According to specialists up to a half of
children suffers from so called hyperactivity. The number of such children
increases steadily not only in our country, but all over the world also.
If a child is hyperactive, not only he or she suffers difficulties, but
those around them as well: parents, classmates, teachers... Such a child
needs timely help, or later on he or she could develop into an asocial,
even psychopathic person. As is known hyperactive children make up a significant
part among juvenile delinquents.
Providing help to a hyperactive child is a very complex process, and
a lot of secret obstacles arise in the process of aqbsolute recovery. Here
is a story about such a first class boy told me by a directress of studies
at a school in Moscow region.
A well developed boy was admitted into an advanced class of a common
middle school. But it turned out that he was not able to learn in this
class. The reason was simple: extreme aggressiveness of a hyperactive child
caused continual conflicts with classmates. Once a girl was injured quite
seriously by him. Parents revolted and attacked the directress: "Take
away this lad from our class, we fear for our children!"
The lad had to be transfered to another class. But the same problems
arose there also. Pupils in that class turned out to be more cunning. Babies
quickly got the point and realized that if he pushed one of them yesterday,
and today struck a blow somebody else, so they should unite themselves
and act against him together. Well, a normal responce to irritation...
But once this non-equal opposition came to an end in the following way:
a lonely boy armed with a ski-stick (obviously after a skirmish in the
class), in a fit of anger and highly excited, was running about the school,
not letting anybody approach him. Teachers and senior pupils invited for
help could not approach him and somehow calm him down. After this he, being
braught to the school by his father, usually did not go immediately to
the class, but hung about the school or was sitting at the directress'
office.
Did the school try to help him somehow? Yes, it tried as much as possible...
Talks with a psychologist were arranged, teechers tried to find an approach
to him, the parents were called for to the school more than once. As it
turned out, it was the father who bring him up, the parents are divorced.
Mother lives alone and as she explained she is even unable to bring the
sun to her place for weekends because she gets tired of her own sun. And
father evidently was too cruel bringing up his sun, thus stimulating agressiveness
of the hyperactiv child.
Children's psychiatrist after examination of the boy came to the conclusion
that his intelligence level is above average and recommended individual
training at home with school teachers attending some lessons at scholl
in the presence of the father. But the school-year was coming to the end
an arrangement of training at home was postponed till autumn. And till
then he was advised to learn at a special sanatorium for hyperactive children.
However it was rumoured that he was expelled from there and neither in
the end of the school-year, nor in the beginning of the next he was seen
in the school. In short a sad story, isn't it?
So what is hyperactivity, and how we, adults, should correct our behaviour
so that to assist the process of socialization of a hyperactive child?
Hyperactivity usually means too restless, fidgety physical and mental
activity of a child when excitation prevails over inhibition. Doctors suppose
that hyperactivity is a result of a slight affection of the brain, which
is impossible to be diagnosed by tests. Speaking the language of science
we deel with a minimal brain disfunction. Symptoms of hyperactivity of
a child appear already in early childhood. Then his or her emotional instability
and aggressiveness frequently give rise to conflicts in family and at school.
I asked to comment on this situation a school psychologist Alla Dyachkova
who studies the problems of hyperactive children for several years
already.
Who - boys or girls - show evidence of hyperactive behaviour more
frequently?
Boys. Obviously standards of social behaviour dominate over girls to
a greater extent, from the very childhood they inspire them with obedience.
Just to relax a girl may cry out, while a boy in the same situation would
rather fly into a rage.
What are the symptoms of hyperactivity?
A hyperactive child is very unorganised. He or she can't keep still
just for a second, affects his or her schoolmates excitingly and it makes
difficult to conduct a lesson. Such children are always in conflict with
somebody. Disturbances in their behaviour are common in any environment.
Calm children are just afraid of such "a small volcano" or antagonized
by them.
