Recommendations for parents Well, the moment has come when you and your child no longer face the choice of “to go or not to go?” School is not kindergarten IR, you will have to go into it, and it is from here that the child’s real introduction to “adult” life begins, life with its own responsibilities, the need to do what you don’t like, sacrificing what you like and really want to do.
If your child has been in kindergarten for at least a year, then much will not be new to him, but if not, then the process of adaptation to school may take a little longer.
What can and should be taken into account when sending your child to first grade, how you can reduce the stress that arises when faced with a new, unusual, not always pleasant and not always comfortable world of school.
Before you start thinking about what needs to be taken into account when choosing a school for a hyperactive child, I would like to draw the attention of parents to the fact that the school in no case replaces parents and does not relieve them of their responsibility to continue to engage in the development and upbringing of their child. At school, a child can only demonstrate what you have already instilled in him and continued to instill in him. All the basics of good manners, good manners, tolerance towards people, all the qualities necessary for successful study and simply for life: patience, accuracy, hard work, goodwill towards people, the ability to think not only about yourself, but also about those around you, etc. d. are brought up and acquired not at school, but only and exclusively in the family.
All this is not brought up and acquired through constant use. in various ways“educational influence,” but only through the child’s observation of you, through, sadly, your personal example. You partly noticed this when the child was learning to speak - he repeated absolutely all your words and statements, even those that you would not want him to repeat. The same applies to actions and choice of behavior in life.
It seems to us that when choosing a school for a preschooler, two main points should be taken into account:
- it should be convenient to get to school;
- teacher primary classes must be kind and love children (if possible).
And that is all. The school can be any - the simplest municipal one, located in the courtyard of the house where you live, the main thing is that it must meet these requirements.
If the school is located at the other end of the city, then the need to get up early, the inevitable hassle associated with traffic jams, the fear of being late, your commitment - what to do for three or four lessons, you just get home, you already need to go back, you can’t let one child go - all this will serve as an additional source of nervousness and create extra stress. This is not beneficial for any child, and even more so for a hyperactive one.
A primary school teacher must love children - this is a prerequisite.
IN primary school The child’s interest in understanding the world around him is still very high, but, on the other hand, during this period the child is especially vulnerable and sensitive to negative impacts from others. He learns to understand the world, determine how, when and what to react to. Behavioral stereotypes that develop in elementary school are extremely strong. If on at this stage If you discourage a child from learning, it will be almost impossible to restore it - you will have to wait until your child has an urgent need to acquire knowledge, that is, in fact, he grows up.
The main killer of children's interest in learning is fear. If for some reason he associates visiting school and staying there with fear and you do not notice and solve this problem in time, then it is possible that for many years the school will become the least favorite place in the world.
As for training in various gymnasiums, additional classes (we mean educational classes - languages, mathematics, etc., and not developmental ones - dancing, drawing, gymnastics, etc.), I just want you to know - physiological The workload for a primary school student is three to four lessons a day. Moreover, in the first grade the duration of the lesson should be no more than thirty minutes, gradually increasing to forty minutes.
In addition, a hyperactive child, by definition, is not able to concentrate his attention on anything for more than ten to fifteen minutes at a time. A load that exceeds these norms is non-physiological and creates the preconditions for the possible occurrence of difficulties not only of a psychological nature (caused by stress against the background of constant overload), but also of a physical nature (as is known, stress and constant overload are the cause of many diseases).
So, we have given you the basic requirements for the school; you can decide everything else yourself when you sit down as a “family council” and determine what you expect from the school for your child. When deciding this issue, do not forget to ask the child’s own opinion; perhaps his attitude to this topic will surprise you.
Now a little about what can and should be done to make your child feel as comfortable as possible at school.
Your actions should be directed in three main areas:
- psychological preparation and development social skills necessary for normal adaptation in the school community;
- physical training: school is also a lot of physical activity, first of all, if your child is healthy and physically strong, then it will be much easier for him to transition to a new hypostasis;
- formation of necessary educational skills. Let's try to understand in a little more detail what we can do for our child in each of these areas.
School is a completely different level of a child’s knowledge of the world around him. This is a complete change in the way we understand the world around us. If in preschool age the main means of understanding the world was play, then at school the child should master the new kind activities - educational.
Of course, when attending preparatory classes, in kindergarten, at home with his mother, the child has already encountered educational activities- He had classes in writing, mental arithmetic, and reading.
But still, this was not his main activity. He did all this as if “optional” during the time remaining free from the game.
When a child goes to school, the situation changes exactly the opposite. Now his main “work” is studying, and he can play during the time remaining free from studying. This is very difficult and difficult for a child. The child is conservative by nature and extremely disapproves of any global changes in his life - he instinctively perceives them as a threat to his familiar and familiar world. This is especially true for a hyperactive child - a familiar and monotonous daily routine, scrupulously following actions one after another throughout the day is the only salvation for his psyche, which is not yet fully formed and prone to overexcitation.
Therefore, you need to do with school the same as you did with kindergarten - start getting used to it in advance and gradually. For a hyperactive child, it is extremely important to attend preparatory courses - they will help make the transition from play to study smoother and more gradual.
It is very important, especially if you did not attend kindergarten, to work with the child yourself and gradually move on to ensuring that your classes resemble lessons in their structural organization - there is a clear beginning and end of the lesson, rules specific to school are developed and reinforced - do not interrupt and not to leave without permission, learn to control your behavior, learn to sit still and not disturb your neighbor - you can use an older brother or sister or just your child’s friends as a neighbor.
Another psychological problem that a child faces when entering school is high level independence. There are no longer any parents, not even a teacher and a nanny, who constantly helped him cope with simple and everyday affairs - take care of himself, keep him in order workplace at his desk, go to the dining room, etc. The child also needs to be accustomed to this in advance and gradually. Try to patronize him less, give him the opportunity to make independent decisions and be responsible for them. Entrust him with some household chores so that he learns to do his work without the help of adults.
Accustom your child to life in a group, especially if he did not go to kindergarten. It will be very difficult for him to get used to both a new type of activity - lessons and the need to spend a lot of time and do something together in a large group. Develop in him both the ability for productive cooperation and the ability to stand up for himself, defend his opinion and win his place in the sun.
