18 Ιούλ Social and emotional inconveniences in ADHD
The children who are affected by ADHD face various difficulties during their school years. Some of these difficulties concern their social skills, while some others affect their emotions. It is really common, though, for these two factors to be correlative, which results in mutual affection between them.
Inconvenience in social skills
As far as the social profile concerned, it is a fact that hyperactive kids often behave impulsively. This makes it difficult for them to remain concentrated for a long time, to wait for their turn or behave as a social situation commands. Their impulsiveness usually takes them away and makes them act in a way which shows lack of empathy or maybe egocentrism, since they may rush to be the first ones in a queue or activity, they may seem not to pay much attention to their interlocutor and appear less active in discussions. This behavior can easily be misunderstood, but we should not forget that it is neither intentional nor deliberate.
How does the social environment of the children deal with these deficiencies?
The social behavior of the children with ADHD, often leads both parents and teachers in negative predisposition and disapproval. Sometimes, they tend to have their attention attracted by those children, mostly because they feel they need to point out some negative behavior. So, the children realize that this is the only way to attract attention and this leads to negative behavior – establishment. Furthermore, in some occasions, their impulsiveness is expressed by aggression and that makes them less acceptable by peers. It is also remarkable that when ADHD coexists with learning difficulties, the interpersonal skills seem to be unfavorable.
The psycho - emotional situation of children with ADHD
As a matter of fact, the children with ADHD, experience intense anxiety, since no matter how much they put an effort to increase their learning performance, they are often frustrated. Taking also into consideration the psychological pressure on them, trying to reach their peers’ performance level, usually unsuccessfully, because of the extra time needed to fulfill their duties, potentially affects their skills in organizing their activities.
As far as the emotional aspect, children with ADHD have a tendency in emotional sensitivity, lack of self – esteem and aggressiveness. These obviously constitute natural consequences of a continuous effort with hardly successful results and if we got in those children’s shoes, we would realize how advanced and challenging the school obligations may seem to them, so, we would probably justify their regular depressing tendencies.
The continuous effort and work to the maximum of their potential in fields which require reading and writing skills, that kids with ADHD face difficulties, combined with the unlimited requirements, trigger exhaustion, nervousness, disappointment and all these are followed by limited motivation in learning and sometimes, in school phobia. When the children recognise their weaknesses, they tend to feel more insecure, with low self esteem.
The children themselves realize that they differ from many peers, without being able to explain it, on many occasions, especially if there is no previous diagnosis. This can have a negative effect on their mental and emotional state.
What is the role of the family?
The family plays an important role in the educational and supporting curriculum. The family members, the relationships between them and their behavior significantly determine the development, the ways of dealing with some situations, the personality and the mental world of the child. In addition, the parental expectations about learning development and the way these are expressed have a huge impact on the kids both with and without ADHD. So, it is really important for the parents to accept and come up against this difficulty.
Educational intervention and parents
An educational intervention can be considered successful when the parents accept their children with their difficulties and try to assist them efficiently with the appropriate curriculums and with specialized teachers. Presumably, parents may feel they carry a heavy emotional burden and it is really possible for them to do some things wrong, to set unattainable goals and cause even more extended frustration to the child. It is also remarkable to mention the importance of early intervention. The sooner the parents realize, accept and act by entering the child in an early intervention curriculum, the greater difficulty mitigation is expected to be observed later. So, it is urgent for the child to be supported, encouraged and surrounded by an environment that cares from the beginning.
The background of ADHD is socially, psychologically and emotionally burdened. Parents,teachers, therapists and all the kinds of social environment of children with ADHD are able to reinforce them through early and appropriate intervention, combined with understanding and encouragement, so as the children to acquire the appropriate skills for dealing with their difficulties.
Georgia Komninou
Automation Engineer- English teacher- Expertise in Special Education
e-mail: tzokomninou@gmail.com
tel:+30 6972019725
Georgia Komninou is a graduate of the Automation Engineering Department, with professional expertice in Special Education of the National Capodistrian University and continuous training in the educational, special education and educational robotics fields. She has worked as an educational robotics teacher and has many years of experience in teaching English to children both with and without special educational needs. She also works in the special education field and has a future vision to combine the two fields of educational robotics and special education, while maintaining her love and interest about teaching English.
