Symptoms of ADHD Patrick Is a Ten-Year-Old

Symptoms of ADHD

Patrick is a ten-year-old boy and for the past nine months he has been developing a strange behavior. He gets easily bored when doing his school work especially when the work involves activity that he does not like. He is easily distracted and is very forgetful, he moves from doing one thing to another without completing them. This has led to his teacher complaining of inability to complete or turn in his homework assignments. Patrick has become a concern to his parents and appears less interested in school work; he talks all the time, moves around and has difficulty in performing tasks that require silence.

Diagnosis

There is a possibility of mistaken diagnosis for ADHD. Therefore, it is important for involved parties to ascertain that there are no cases of maturity level, personalities or temperaments. This is because this condition is not easy to diagnose, symptoms vary from one patient to another. In regard to Patrick's case, the first question would be his age. According to the American Psychological Association (2012), the symptoms of this condition are usually recognisable at the ages of 3 and 6. Patrick being a 10-year-old is old enough to have this condition. Second, it is important for the caregivers as well as the parents to have noticed change of behavior and this should have extended more than three months. American Psychological Association, (2012) list some of these symptoms including, child having trouble following rules, frequent spacing out in the class room, in other words socially inept or aggressive. According to Quinlan (2002)clinical diagnosis of this condition is based on the symptoms collected from clinical inerviews as well as clinical examination.Therefore, in Patricks case there can be a formal diagnosis made in refferrence to his behavior. It is quite easy to identify a relationship between his change of behavior and the symptoms of ADHD.

Childrens Social-Emotional Development

A teacher has several options in promoting young children's ( younger than 5 years old) optimal social-emotional development. According to Cook, Klein, & Chen (2012), there are interventiomns designed to address trust, autonomy and initiative as factors of social- emotional development.

To promote trust in young children, the teacher needs to be consistent and sensitive while offering care. The teacher is encouraged to initiate trust building games, ones with repetition such as peekaboo. The teacher need to be vigilant and quick to provide relief in case of dis comfort. The learning environment need to be stable and predictable for the child to have security and concentrate in the activities. There should also be an environment of non-partiality where the teacher shows no favouritism.

The teacher can also promote autonomy in the school environment by, allowing the children an opportunity to explore and avoid shaming (Cook, Klein, & Chen, 2012, p. 196). This will help the children in having confidence in what they undertake. The children should be allowed to set pace in order for them to develop new skills and in this process the teacher should be accepting of individual achievement.

In addition, the teacher can help forster initiatives in young children by, providing an avenue for developing their imagination. They should be allowed to role play or pretend play. They should be given a chance to talk about their feelings and dreams (p. 196).