And finally, the main thing is that it can ensure normal psychological adaptation child to school is a close emotional and psychological contact with you. The child must trust you, he must have the desire and the habit you have developed to constantly talk about what he did, saw, thought today, the habit of speaking frankly about the problems he encountered during the day. There must be trust between you and your child.
You should be interested in what happened to him, without focusing in front of your child on what you consider a problem, and he may not yet know how to feel about it, but doing everything possible to solve the problem.
The main thing is to never panic and, even when panicking, not to show your panic to your child. Well, yes, he got into a fight and came home with bruises, but this is inevitable, you also need to learn how to fight, so it is better for you to simply figure out what the reason is in such a situation, suggest possible ways to peacefully resolve such situations in the future and teach the child fight correctly (though it’s better if dad does it; mom, by definition, is not capable of teaching how to fight correctly) in case the situation cannot be resolved peacefully.
Physical training
Studying is not only emotional stress for a child, but also work that requires quite a lot of physical effort. Oddly enough, in order to sit still and do homework or listen to the teacher, a child needs much more physical strength than to run around the fields and villages all day.
Therefore, you should ensure in advance that your child is in good physical shape and able to withstand the physical stress of sitting quietly for three lessons and then another while doing homework.
In addition, regular physical exercise- it is also a wonderful disciplinary tool that develops perseverance and the ability to repeat the same actions. Regular physical activity is also the best “body-strengthening substance” that works no worse than the most modern vitamins.
Regular physical activity is constantly needed by mothers and fathers, not only while preparing their child for school, but preparing a child for school can be used as a means of stimulating the father to do exercises with the child one more time, and the mother to walk with the child to the store one more time or to the nearest park. In any case, regular exercise can be an excellent way to "create more calm atmosphere in family".
Formation of necessary study skills
If you and I were now forced to enter the first grade, it is possible that we simply would not pass the now so fashionable exam for preschoolers or would not pass the no less fashionable interview. The requirements for the level of knowledge of first-graders are so high that sometimes you wonder why they go to school if they already know everything that can really be useful to them in life?
Nevertheless, we will still have to meet the requirements of a modern school, and even if before that you thought that you should not darken your child’s childhood with unnecessary activities and restrictions motor activity, nevertheless, immediately before entering school, the whole family will have to thoroughly sit down with the textbook again and go through “ school curriculum", necessary for admission to school.
The requirements set by different schools are so different - in some schools it is enough to simply know the alphabet, have basic writing skills, and be able to read simple texts, while in some schools it is necessary to master almost all arithmetic operations, read aloud with good reading technique, quickly and without errors, be able to retell texts, write short essays and the like. Therefore, in this case, you should do exactly the same as you once did with a kindergarten - when you decide on a school, you need to go and find out from primary school teachers or the school administration what a child coming to them for the first time should know. Class.
In addition, experienced primary school teachers advise parents to act in two directions - to develop fine motor skills and to instill skills and interest in reading.
The development of fine motor skills of the hand is necessary for the formation of graphics skills, that is, the ability to write letters correctly.
In children up to school age the muscles of the hand are not yet sufficiently developed, so often poor handwriting and incorrectly, sloppily written letters are not due to the fact that the child does not want to complete a written task well, but to the fact that he simply cannot - the muscles of the hand responsible for the accuracy of movements are not sufficiently developed .
Primary school teachers (E.L. Maksimova) advise performing such simple and often interesting exercises for children as shading and tracing. To develop the muscles responsible for fine motor skills, you can teach your child not just to color pictures in coloring books, but to stroke them evenly, preferably at the same intervals.
You can come up with pictures yourself, use stencils, by the way, tracing stencils is also good exercise for the development of fine motor skills of the hands. These exercises can easily be turned into a game, but if done regularly, they will help you avoid problems with calligraphy in the future. It is very important to “train” the child’s hand, develop it, prepare it for such difficult work like a letter.
As for the skills of expressing thoughts, as a rule, when entering school, a preschooler is required to be able to listen carefully to an adult reading a book or telling a story, to understand what is being read or told to him, and to be able to express his thoughts correctly, competently and consistently. As a rule, in modern school They also require that the child be able to read at least syllables.
Reading books, and not just watching cartoons, is necessary for a child, since it is during reading that the child’s ability for imaginative thinking develops (cartoons do not provide such an opportunity, they offer ready-made visual images), the perception of information by ear, trains long-term memory, the ability to analyze and creatively interpret what is heard.
The best way to instill a love of reading is to create another family tradition, the tradition of reading fairy tales before bed. Moreover, if the mother has to do this before the daytime nap, then reading a fairy tale by the father before the child’s night sleep will give both a wonderful opportunity to spend a little time together and establish close emotional contact. Reading fairy tales by dad gives the child confidence in his father’s protection and kind attitude, teaches him to trust his dad, and forms relationships that will then last throughout his life.
Reading before bed can be used during the day as an additional exercise for speech development - while studying with the child, mom can always ask him what dad read to him yesterday. By retelling what he heard, the child learns not only to construct sentences correctly and convey his thoughts, but also to analyze the essence of what he read. In addition, discussion of situations and behavior of characters can be used by parents for educational purposes.
A hyperactive child is an accumulator of uncontrollable energy, which, spreading into children's team in geometric progression, it can, if the necessary and unconditional measures are not taken in time, turn any activity and any lesson into chaos in a matter of seconds.
Of course, when a hyperactive child appears in a class or group, the most competent and effective way out would be to gather members of the teaching staff working with this class or group and conduct a kind of training seminar on how to work with this child, how to organize classes in a group or class in which there is a child with ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder),how to make sure that this child does not become the only concern and problem of the entire teaching staff to the detriment of other children. Of course, this seminar or meeting should be conducted by a competent psychologist.
As a rule, in almost all modern educational institutions There is a full-time psychologist who could carry out such explanatory work. However, unfortunately, reality is always quite far from ideal - it is not always possible to hold such a seminar-meeting, it is not always possible to remember in time all the recommendations given by the school psychologist, so in this book we provide some recommendations for organizing work with hyperactive children.
Working in a classroom with a hyperactive child may be a little easier if you try to follow at least some of the rules below.
