Education & Times – In recent years, the number of children with hyperactivity and attention deficit has been increasing among school-age children, an issue of particular concern to families and society. How parents and teachers recognise and respond to children with hyperactivity and attention deficit was the topic shared at the “Cherishing children’s minds” workshop held recently in Hanoi.
Signs of hyperactivity in children
At the workshop, Ms Nguyen Thu Phuong, a teacher at A Chau Private Kindergarten (Hanoi), shared: In the class I teach there is a 4-year-old pupil, but the boy never sits still to learn and often runs and jumps around. If made to sit, he squirms, fidgets, and swings and stretches his arms and legs constantly.
This is clearest when the child sits in class and does not listen to the teacher, turning this way and that, casually taking classmates’ things, standing up of his own accord and leaving his seat without asking the teacher’s permission, disrupting the class. The more he is made to sit still, the more he fidgets. On his first day at school, this boy could not speak, only repeating what others said, and although he was 4 years old, his behaviour was only like that of a 2-year-old.
Ms Nguyen Thi Hien (Mai Dong, Hanoi) said: “My family has an 8-year-old grandson who has only just started grade 1. He is very naughty and his reading ability is very poor. In class, he does not cooperate with his classmates and teacher. When he goes out to play, he does not interact with anyone outside. In class, when the teacher asks a question, he often answers before hearing the whole question or often speaks out of turn”.
According to some assessments, children with hyperactivity and attention deficit account for 3% to 6% of all children, with differences by culture and region. Out of every 100 children, 3 to 5 have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with some symptoms beginning before the age of 7. The global rate for children is 5%, and boys are three times more likely to have it than girls.
No violence towards children
Dr Do Thi Thao – Head of the Department of Education for Children with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism at Hanoi National University of Education – said that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder often show signs very early, from 18 – 30 months of age. However, it is mainly detected at school age, that is, in primary school.
The life of a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder seems very lonely, as they are always struggling to find someone who can understand them. Because they are always losing focus and are hyperactive, children cannot complete the tasks they are given, so they very easily fall into despair, always feeling isolated and a failure under people’s disapproving looks, and are sometimes labelled “naughty children”. Therefore, support from parents and teachers is the effective remedy that helps children soon blend into the world around them and develop like other children.
According to Dr Thao, even children without disabilities find writing difficult, because to write they must have very good spatial orientation. For children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, this becomes even harder because their spatial orientation is very poor. Parents should therefore talk to teachers to get help in educating their children.
Dr Thao also said that parents need to distinguish hyperactive children from children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Hyperactive children’s naughty behaviour is not continuous and is usually deliberate, while children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder often cannot control their behaviour. Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are easily distracted by external factors, find it hard to pay attention, hardly ever follow adults’ instructions, are easily drawn to what is outside, and often abandon tasks halfway through. In particular, for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the hardest difficulty is using language.
Parents and teachers therefore need to pay attention to developing children’s vocabulary and language, for example by providing sentence patterns for the child. For instance, point at a shirt and ask the child: “What is this? A long-sleeved shirt or a short-sleeved shirt? What colour is it? Is it different from the shirt Mum wore yesterday…”. Gradually the child will learn vocabulary through the sentence patterns parents provide. Dr Do Thi Thao also said that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are very easily disappointed and disheartened. This disorder originates in the child’s brain and vestibular system. Using violence only makes a child more hyperactive. Every individual is born a special talent, and hyperactive children are special in the same way. Children always need care and attention from the community.
Phuong Thao – http://giaoducthoidai.vn