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Don't Mistake Your Child's ADHD Symptoms for Bad Behavior

Your child is not deliberately willful, disobedient, scattered, demanding, obnoxious, aggressive, or lazy. He or she has ADHD — a neurological condition with symptoms too often mistaken for willful "bad behavior." But research shows that criticizing your child is likely to make her symptoms worse. Here is a better way.

4 Comments: Don't Mistake Your Child's ADHD Symptoms for Bad Behavior

  1. Additude articles are usually very helpful and keep an eye out of language however some call-outs:

    If the gendering stops for all articles that would make for a better reading experience. Instead of flipping to “he” or “she” throughout which doesn’t account for non-binary individuals and feels like stereotyping, keep to using “they” or “child”. It does the same thing and is way more inclusive.

    Also – medical problem vs behavioral problem. I see what the article was trying to do but using the word “problem” for either is still a PROBLEM. ADHD isn’t a problem, society not being structured for NDs is the problem as well as lack of knowledge and understanding from parents, friends, teachers, etc.

  2. Wish someone could have told my Father that some forty-five-fifty years ago(I have a long memory). Having TV taken away from me for two weeks or a month for “not respecting” my Dad was was a regular fact of life in my pre-early teen years, it didn’t help, and I couldn’t prevent it because I never understood what I was being punished for!

  3. Reward systems work very well for the ADHD brain. Mostly verbal praise is all that’s needed. Lots of verbal praise.
    And I totally agree. Criticism doesn’t work. Because the ADHD brain is rejection sensitive.
    Now the trick is to just remember that and use it!

  4. Rewards system is a terrible suggestion- it doesn’t teach them the skills they need to manage adhd. For our son, rewards are basically still part of a punishment system- if he can’t manage his behaviors without the right tools, he’ll fail to get a reward which is just viewed as punishments to him (rightfully so!).
    I was hoping this article would give better solutions to adhd behavior issues like practicing scenarios where the kid often has difficulty, or working with kid to come up with solutions to try together.

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