Organization of the training session:
- conduct training sessions according to a clearly planned, stereotypical routine;
- during the training session, provide opportunities for motor relaxation: physical labor, small gymnastics;
- It will be easier for your child to adapt to school and class if you create a list of rules that students must follow. It is important that the rules in the list are formulated in a positive form - it should contain a list of what should be done, and not what should not be done;
- Encourage work in groups, periodically changing their composition, promote interaction between students. Mutual assistance and a sense of community in the class will create a calmer and more patient atmosphere on the part of children, will help them pay less attention to the unrestrained behavior of a child with ADHD, not mock his failures, but, on the contrary, help him cope with the situation;
- Always write instructions for completing assignments on the board. Leave instructions on the board until the assignments are completed. There are students who cannot write down or remember verbal instructions on their own;
- During the lesson, limit distractions to a minimum. This can be facilitated, in particular, by optimal choice seats at the desk for a hyperactive child - in the center of the class opposite the blackboard;
- use as many visual teaching aids as possible. The use of additional didactic teaching aids will be useful not only for a hyperactive child, but also for the entire class, and will make the lesson more interesting.
Working with a child:
- Work with a hyperactive child must be done individually, with the main attention paid to distractions and poor organization of activities;
- seat your child in the front center of the class. This way the student’s attention will be more focused on the teacher, and the child will be able to see and hear him better;
- It is necessary, if possible, to ignore the defiant actions of a child with attention deficit disorder and encourage his good behavior;
- provide the child with the opportunity to quickly seek help from the teacher in cases of difficulty;
- teach a hyperactive child to use a special diary or calendar;
- a hyperactive child should be given only one task for a certain period of time; if the task is large, then it is better to break it into separate segments and offer the child the next piece of the task only after completing the previous one, periodically monitor the progress of work on each part, making the necessary adjustments;
- Do not treat your child as different and unusual. He should be given the same tasks as other students: academic, practical and social. Create an atmosphere of “equals among equals.” Explain to parents what needs to be done Special attention to do homework;
- working face to face with the child as much as possible will help both parties: the teacher to understand the child's problems, the student to feel that the teacher cares about his success;
- if the child loses attention and begins to interfere, it’s time to let him read aloud part of a teaching paragraph or task;
- help children find educational material keywords and highlight them with bright markers;
- encourage your child more. Negative evaluations create an atmosphere of failure and only reinforce problem behavior.
General recommendations:
- always close the classroom door. The less outside noise children with ADHD hear, the easier it is for them to focus their attention on the teacher;
- Write the assignments offered during the lesson on the board;
- hang a calendar in the classroom and mark it important dates, deadlines and goals. Encourage students to keep their calendar and mark the same things they do on the class calendar;
- Contact parents to convey positive feedback. Create a system with parents that will support the student and advance common goals.
And most importantly, work with a child suffering from ADHD will be effective only if it is comprehensive and not only the school and teachers take part in it, but also the parents, the child’s attending physician, a school psychologist or a psychologist observing the child. . Naturally, the attending physician or psychologist observing the child will not share confidential medical information with the teacher, but the teacher must inform parents about the need to consult with relevant specialists and inquire about the recommendations they give regarding the organization of the daily routine and the teaching load.
Successful work with a child with ADHD is impossible without the cooperation of parents. It is necessary for someone to explain to them the causes of hyperactivity and develop an individual program to help the child. Practice shows that parents, as a rule, are more inclined to trust a doctor than teachers and psychologists, therefore, the teacher’s functions include delicately and unobtrusively explaining to parents that consultation with a specialist is necessary, that there is nothing wrong with this and this does not mean that their child flawed, which means he's just a little different. No better or worse than the rest of the children in the class, just different, and parents vitally need information about how exactly he differs from other children and how it is preferable to build relationships with the child so that he can realize himself to the maximum in this world .
Therefore, it is advisable that a medical specialist explain to them that the child’s behavioral problems cannot be solved through volitional efforts. The child behaves this way not because he wants to annoy adults, not out of spite, but because he has physiological problems that he is not able to cope with.
The task of the school psychologist is to carry out psychological correction together with the teacher and parents. emotional sphere and child behavior. He can work with the child either individually or in a group of hyperactive children according to a specially developed program. In addition, the psychologist conducts explanatory work with teachers, together with them develops a strategy and tactics for interaction with each hyperactive child and draws up an individual development program for such a child.
The teacher, taking into account the recommendations of specialists, carries out the process of teaching the child, taking into account his individual characteristics of development and behavior, and the family environment. Only in the case of such an integrated approach does consistent, unanimous education and training of a hyperactive child occur, which helps to realize the child’s potential and reduce his emotional stress.
Article.
Hyperactive child at school: Problems and solutions.
Today, the most common form of behavior disorder in childhood is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD manifests itself directly as distraction, motor activity (hyperactivity) and clarity of behavior. Hyperactivity in children is characterized by the fact that children are extremely active. Once children enter school, the problem of hyperactivity increases. Their behavior is not appropriate for their age, so they cannot achieve any learning results at school. But at the same time, many of these children have a high level of intellectual development. Reading or writing skills are much lower than those of ordinary children. Written work contains many errors, which are typical precisely when a child is inattentive. Such children also periodically experience exacerbations in relationships with their peers, with teachers, and also with family members. Since fluctuations in time and situations are typical for all manifestations of the syndrome, the child’s behavior is not predictable.
Hyperactivity is a disease that is transmitted partly genetically (inherited), such data have been presented in several studies. Family surveys also support this hypothesis.
Domestic researchers, in turn, conducted their own investigations, in which they came to the following conclusion: the disease develops as a result of changes in the structure of the X chromosome. Research conducted many years ago, and today only confirms one thing: genes have a direct influence on the development of the disease.
The syndromes of a hyperactive child who could not sit quietly in a chair for a minute were first described by the German psychoneurologist Heinrich Huffman.
MM. Chistyakova in her book “Psycho-gymnastics” says that psycho-gymnastics classes are necessary for such children. He also proved that visual and musical arts classes are tools that help to establish contact with children with such disabilities.
A.D. Stolyarenko in the book “Children’s Psychodiagnostics and Career Guidance” in the section “Hyperactivity” argues that the ADHD syndrome is based on minor, but still lesions of areas of the brain that arise as a result of complications during pregnancy and childbirth, depleting the body early age diseases (severe diathesis, dyspepsia), physical and mental trauma.