In company of strangers a hyperactive child longs to be the focus of
attention of everybody by hook or by crook. Such a child needs rapid succestion
of circumstances, outdoor games.
Can you mention some peculiarities of perception typical for hyperactive
children?
Besides intensive physical activity which makes others so uneasy, hyperactive
children show attention disorders. A child can't concentrate attention
on studies neither in class, nor at home. His or her attention instantaneously
switches to something else, and when it concentrates at learning again,
a part of a lesson is missed. A child don't understand anything, a lesson
becomes a bore to him or her, he or she doesn't want to learn any more.
As a result a child lags behind others in learning, new problems pile up
on the old ones, heaps of them are growing on and on.
Mentality of hyperactive children is predominately concrete and insystematic.
They used to be very talkative. Abstract mentality, necessary for doing
sums, is poorly developed.
Difficulties in studies are very common to hyperactive children and
are conditioned by peculiarities of their perception. People not always
understand this. They used to attribute to them such faults as "a
lack of intelligence", they explain his or her "terrible behaviour"
as a result of "wrong training". It's not a surprise, because
a border is very subtle. Only a specialist - psychoneurologist or even
neuropsychologist - can determine that a child suffers hyperactivity.
Such a child obviously needs a special help in order to adapt
himself or herself to the surroundings, not to feel as he or she were an
outcast. Who can help such a child and how?
A sincere desire of the parents to help their child - that's what matters.
They should discuss it among themselves in order to create more understanding
and more tolerant relations within the family. They should do their best
to make climate at home as calm as possible. To arrange a dayly time-table
in a proper way is also important. A child should have a vent to his/her
hyperactivity, safe for the others It may be sport with the exception of
wrestling, because it provokes aggressiveness and hyperactive children
have it enough and to spare. You should not arrange competitions as well.
When a child is competing with somebody, trying to prove he's/she's better,
a child feels disturbance and excitedness. It is contra-indicated for hyperactive
children, their nervous system is overexcided without it.
Teachers, from the other hand, also can help a child to realize his
or her hyperactivity. When in class a child feels like walking, moving
around, a teacher should find him/her something to do: "Help me to
hand out copy-books", "Wipe off the blackboard", "Bring
a piece of chalk"... A child would do it with pleasure. Otherwise
he or she would drop a pen, get under the desk, give a push to his/her
desk-fellow again and again... And the only reason is that a child got
tired to be seated. A teacher should notice it at the right moment when
a child is through, and then repeat a material with him or her.
You said, there may be a few of such children in a class. Considering
that classes in the Russian schools are usually overcrowded a teacher would
hardly be able to work with every such a child individually.
Yes, you are right. The world has come across this problem long ago.
There are special classes for hyperactive children in some countries, there
are not more than 15 pupils in them and a lesson lasts not more than half
an hour. Both a child and a teacher feel easy in such a class. Common Russian
scholls have no opportunities for that. Nevertheless very much depends
on eagerness of a teacher to help a hyperactive child. As far parents are
concerned they may invite a coach who will train their child during summer
holydays and catch him or her up with the rest of the class.
And how often do parents take advice of a psychiatrist?
Usually parents do not know at all what kind a doctor they may consult.
Sometimes they are afraid to consult a specialist, especially a psychoneurologist
because they fear to "spoil" their child's medical card, where
this information would be written down. Nevertheless it's necessary to
do so.
Condition of a child would not change by itself. We should help a child
to adapt socially, and do it in such a way so a child would not lose inner
comfort and develope depression.
What is a general prognosis of this disease?
First of all prognosis is determined by early diagnose and treatment.
A success of treatment depends on all the recomendations of specialists
to be implemented as strictly as possible. According to the observations
of the majority of doctors and psychologists a general motor activity decreases
with age and emerged neurological changes gradually improve. Connections
in the brain of a child, not existed at all or broken, arise. This process
come to the end in the age of about fifteen. So if you have a hyperactive
child, help him or her, everything is in your powers.
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