Strategies You Can Use at Home to Help Your Child With ADHD

ADHD – attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – is “thought to be caused by developmental differences in the brain that affects the parts of controlling attention, concentration, impulsivity, activity levels and memory”.  Kids with ADHD often present very differently from one another; some children with ADHD are hyperactive, while others are extremely impulsive. Some kids with ADHD lack the ability to focus, and some children with ADHD struggle with a combination of all three (hyperactivity, impulsivity and focus).  ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed mental disorder of children and according to the American Psychiatric Association, 5% of American children have received an ADHD diagnosis.

4 Ways to Help Your Child

If your child has ADHD, here are a few things you can do at home to help your child (occupational therapist approved!):

1.)  Be Positive: Often times, kids with ADHD are bombarded with negativity.  Perhaps they struggle in school, in sports or with friends. Make home a safe-space for them and fill it with lots and lots of positivity.  Children with ADHD need oodles of praise, so consider rewarding your child for good behavior instead of scolding them for bad behavior.

2.)  Create a Calming Environment: Children with ADHD struggle to unwind, so be cognizant of this and offer them a calm environment whenever you can.  For example, when your child gets home from a party, find a quiet place for him or her to have some quiet time and decompress.  Some children need physical activity to unwind; sounds counterintuitive, right? But, expending energy actually feeds our bodies with calming input, which is crucial for kids with ADHD.  Get active with your kids: go on a run, play some tennis or join in a game of freeze tag in the backyard.

3.)  Feed them Sensory Foods:  Eating foods that require excessive amounts of chewing or sucking provide the mouth with a great workout, which is actually really soothing for a child with ADHD.  Luckily, most fruits and vegetables are crunchy – think carrots, celery and apples – and are portable options you can take almost anywhere. Other great snack options include chewy fruit leathers, hard pretzels and in a pinch, a piece of gum.

4.)  Play Therapeutic Music or Meditations to Help them Unwind:  Much like music can affect the mood of an adult, it can 100% make or break the mood of a small child, too.  Try searching for “soothing tunes” or “calming music” on the Spotify app, and choose songs that speak to you (some of my favorites for calming my kids include acoustic guitar tunes, songs with deep earth drum sounds and classical music by Chopin).  If music isn’t your thing, there are plenty of apps out there that provide guided meditations for children (check out headspace and slumber).