But domestic neurologists paid attention to the problem of hyperactivity much later. In 1972, the famous pediatrician Yu.F. Dombrovskaya identified a group of “difficult-to-educate” children who cause the most problems for parents and teachers. When talking about children with this disorder, most researchers (Z. Trzhesoglava, V.M. Troshin, A.M. Radaev, Yu.S. Shevchenko, L.A. Yasyukova) mean children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Today, this disease is beginning to take on enormous proportions in all countries, including ours. This is evidenced by the huge number of publications both in newspapers and in books and magazines on this topic. If in 1957-1960. there were 31 of them, then in 1960-2000, and in 19977-1980. – 7000. Currently, 2000 or more articles and books are published annually on this problem.
Purpose of the article - study the features of external and internal development of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
"Active" - from Latin "active"(active, active). "Hyper" - from the Greek "hyper"- above, on top - indicates an excess of the norm. Hyperactivity in children manifests itself in the early stages, does not correspond to the child’s age, the development of inattention in the child, and is characterized by distractibility and impulsiveness[ 11, p.20] .
Hyperactivity is a complex behavioral disorder manifested in inappropriate excessive motor activity, defects in concentration, and inability to engage in organized, goal-directed activity.
Causes of hyperactivity in children of primary school age:
Genes - hyperactivity is more common in boys, and most of these children have blond hair and blue eyes;
Health of genetic parents - often hyperactive children are born to mothers with allergic diseases (asthma, eczema;
Absence or deficiency of fatty acids and nutrients (especiallyZn? Mg, vitamin AB-12) symptoms include a constant feeling of thirst, dry skin, dry hair;
Poor nutrition - the child’s diet is dominated by sweet foods (chocolate, sugar, etc.), dairy products, white bread, tomatoes, oranges, eggs:
Incorrect upbringing - permissiveness, instability in the behavior of adults (punishment and encouragement from parents for the same act).
Parents should remember that no one knows their child better than them: neither doctors, nor teachers, nor friends. After all, only parents can evaluate the “normality” of their child. Well, when assessing, you should also not forget that each child is individual and has the right to be an individual, different from others.
Hyperactivity in a child can manifest itself even in preschool age. At home, such children are often compared with their older brothers, sisters, and peers who have good academic performance and exemplary behavior, which, in fact, is what children suffer from. They do not want to be like others and often behave this way on purpose. The first manifestations of restlessness can be observed before the age of 7 years. Usually such a child does not sleep during the day, even when he is still a baby, and his sleep is restless at night. Such children constantly attract attention, whether at home or in public places, because they constantly touch, grab, and do not listen to their parents.
Features of working with hyperactive children.
Delivery system school material In an educational institution, the main problem is the pedagogical monologue, which requires attentive listening and satisfactory behavior from children, while hyperactive children need visual and tactile support in obtaining information. First of all, parents and teachers should be patient. You also need to follow a daily routine.
So, overactive children (and especially younger schoolchildren) experience a great need for movement, which is contrary to school regulations.
Thus, we can say that our schools are not quite ready to teach hyperactive children. A hyperactive child himself is not able to structure his time, therefore, in the first stages of his education, adults should help him to usefully distribute the time given to him, so that his homework is completed. In some cases, you can even give responsibility for their implementation to the child himself, but parents control the process themselves.
Another problem in teaching hyperactive children is the lack of playgrounds At school. After all, it is vital for hyperactive children, as it allows them to relieve themselves of some tension resulting from acquiring new knowledge. And since schools do not have this space, children can arrange it wherever they want.
This problem is not one-sided, it requires great attention from both parents and doctors, both teachers and psychologists.
Rules for working with hyperactive children:
Work with your child early in the day rather than in the evening:
Reduce the child's workload;
Divide work into shorter but more frequent periods. Use physical education minutes;
Be a dramatic, expressive teacher;
Reduce the requirements for accuracy at the beginning of work to create a sense of success;
Place the child next to an adult during classes;
Use tactile contact (elements of massage, touching, stroking);
Agree with your child about certain actions in advance;
Give short, clear and specific instructions;
Use a flexible system of rewards and punishments;
Encourage the child immediately, without delaying the future;
Give the child the opportunity to choose;
Keep calm. No composure - no advantage!
Conclusions. Having analyzed the literature, we can say that there may be several reasons for the occurrence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in a child: psychophysiological immaturity, brain dysfunction, and a socio-psychologically unfavorable family environment.
We can also safely say that hyperactive children do not adapt very well to an unusual environment and a new team. A hyperactive child needs to be given more attention and given the opportunity to exercise physically during classes; this, of course, does not mean that it is necessary to work only with this child or not pay attention to him at all, it is just that such children need to develop an individual plan and an individual approach : ask more often, ask to bring something or give it to the teacher, help collect work, drawings, distribute materials for classes, i.e. keep the child busy with useful social work, and then he will feel that he is useful and will strive for the ideal. This will help the child happily sit through the entire 35-minute lesson without violating discipline. A careful teacher can provide many such techniques. Of course, the advice given will never replace consultation with a neurologist and psychologist. A hyperactive child needs constant supervision from specialists. Of course, the main role in the fight against such deviation is given to the family. It is parents who must take measures to combat hyperactivity. It is often said that even ordinary quarrels in the family can affect the development of ADHD, so parents should try to maintain a calm environment in the house around their children.
Also, parents and teachers should remember that this diagnosis is not fatal. Children can live with this and there is nothing wrong with it, if, of course, parents pay attention to the problem of attention. For most children, increased activity is absolutely normal, that’s why they are children. It is only necessary that the child is not seriously injured during this activity, i.e. it is necessary to carefully monitor his activities and at the same time teach caution in both physical and verbal movements, and over time, meaningfulness in actions.
List of used literature:
Bezrukikh M.M. Fidget child\ M.M.Bezrukikh.-M.: Ventana-Graf, 2001.
Bryazgunov I.P. Restless child\I.P. Bryazgunov, E.V. Kasatikova.-M.: The Art of Psychotherapy, 2001.-289 p.
Upbringing healthy child: manual For practical workers of preschool institutions \ comp.: M.D. Makhaneva.-M., 1997.-295 p.
Gorpinich Zh.O. Hyperactivity in children of primary school age [Electronic resource]. J.O. Gorpinich.
Is your child ready for school?: a guide for parents\compiled by L.A. Wenger, A.L. Wenger.-M., 1994.-288p.
Efremova O.N. About hyperactive children\ O.N. Efremova\\ Preschool education.-2010.-No. 10.-33p.
