Date:16/10/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/10/16/stories/2006101619910400.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

ADHD: role of people, teachers highlighted

Staff Reporter

`Allow such children to excel in things they like to do'

Bangalore: Participants at a panel discussion on management of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) stressed on the need for parents, teachers and psychologists attending on the child to work together to help in overcoming the problem.

The discussion was part of a seminar on ADHD organised by the Spastic Society of Karnataka for special educators and parents, here on Saturday.

Jaishree Amarnath, special educator, said that with changing life patterns, children were exposed to a different environment. "We are moving towards nuclear family pattern and when both parents are working the child is left to be looked after by strangers who may abuse or mistreat them," she said.

"There is pressure on children to perform well in academics, which is difficult for children with ADHD as they cannot pay attention for a long time. Moreover, in most regular schools there are no visual inputs while teaching in a classroom to hold the child's attention," she said.

`Change mindset'

She pointed out that teachers had to change their mindset and allow a child to excel in things that it liked to do, as many ADHD children were highly creative.

Geetha Nityananda, educational director of Head Start Montessori School, spoke on how the Montessori system helps in the development of the child.

Speaking at an earlier session, Shobha Srinath, Professor and Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, said that in India 1.7 per cent of children in urban areas in the ages of four to 16 years may have ADHD. The prevalence rate was higher in boys than in girls.

She said that medication for the condition should be prescribed only in severe cases and most children should be managed through behavioural modifications.