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The Association for Youth, Children and Natural Psychology operates as a 501 c(3) non-profit, and is a New Jersey non-profit corporation.
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
By reading this site, the reader acknowledges their personal responsibility in choices for mental health for themselves and their children, and agrees that the AYCNP or anyone associated with this site, bears no responsibility for one's personal decisions in choices for mental health. Anyone coming off medication should do so gradually rather than abruptly, and under a doctor's supervision. Anyone experiencing thoughts of suicide should seek support.
SAFE EYES:
An excellent program tested by the AYCNP, to protect families from intrusive pop-ups or undesirable sites. Exellent for screening inappropriate YouTube content, controlling Social Networking sites and monitoring web use. Easy to install, use and modify.Advertisement:
USE THIS COUPON CODE FOR 20% DISCOUNT: WMH
How parents and educators can help children to overcome ADHD and childhood depression, naturally. Lifestyle changes, educational efforts can be very effective. Many professional and other resources listed.
Excellent book used in the classroom, simple for children Grades Kindergarten-6th Grade, to teach them the facts about lying and why and how to tell the truth. Vital character education lesson. Book is very much recommended for parents and teachers.
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| Page last updated: September 29, 2009 |
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ADHD, Preschoolers and Kindergarten.
Parenting tips, art as therapy. Information from CHADD's Attention Magazine for ADHD.
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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.
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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 can include:
Emotional outbursts
Difficulty falling asleep
Appetite decrease
Repetitive behaviors or thoughts
Irritability
Programs that have been found effective tend to focus on improving parental consistency and using consequences for desired and undesired behaviors.
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).
According to the article in Attention, another possible treatment is speech therapy if there is a speech delay. This would help the child better express him or herself verbally and cut down on the need for using motor skills for communication.
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.
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. 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 2 hours a day for children, some professionals recommend no more than 1 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.
Some possible interventions that are recommended for positive parenting:
parental training
parental consistency
less TV, movie computer, video game time
cutting out violent programming, action, violent or intense cartoons
speech therapy
ensuring proper sleep habits
physical activities and exercise during the day
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
Also see:
http://www.interactivemetronome.com/IMPublic/Home.aspx
Best teacher's and special education teacher's books - 22 listed
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