Hyperactive child tend to be very high-risk takers because they ignore physical dangers. They seem unaware of the consequences of jumping off balcony, crossing the road or playing with electricity. Some of them have a high threshold for pain. They have frequent accidents, fall and sustain bruises but appear little pain. Inconsistent performance is very typical of these children. They may do well on one test and poorly on another.
Parents say that they have a poor sense of time and find it difficult to organize themselves. Like Lucy pointed out, “I have to constantly remind her to eat her food and dress up. If I don’t, she will never make it to the school bus.” In fact, time as a concept appears very abstract to these children and this is why telling them to “wait for ten minutes” or “You have one hour to finish your test paper” is meaningless. A better method would be to relate time to concrete events. Children with Attention Deficit Disorder find it difficult to organize not only time but space and distance, too. They are constantly losing money or dropping things.
Hyperactive child expect immediate gratification, because they cannot think of waiting till tomorrow. Their ability to inhibit their response is poor. “I want it now!” followed by tantrums, tears and aggressive behaviors is a typical pattern of Attention Deficit Disorder behavior.
Hyperactive child have a lot of learning difficulties, especially in subjects that require attention to detail such as spelling. Though bright in their verbal responses, comprehension becomes affected in the later classes as the quantity of information increases and the child feels unable to cope. This is where a lot of support needs to be given, and why schools need to use alternative method for teaching and evaluation.
Academic expectations need to be realistic. This means allowing the child with hyperactivity to learn a shorter portion for the examinations, or if school rules don’t permit this, allow the child to be tested orally. Objective-type questions are better than those demanding long essays. Allow the child to express ideas through the use of diagrams and graphic organizer.
Generally, the child should be assessed by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of a psychologist, a physician, and a special educator. Interviews of the family, the mother’s medical history, any problem that the baby may have had, are recorded. The child should preferably be observed in different setting: at play, at snack time, at home, etc. Parent usually seeks help when the child is around three or four years of age because of other associated problems, specially delay in speech and language.
Many children with Attention Deficit Disorder need assistance of a speech and language therapist. They can not express themselves well, and often use incomplete sentence or inappropriate words. Thy have little understanding of how to recognize conversational cues. In social situation, they find it difficult to take another perspective, this is why logical reasoning doesn’t appear to work with them. As they find it hard to listen or maintain eye contact, they have to be taught how to look for social cues in a group situation.