by Lokemun Magar

Created on: November 25, 2009

Living with ADHD is a life full of adventures. How do you know someone has ADHD? A person with ADHD will be thanking God for plastic money as it remains intact after joining the clothes in the washing machine. Other than being on the games page, the person will have more than one tab or window open when he is on the computer. Finally, he may be seen to be multi-tasking, but actually, his attention is diverted elsewhere while working on a task.

How do you survive living with someone with ADHD? First, realise that people with ADHD have related disorders, such as Sensory Processing Disorders. Their impulsivity is a result of their brain being unable to process sudden loud noises, touch, or any extreme input to other sensory organs. Once you understand this, you will be able to contain the impulsive actions or reactions quite easily.

If you have a child who has ADHD, find out the triggers for his hyperactivity, and you have won half the battle. Having done that, the next battle is calming a child with ADHD after his hyperactivity is triggered. If a class is involved in an exciting class game, it is not possible to get everyone to stop the game, simply because the child with ADHD is acting out. Send the child out of the classroom on an errand instead, or get him to sit right at the back of the class.

A teacher devised hand signals and stares that his pupil with ADHD had to respond to. He stopped yelling at errant pupils during class, and speaking in a lower and calmer tone. The noise-activated pupil became easier to control. These findings were shared with the pupil's mother, and reinforced at home. The boy was suspended only once from class that year, compared to the four or five times in past years.

When a child with ADHD is overwhelmed with information overload and is unable to process the information quickly and accurately, he may just lash out with violent rage or uncontrollable tears. The best way to deal with the situation is to leave the child on his own, within sight in case it does something hurting to himself, and cut off all kinds of stimulation, including well-meaning comforters. Extreme brain activity slowly fizzles and the child calms down more quickly.

Living with ADHD also means having a memory that captures moments of life as the camera would capture snapshots, details that others may not recall is vividly. Because of the disorder, associations are quickly made that may or may not be positive or true. It is, however, these disagreeable perceptions

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