Kovikova E.P. ADHD in children of primary school age [Electronic resource].
Makarova N.V. ADHD.\N.V.Makarova\\Educational work at school.-2010.-No.6.-144p.
Pedagogical encyclopedic dictionary\comp.: B.M.Bim-Bad.-M.:RAGS, 2003.-126p.
Psychological Dictionary\ed. B.G.Meshcheryakova, V.P.Zinchenko.-M.: RAGS, 2003.-627p.
Shakhova N.S. Psychological characteristics of readiness for schooling hyperactive children [Electronic resource]
Hyperactive child at school and at home.
Lately we have been hearing the concept of a “hyperactive” child more and more often. What is he like? What are the causes of child hyperactivity? What to do in this situation.What is hyperactivity?
“Hyper…” - (from the Greek Hyper - above, from above) - a component of complex words, indicating an excess of the norm. The word “active” came into Russian from the Latin “activus” and means “effective, active.”
Hyperactive behavior in children varies the following signs: restless movements are often observed; spins; gets up from his seat in the classroom during lessons when he is required to remain seated; often talkative; usually has difficulty waiting his turn in various situations.
Probably in every class there are children who find it difficult to sit in one place for a long time, remain silent, or obey instructions. They create additional difficulties for educators and teachers in their work because they are very active, hot-tempered, irritable and irresponsible. Hyperactive children often touch and drop various objects, push peers, creating conflict situations. The famous American psychologist V. Oaklander characterizes these children as follows: “A hyperactive child has difficulty sitting, he is fussy, moves a lot, spins around, is sometimes overly talkative, and can be annoying in his manner of behavior. He often has poor coordination or insufficient muscle control. He is clumsy, drops or breaks things, spills milk. It is difficult for such a child to concentrate his attention, he is easily distracted, often asks many questions, but rarely waits for answers."
How to identify a hyperactive child?
The behavior of hyperactive children may be superficially similar to the behavior of children with increased anxiety, so it is important for teachers and parents to know the main differences between the behavior of one category of children and another. In addition, the behavior of an anxious child is not socially destructive, but a hyperactive child is often the source of various conflicts, fights and simply misunderstandings.
To identify a hyperactive child in the classroom, it is necessary to observe him for a long time and conduct conversations with parents and teachers.
American psychologists P. Baker and M. Alvord suggest following criteria identifying hyperactivity in a child
Criteria for hyperactivity
Active attention deficit
Inconsistent, it is difficult for him to maintain attention for a long time.
Doesn't listen when spoken to.
He takes on a task with great enthusiasm, but never finishes it.
Experiences difficulties in organization.
Often loses things.
Avoids boring and mentally demanding tasks.
Often forgetful.
Motor disinhibition
Constantly fidgets.
Shows signs of anxiety (drumming with fingers, moving in a chair, running, climbing somewhere).
Sleeps much less than other children, even in infancy.
Very talkative.
Impulsiveness
1.Begins to answer without finishing the question.
2. Unable to wait for his turn, often interferes and interrupts.
3. Poor concentration.
Cannot wait for reward (if there is a pause between actions and reward).
When performing tasks, he behaves differently and shows very different results. (in some lessons the child is calm, in others he is not, but in some lessons he is successful, in others he is not).
If at least six of the listed signs appear before the age of 7 years, the teacher and parents can assume that the child he is observing is hyperactive.
What to do?
First, it is necessary to establish the cause of hyperactivity, for which you need to consult with specialists. If a neurologist prescribes a course of treatment, massage and adherence to a special regime, it is necessary to strictly follow his recommendations.
Create a calm, favorable environment around such a child, since any disagreements in the family only charge the child with negative emotions. Communication with a hyperactive child should also be soft and calm, since he is susceptible to the mood of his parents and people close to him.
It is necessary to observe a single line of behavior for parents and all family members in raising a child.
It is very important to prevent the child from overtiring; do not exceed the load and work hard with him. For example, sending a child to several sections or circles at once, jumping over age groups. All this will lead to whims and worsening of the child’s behavior.
To prevent your child from becoming overexcited, it is very important to follow a daily routine, which includes mandatory nap, early evening going to bed, it is necessary to replace outdoor games and walks with calm games, etc.
The fewer comments you make, the better. In this situation, it is better to distract him. The number of prohibitions must be age-appropriate. Such a child really needs praise, so it is necessary to do it very often, even for a small thing. But praise should not be too emotional, so as not to overstimulate the child.
Try to ensure that your requests do not carry several instructions at once. When talking to a child, you need to look him straight in the eyes.
In order to develop fine motor skills and general organization movements, it is necessary to involve hyperactive children in choreography, tennis, dancing, swimming, and karate.
It is necessary to introduce the child to outdoor and sports games; the child must understand the purpose of the game and learn to obey the rules and plan the game.
When raising a hyperactive child, one should not go to extremes: on the one hand, show excessive gentleness, and on the other, increased demands that he is unable to fulfill, combined with harshness and punishment. Frequent changes in punishment and parental moods have Negative influence for a hyperactive child.
Spare no time and effort to instill in your child obedience, accuracy, self-organization, develop in him a sense of responsibility for his actions, the ability to plan and complete what he starts.
To improve concentration when doing homework, it is necessary to remove, if possible, all irritating and distracting factors; it should be a quiet place where the child can concentrate on work. While preparing homework, you need to check in with your child to make sure he is continuing to work. Every 15-20 minutes, allow your child to take a five-minute break, during which you can walk around and rest.
Always try to discuss his behavior with your child and make comments to him in a calm and friendly manner.
It is very important to increase a child’s self-esteem and confidence own strength. This can be done through the acquisition of new skills, success in school and everyday life.
A hyperactive child is very sensitive; he reacts particularly sharply to remarks, prohibitions, and notations. Such children sometimes feel that their parents do not love them. Such children, more than others, need warmth, care, attention and love, love not for something, but because it exists. Now we have come to an important topic - what should parents do with this restless bundle of energy...
1. Temper the child.
For example, dousing a child with a bucket every day cold water...or another option acceptable to you. Trite? But it is very effective! Do you know why hardening is effective for pulmonary, gastrointestinal and nervous diseases?
Cold water is stressful. The body does not understand what happened, but is ready to defend itself: run, attack, hide. At the time of this preparation, the adrenal glands secrete the stress hormone - adrenaline. But no battle takes place. But you can’t drive adrenaline back... and it starts working where the body has a weak point. In our case, in the nervous system.
