July 9, 2018, (India) Deccan Chronicle: Hyperactive, impulsive child? Could be attention disorder https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/090718/hyperactive-impulsive-child-could-be-attention-disorder.html Is your child highly aggressive, restless, impulsive, has trouble focusing on studies and gets easily distracted? It could be a case of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and city doctors claim they are seeing a rise in such cases and it is more prevalent among boys. Rani, a 37-year-old mother said, “My son is aggressive most of the time. I have even had complaints of him beating up his classmates. He gets very hyper when we don’t give what he asks for. So we have to be highly patient and handle him with care.” Studies have proved that many parents fail to recognise the symptoms of ADHD. Dr Kishore Kotha, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist, BGS Gleneagles Global Hospitals said, “We see around 3-4 children per week with ADHD. It is the most common neuro-developmental behavioral disorder affecting 11% of school-age children (boys are affected more than girls) and often persists in adulthood. The cause of ADHD is multi-factorial while the increase in incidences may be due to over diagnosis, increased screen time, poor outdoor activities and lifestyle.” Another parent Lokesh said, “My daughter pays very less attention at home and even in the class. She throws tantrums too many. We were looking at it only as a pampered child characteristic, but she is not that pampered. We are often called by the school teachers and have been advised to start behaviour therapy soon.”… Dr Bhaskar Shenoy, HOD Pediatrics, Manipal Hospitals, said, “There is no specific reason for ADHD. Genetic and environmental factors play a role. In modern society, there is no channel for spending utilization of energy so they show it up this way.”… “Treatment includes medicines which are usually effective. Other treatments are behaviour therapy and family therapy; as parents have the maximum and most significant influence to have on the child,” he said. Parents should not hesitate seeing a therapist as these little steps can be life changing, he added.
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Childhood Lost
Children today are noticeably different from previous generations, and the proof is in the news coverage we see every day. This site shows you what’s happening in schools around the world. Children are increasingly disabled and chronically ill, and the education system has to accommodate them. Things we've long associated with autism, like sensory issues, repetitive behaviors, anxiety and lack of social skills, are now problems affecting mainstream students. Blame is predictably placed on bad parenting (otherwise known as trauma from home).
Addressing mental health needs is as important as academics for modern educators. This is an unrecognized disaster. The stories here are about children who can’t learn or behave like children have always been expected to. What childhood has become is a chilling portent for the future of mankind.
Anne Dachel, Media editor, Age of Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/media/
(John Dachel, Tech. assist.)
What will happen in another 4 years? How can we go on like this? This is a national (and international) problem of monumental proportions. We have an entire new class of children who cannot be accommodated by the system: many are manifestly neurologically impaired. Meanwhile, the government and the medical profession sleep on regardless.
John Stone,
UK media editor, Age of Autism
The generation of American children born after 1990 are arguably the sickest generation in the history of our country.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
It seemed to me that with rising autism prevalence, you’d also see rising autism costs to society, and it turns out, the costs are catastrophic.
They calculated that in 2015 autism cost the United States $268 billion and they projected that if autism continues at its current rate, we’re looking at one trillion dollars a year in autism costs by 2025, so within five years.
Toby Rogers, PhD, Political economist
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