Friday, April 10, 2015

LADD - Living the adventure with co-occuring Conditions- Parenting modue 3

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One of my favourite things to do, in all the world, is to spend time cooking a delicious meal for friends. This enjoying time , set aside, offords me some thinking time. Thinking helps me to refuel my body with some energy and that energy led me to write this third blog post on ADHD.

I am presently enjoying an online parenting course .

http://www.livingaddventure.com/

Check it out for more information.

I hope to be doing the course some justice in writting these posts.

I am adding to the puzzle that is ADHD both for myself and for the other parents who I come in contact with. If you have been reading these posts, you will already know that I am a mother of four children- four sons to be exact. Doug is my husband and together we parent and love them . Of the four children, two are ADHD. The second one and the last one. One is 13 years old and se a teenager and the other is 9 and in grade 3. All of our children attend govenment schools in Cape Town, South Africa.

My husband is ADHD but was only diagnosed as an adult.

I have a teaching background and tutor children from home as well as run an art studio for children and beginner adults. Like many mothers today, I am a very busy mom. Adhd has added that dimention to our lives that brings with it the bright and beautiful and the grey and grumpy.

I have decided, from the very beginning, to upskill myself in all things ADHD. I guess I was motivated by my husbands bad and very sad childhood experiences of being an undiagnosed ADHD child who was and is supper bright but was just left to drown.

I always described him as a flower that had not yet flowered.

The joy of understanding ADHD is the joy that it gives to the ADHD person being able to understand his or her brain and therefore behaviour. Their is room for growth and change..... but I am going off topic.:)

This module is all about the co-occuring conditions that seem to belong with ADHD. These are the conditions that are found alongside ADHD but are not actually the ADHD. All ADHD people will have one or more of these.

Dave Pugh-Parry outlines these clearly.

The disruptive behaviour disorders

ADHD, oppositional defiance disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD)

there are a lot of overlapping behaviours of these three disorders but Dave helpfully outlines how we can notice the differences between the 3.

Mood disorders

These include ; bi-polar, unipolar disorder.

ADHD and bi-polar are different disorders and few ADHD people are bi-polar.
ADHD children CAN suffer from depression and adults with ADHD have a greater chance of struggling depression- up to 47%.

ADHD brings with it emotions that can range from frustration, irritability, bad moods , crying and anger.  These facts are based on research . Those of us who live with ADHD people know the truth that is expressed in this description of mood.

Anxiety disorders

30% of ADHD children struggle with anxiety and this increases with adults however I agree with Dave that doctors concurre that most ADHD people experience anxiety , not as a disorder, but rather as the constant worrying. I do so wish that our teachers really grasped this with the ADHD children that they deal with:(

Tics and Tourettes

Dave deals with these- ADHD children can have a tic of sorsts like throat clearing and blinking.

Learning Disorders

50% of ADHD children have learning disorders.

The learning disorder is not neccesarily treated with medication but needs the help that professionals can give. I have a very dear friend who has an ADHD son. He has auditory processing struggles. I really salute this friend as a mother who has supported and encouraged her son with the right kinds of help. This comes at great cost , both financial and time and energy but her love and encouragement of him has been trully worthy of salute!!!

In my tutoring I come across many ADHD children who struggle with reading or reading too quickly. I agree with Dave RE his view of reading and ADHD and he really has helped me understand and hopefully help some of these children.

Information and understanding really does open up a world to struggling children.

Thank you again for a helpful module.









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