In addition, pouring a bucket of cold water on your shoulders and neck (not your head!) will relieve excess psychomotor tension on the cerebral cortex. It is typical for hyperactive children and is what prevents them from falling asleep when they really want to sleep.
2. Don't keep it at home.
It is highly desirable for a hyperactive child to attend some kind of children's institution. After three years old the house is finally becoming too small for him. He needs communication and a variety of impressions, but he is active, sociable and easily gets along with people, enterprising and non-offensive.
In addition, this experience will prepare him for serious stress at school. It is better that he gradually gains social experience of communicating with other children and adults and adapts to the requirements.
3. Teach the child to observe his condition and report it to others.
Sounds weird? Moreover, most adults are not very good at doing this...
But if you teach this to a child from a very young age, he will do it very well. First, parents need to track these “good” and “bad” periods in their child. Then the mother will regularly and in detail inform her child about her observations of his condition: “This is not possible for you today. Let’s try tomorrow,” “You seem very excited after kindergarten. Let’s try to take a shower, and then we’ll study?”, “This time everything worked out simply and wonderfully for you. Please remember this state". And then soon the child can make his own observation: “I'm angry and hungry now. You need to feed me and I’ll get better.”.
4. Teach your child to relax.
This can be done in the form of a fun game.You also need to call on “natural psychotherapists” for help - water and sand. Games with them have a wonderful healing effect - they relax. And if on the shore of a river or sea a hyperactive child picks around in the sand to his heart’s content, builds sand towers, plays with water, swims and dives, a significant improvement in behavior, sleep, etc. can occur.
Can a hyperactive child study in a regular school or are there specialized educational institutions for such nimble children? To be fair, it should be noted that in terms of mental abilities, these guys are in no way inferior to their peers. Therefore, there are no special schools for fidgets. And to the question Can a hyperactive child study in a normal school?, we can confidently answer, of course!
However, for such little ones the learning process is a little difficult due to psychological characteristics. Therefore, teachers and parents are recommended to follow the instructions and recommendations of the child psychotherapist regarding some of the nuances of teaching such a student. In this article we will try to explain who a hyperactive child is, and also give recommendations for parents of restless schoolchildren.
How does ADHD manifest itself?
Hyperactivity can be safely designated by the prefix “over.” Such children have an increased need for active movement. They are overactive, impulsive, have unstable moods, talk loudly, are unable to concentrate on one action or object, and have poor memory. They can be aggressive and whiny if they don't get what they want. All these indicators are a consequence of the malfunction of individual parts of the brain responsible for behavioral reactions.
How to identify a student with ADHD?
Adults often confuse banal bad manners and spoiled behavior with ADHD. In fact, taking a little closer look at the students, it will not be difficult to identify such a student:
- Distraction from activities. Even the most interesting activities such a small one cannot be forced to concentrate. He constantly switches to something else.
- Excessive emotionality is expressed in literally everything. May cry for no reason or laugh loudly when there is no reason to be happy.
- Loud and fast speech. Even after the comments, the fellow does not reduce the volume of his voice.
- Such fidgets write, often while committing typical mistakes; they don’t add endings, forget to capitalize, even avoid obvious punctuation marks. They are unable to correct the text even with the help of hints.
- They are characterized by fussiness and a lot of completely unnecessary body movements. Unable to sit in one place for more than two minutes. They constantly fidget and crumple.
- They have poor memory and forgetfulness. Forget to write down homework, can go home without a backpack or replacement shoes.
- Something constantly falls, breaks, gets lost.
- Unable to clearly explain anything or build a dialogue.
- The fidget is constantly surrounded by chaos. Even when he arrives neatly at school, he is unable to maintain the appropriate appearance for 45 minutes.
- Under no circumstances should you punish a fidget for excessive activity. Moreover, this will not save the situation, but will make it even worse.
- Don't stop your baby from moving. Of course, running around and standing on your head is not very welcome within a school setting. But on the street, let him run, jump and frolic. After all, your “volcano” needs something to do with his unstoppable energy, and it’s better to let this happen outside the walls of the school.
- It is advisable to enroll a fidget in some sports section or circle. This could be football, swimming, athletics, etc. In general, anything, as long as he spends inexhaustible energy reserves.
- We need to ask teachers to involve fidget in active actions. This could be handing out tools in class, helping wipe the board, etc.
- Don’t force them to start doing homework right after they get home. Take at least an hour of active breaks between home and school activities.
- It is recommended to introduce small foods into the diet that require a lot of energy to digest ( different types nuts, meat dishes, etc.).
- Follow the recommendations of a child psychotherapist and strictly follow all instructions.
- Create a daily routine and monitor its implementation. Moreover, each family member must adhere to the daily routine.
ADHD is not a death sentence, but just a problem that can be easily solved by following all the recommendations and wishes of doctors and psychologists.
A hyperactive child is a schoolboy, what should parents do? Advice from a psychologist
Somehow you can still endure the tricks of the fidget when he goes to kindergarten. But when a hyperactive child is a schoolchild, what should parents do? Advice from psychologists will help you cope with this difficult period in your child’s life. This article will tell you how a hyperactive child behaves at school, explain what parents should do, and provide advice from a psychologist.
It must be said that junior grades are the most difficult for children with attention deficit disorder. After all, new responsibilities appear that must be strictly fulfilled. It is not easy for fidgets to sit in one place for a long time, listen carefully to the teacher, concentrate and adhere to the norms of behavior. This is often the reason why performance problems arise. But there is no need to panic and think that now there is no bright future for your little one. There are special programs and educational methods developed by psychologists specifically for such children.
Features of training
Unfortunately, not all educational institutions know how to deal with difficult children. And relatives are at a loss as to how to tame the fidget at home and force them to do their homework. But if within the school walls a teacher can always resort to the help of a full-time psychologist, what should the fiend’s family do? Understanding mothers and fathers know who a hyperactive child is and listen to the recommendations of psychologists to parents of difficult schoolchildren.
