications might have on young children as their brains are still developing.

Some of the Possible Problems Involving Medication for Preschoolers
and young children

Programs that have been found effective tend to focus on improving parental consistency and using consequences for desired and undesired behaviors.

ADHD Diet for Children

Before exploring pharmacological treatment, Wolraich recommends other avenues. Dietary manipulation, such as restricting the intake of certain foods or adding certain foods in, might make more sense than medication for a preschooler, he writes.

Cutting back on sugar and high processed foods is one positive step that parents, and school classrooms, can implement. (School classrooms offer breakfasts and snacks that are more often than not high in sugar, and highly processed).

Sleep Disorders and Difficulties with Children
Taking TV, Internet, Video Games Out of the Bedroom

Ensuring proper sleep habits and substituting physical activities for sedentary ones are two more options Wolraich offers, stating that while neither is proven as a treatment for ADHD, both can benefit any child. Sleep disorders often are misinterpreted as child ADHD.

Nearly 50% of children have a television in their bedroom, and taking television, video games and Internet access out of a child's bedroom is both a course of wisdom and protection, but also can be of much help in a child going to bed in a calm state, so that he or she is able to sleep well. This translates to better attentiveness in the preschool or kindergarten classroom.

Parental Internet Control - Parental Controls on Television
Parents might consider parental controls on both Internet and on the television. PG14 programs on the television typically have sex and sexuality, and parental controls allows both ratings and time blocks on the TV.

Limit Television Time for Children

Studies have indicated that every hour of television for young children equates to a higher percentage of ADHD symptoms in the future. Fast paced cartoons and cartoon violence are two things that parents should consider replacing with more productive and gentle activities for children such as going to the park or art projects.

Parents need to set limits on the television, the American Pediatrics Association recommends no more than two hours a day for children, some professionals recommend no more than one hour a day, especially during the school week and this is for combined media time, that is TV, movies, video games, non-educational internet.

The Amercian Pediatrics Association recommends no television before the age of 2 for all children. This can be considered to be a positive preventive measure for ADHD, and for childhood depression and bipolar disorder as well.

The TV can weaken the mind and emotionally makeup of a child or infant, and this can cause a child to be more susceptible to mental health disorders as he or she gets older.

Ideas for Non-Drug Interventions for ADHD in Preschoolers and Positive Parenting

CHADD's Attention magazine states that speech therapy should be considered if there is a speech delay with the preschooler. This would help the child better express him or herself verbally and cut down on the need for using motor skills for communication.

ADHD and Preschool, Kindergarten References

AD/HD in Preschoolers: Tips for Diagnosing and Treating the Disorder. (Retrieved June 25, 2009). National Resource Center for ADHD. http://help4adhd.org/en/treatment/complementary/WWK6

d Also see:

Interactive Metronome.com
http://www.interactivemetronome.com/IMPublic/Home.aspx
for an alternative therapy for ADHD that has some promise.

Best teacher's and special education teacher's books - 22 listed

Pages Related to ADHD and Preschool

Help for ADHD Developing Children's Interest in Art

24 Parenting Ideas

Child Psychiatric Labels

Children and the Media - Effects

Children's Mental Health - Sharna Olfman

sponsor