Is your child arguing back frequently or showing signs of annoying behavior like screaming “no” to all your requests and getting verbally abusive on a daily basis? These are signs of severe behavioral problems and discipline challenges that children affected by ADHD throw up. While it is normal for most children to answer back or ignore parents’ requests sometimes, when such conduct becomes chronic it is a manifestation of ADHD, often coupled with ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). As many as 40 per cent of the children afflicted by ADHD generally also suffer from ODD, which is characterized by chronic abusive or obnoxious behavior, a tendency to argue or annoy frequently etc. The bad news is that this behavior can spill into adulthood, leading to severe personal and professional problems that can even have social ramifications when they result in reckless driving, alcoholism, gambling and such ills. The good news is that with the help of behavior therapy even the most obnoxious and annoying child can be managed. Here are some simple steps and homeopathic medicines for adhd to manage aggressive and abusive behavior in ADHD children.
Positive action works better than negative strategy
Parents need to make use of reward rather than punishment to correct ADHD behavior. Children respond better to positive incentives than to negative ones. For instance, if a child has the annoying habit of turning on the television full blast despite requests to lower the volume, tell him that he will earn 10 minutes extra of viewing his favorite program if keeps the sound low.
Reinforce good behavior with reward.
If a child sits still through class or his parent-teacher meeting, praise him publicly or reward his good conduct.
Don’t be drawn into arguments
Psychologists say that aggressive ADHD kids not only like arguing or answering back but also enjoy drawing parents, teachers or peers into the arguing mode. They like it when they are in the center of the argument. The moment the parents or teachers get into an argument with them, they land on their turf. The abusive child keeps tossing out the verbal bait and the parent keeps falling into the trap.So, stop rising to the bait and arguing with the chronically annoying child who loves to argue about anything and everything.
Try time out strategy
The use of “time-out,” which entails isolating the child immediately for a short period of time, is considered a very effective strategy for dealing with aggressive behavior as it gives both the parent and the child time to cool down.Psychologists usually advise parents to apply 1 minute of timeout for each year of age, which mean 4 minutes for a four year old. The general norm suggested by psychologists is applying the 30% rule to kids with ADHD and learning disabilities.Thus, an abusive or aggressive child should immediately be removed from a situation in which he is annoying or endangering others. Try to make the child look upon time out as a way of cooling off rather than as a form of isolation from others.
Channelize physical aggression into verbal outlet
While mildly aggressive acts should be allowed in a child so as to enable him to let off some steam, when the behavior becomes abusive, physically aggressive or intentional, the best way is to channelize the physical aggression into a verbal outlet. This could mean sometimes allowing the ADHD child to use words that may not be acceptable in normal kids.
Anticipating aggression
Many a time a parent can anticipate situations when a child with ADHD is likely to get aggressive or abusive. Quite frequently, an ADHD simply child explodes in public without any provocation. If such a flare-up happens in public, it is advisable for the parent to remove themselves from the situation by making an exit.
Redirect energy into motor skill
If a child’s verbal aggression develops into intentionally abusive and socially embarrassing conduct, the parents need to channelize his aggression into positive physical activity and motor skills like competitive one-on-one sports, energy-consuming music or dancing, competitive video gaming and such activity .With patience and understanding, parents and other care givers can correct ADHD-related aggressiveness in children through such behavioral therapy.