So, the most important point of the program is to create a daily routine for the baby. The regimen should be designed in such a way that mental stress alternates with physical activity. Also, the daily routine should include special lessons aimed at developing perseverance and attentiveness. Of course, tasks can be adjusted depending on the individual qualities of the little person. But there are recommendations, the implementation of which is mandatory for all difficult schoolchildren:
- It is advisable to send the fidget to a class with minimum quantity students;
- When doing homework, do five minutes of active exercise every 20 minutes;
- By helping with homework, you provide educational material in an interesting and colorful form;
- Perform daily exercises to develop attentiveness, perseverance and responsibility;
- Get used to working in a team.
Getting rid of excess energy
Helps you get rid of excess energy physical exercise And sport games. At the same time, psychologists advise giving preference to games in which you need to use only physical abilities. Remember - such kids are very impressionable and, for example, competitive types of games can cause increased anxiety and fear in them.
Prohibitions and restrictions
You cannot prohibit anything before this without justifying your prohibition with facts and examples. Any remark must have a basis and be explained in a calm and measured timbre of voice. You should also not introduce a taboo on all the pranks of the mischievous person at once. Introduce your rules gradually. This way, it will be easier for the baby to understand what they want from him, and he will systematically get used to the new norms of behavior.
Learning to calm down
When you begin to notice that your “volcano” is becoming uncontrollable, change the environment around it to a calmer and quieter one. A mother’s voice, her hugs and kisses have a very calming effect on such a baby. The child needs to be hugged, pitied, caressed, reassured in a quiet, gentle voice. In the evening, you can take a relaxing bath with soothing infusions. Massage and reading your favorite fairy tales and books will also help.
Try to tune in to the same wavelength as your child. Then it will be much easier for you to understand how to behave so that he begins to listen to you and fulfill your requests. The psyche of a child with ADHD is characterized by a lack of attentiveness. Therefore, when communicating with your child, you need to speak slowly, pronouncing each word clearly. When giving a child any task, it is necessary to formulate the request in a short and understandable form. Too long a wording will confuse the fidget, and in a minute he will simply forget what was discussed.
Learning to understand time
It is extremely important for such mischievous people to learn to navigate within the time frame. To teach your child to sense time, set him tasks to carry out any assignment precisely on time. For example, we perform a task for 15 minutes and then jump on the spot for 5 minutes. Or we brush our teeth for exactly 5 minutes, eat for 20 minutes, and so on. Don’t forget to remind your child how many minutes are left until the end of a particular task.
Punishment
Such children are extremely sensitive to punishment. They perceive even a minor remark in their direction as a deep insult. The reproaches of mom and dad “don’t do this” or “you can’t do that” will most likely not be understood, but, on the contrary, the child will become even more uncontrollable.
But such kids take praise very well. If a mother wants the child, for example, to clean the room, she needs to praise him, saying how clean, thrifty and responsible he is. After such epithets, the child will run to clean the room, proving to everyone that mother’s words are not an empty phrase and he is in fact so wonderful and thrifty.
The diagnosis of ADHD should not become a wall in front of a bright and happy future for a little person. And relatives, like no one else, are able to direct the baby’s energy in the right direction and help him become a worthy and respected representative of society.
Take the test
Often the most common cause of child hyperactivity is lack of attention. With his excessive mobility and busyness, he tries to attract parents, peers, and teachers to him. Sometimes such a reason may be a person’s character trait. However, many other factors have the greatest influence: at risk are children who were born through a cesarean section, artificial babies, etc. Therefore, it is quite important to understand the root cause.
Judging by statistical data, hyperactivity occurs in almost every twentieth child; by the way, it should be noted that boys are two to three times more likely. It turns out that in classroom you can meet at least one baby with excessive activity. A hyperactive child is being told by everyone who is not too lazy, but in reality you only need to listen to specialists.
Scientists have proven that hyperactivity is a diagnosis
For a long time, this diagnosis was considered only a feature of the child’s behavior, but more recently it was proven that this is a mental disorder that cannot be corrected by simple pedagogical methods. And if there are parents in the family? Advice from a psychologist will help you figure this out.
Interestingly, in 1970, studies were conducted that showed: of this disease there are physiological and genetic reasons, and the syndrome itself relates not only to pedagogy and psychology, but is also associated with medicine.
Main causes
- Lack of necessary hormones in the child’s body.
- Past illnesses and injuries.
- Mother's illnesses during pregnancy.
- Any illness that the child suffered as an infant. They could affect brain function.
And regardless of the fact that medicine has made great strides in this matter, and there are pharmacological treatment methods and psychological and pedagogical ones, childhood hyperactivity is still considered an incurable syndrome that can be corrected in adolescence. Based on this, we will try to draw conclusions and give recommendations: hyperactive children, what should parents do?
Advice from a psychologist can help a child adapt to society and subsequently become a comprehensively developed person.
Illness in adulthood
In fact, many adults suffer from this disease, but most often they are simply considered too impulsive, active and eccentric. This syndrome occurs in childhood, it has not yet been fully studied, so it has not been proven that it remains in adulthood.
How to recognize a hyperactive child
Parents can immediately encounter the first signs: children sleep poorly, cry a lot, are very irritable during the day, and can react to any noise or change of environment.
A hyperactive child at one year old already begins to manifest himself, for example, in speech delay, awkward movements due to impaired motor skills. Nevertheless, he is constantly active, tries to walk, move, he is fussy and mobile. His mood is also constantly changing: at one moment the child is cheerful and joyful, and the next minute he can suddenly become capricious. So, here is a hyperactive child (1 year old). What should parents do? Such children will have to pay much more attention, and efforts must be made to achieve results.
Critical age
When it comes to preparatory classes, it is also difficult for the child to concentrate on one task: he cannot sit still, complete at least one task, or do an exercise carefully and focused. The kid does everything carelessly to finish the job and start something new.
Only a specialist can give reasonable advice to parents of a hyperactive child, as well as recognize hyperactivity. But before turning to a professional, mother and father should observe their child and determine how excessive activity and impulsiveness interferes with his learning and building relationships with his peers. What situations are alarming?
Main symptoms
- It's always difficult to concentrate on a task or game. Parents constantly have to be reminded about everyday matters, because the child simply forgets about them, and also constantly breaks or loses his things. In addition, attention is impaired: the baby never listens to anyone, even when speech is addressed directly to him. If he does a task on his own, he often cannot organize his work correctly, constantly being distracted and not completing the task.
- Impulsiveness. During lessons, a child, without waiting for his turn, shouts from his seat. It is difficult for him to comply established rules, he constantly interferes in the conversation, etc.
- Hyperactivity. It is difficult for a child to sit still, he constantly fidgets in his chair, talks a lot, and constantly runs around even where he should not. The baby cannot play or rest calmly; he asks many questions all the time, but cannot remember even one answer. Many of the child’s actions are completely thoughtless; he often breaks objects or breaks dishes. Even during sleep he is not calm - he constantly wakes up, tosses and turns, and sometimes screams in his sleep.
Hyperactive and active: differences
Often when parents say about their child that he is hyperactive, they put a positive meaning into this word. But most people simply confuse two different concepts - active and hyperactive. It’s really good when a child is inquisitive, shows interest in the world around him, and strives for new knowledge. But hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder, which are often interrelated, are neurological-behavioral disorders. They make themselves felt most painfully after the age of five, which undoubtedly has a negative impact on the child, preventing him from developing along with other children.
Active children can be active at home, on the playground with friends, in kindergarten, but when they come to any new place for them, for example, on a visit or to a doctor’s appointment, they immediately calm down and begin to behave like real quiet people. With hyperactive children, everything is different, regardless of the circumstances, place and people who surround them: they always behave the same and simply cannot sit still.
An active child can be captivated by a regular game, for example, checkers or putting together a puzzle, but a hyperactive child lacks perseverance.
In any case, everything is very individual, so recommendations can only be given to parents based on observations. Hyperactive children are more difficult to scare, they have a low pain threshold, they are not afraid of anything, and do not think at all about their safety.
From all of the above, it follows that if a child loves outdoor games, he likes to learn something new, and this curiosity does not interfere with his studies and social relationships, then he should not be called hyperactive. The child is simply developing normally for his age. If the child cannot sit still, listen to a fairy tale to the end or finish a task, constantly demands attention to himself or throws tantrums, then this is a hyperactive child. What should parents do? Advice from a psychologist can help in this difficult issue.
Schooling
If before starting school, parents are not particularly concerned about this character trait, then when they begin school, seeing the many problems that their child faces, they begin to become very worried. It is difficult for these children to understand how to behave and how not to behave. The child does not know where the acceptable line is; it is difficult for them to establish relationships with other children and the teacher, and simply to calmly learn the lesson. Therefore, during the adaptation period, recommendations are needed for parents of hyperactive children, since this age is the most critical. You can take your child to a psychologist. If you have a hyperactive child, the recommendations of specialists must be followed literally in everything.
It is important to remember that hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder often occur in combination with other serious problems.
Hyperactive child: what should parents do? Read below for advice from a psychologist that you need to follow.
It is important to carefully approach safety precautions, remove all unsafe and sharp objects, and turn off Appliances, since ordinary children often break something, or fall and hit themselves, but with hyperactive children this happens twice or three times more often.
If a hyperactive child needs to learn something important, a psychologist’s advice to parents will be useful. You need to make sure he's listening. It is not enough to simply call out to him - you need to establish contact, remove toys from sight, turn off the TV or computer. And only after making sure that your child is really listening to you can you start a conversation with him.
It is necessary to establish rules in the family that the child would strictly follow. And it is very important that they are always performed every day, without exception, regardless of the circumstances. It is important to constantly remind the child about them, repeating that some tasks must always be completed, but doing something is strictly prohibited.
A very important nuance is the mode. The child must be taught to do everything on time, and exceptions cannot be made even on a day off. For example, always get up at the same time, have breakfast, do homework, and go for a walk. This may be too strict, but it is the most effective. It is this rule that will help you learn new material in the future.
These children are very susceptible to mood, so it is very important that the emotions they receive are positive. It is necessary to praise them even for the slightest achievements. Let him feel that his parents are proud of him. You should support your child in difficult moments, speak more often of love for him, and hug him.
You can organize a reward system, for example, if he behaved well all week, then on the weekend he receives a small present or an outing, a movie, or a museum. Let the parents come up with joint games that will captivate the baby. Of course, it will take a lot of time, patience and ingenuity, but the result will not be long in coming.
It is important to generally monitor the atmosphere in the family so that all conflicts pass by the baby, and especially not for him to participate in them.
If the child behaved badly, then you can punish, but not too much, and it is better to refuse assault altogether.
A hyperactive child never runs out of energy, so it is constantly necessary to create conditions for him to spend it somewhere. The baby should take more walks outdoors, go to the sports section, and play. But there is also important nuance: The child should be tired, but not too overtired.
When forbidding a child to do something, it is extremely important to provide him with an alternative, while explaining in a calm tone why his actions are wrong.
You cannot take your child to places where there are large crowds of people: his psyche is already overly sensitive and weak, and the crowd can lead to overexcitation nervous system Therefore, you should avoid mass events and supermarkets during rush hours. But walks in the fresh air and forays into nature have a beneficial effect on the baby. It is better for such a child to play with only one friend.
It would be a good idea if parents keep an observation diary in which they can note all changes and reactions to the world, occurring with a hyperactive child. Afterwards, this diary can be shown to the teacher (it will be much easier for him to get the overall picture).
Hyperactive child: what should parents do? The psychologist's advice listed above will help solve many problems.
School work
First of all, the child should sit as close to the teacher as possible - this will make it much easier for the latter to control discipline. It is also important that the baby has the opportunity to ask all the necessary questions at any time.
The teacher must write all tasks on the board and give only one task for a certain period of time. If the task is too large, then it must be divided into several parts, limit completion to time and constantly monitor their implementation.
It is difficult for a hyperactive child to sit in one place for a long time and still remember the material presented. Therefore, it is necessary to teach him consistently, to involve him in the lesson, even if the baby is spinning, shouting, fidgeting in his chair. Next time, let the baby just focus on being calm.
He just needs to move, so it’s better not to monitor his behavior too much in class, and let him run around on the school playground or gym.
Also, children often find themselves in a vicious circle: praise is simply necessary for them, but it costs them incredible effort to study well. Because they are inattentive and cannot concentrate properly, they make many mistakes and their work is sloppy. Therefore, initially you should treat them less strictly.
During a lesson, the activity may change several times, and while ordinary children benefit from this, it is much more difficult for hyperactive children to switch. Therefore, they need to be warned in advance and given the opportunity to prepare.
It is very difficult for a teacher to work with such children, but if you find the right approach, the result will be excellent. Hyperactive children are well developed intellectually, as evidenced by many tests, but they have difficulty managing their temperament.
