If your child has a diagnosis of ADHD, you may worry about how to guide them to become successful adults. Helping your child embrace their strengths now is key to boosting positive outcomes for the future.
Has your child received a diagnosis of ADHD?
Your child may garner negative attention from peers and teachers because of inappropriate behavior. How can you help them embrace and use their strengths to combat feelings of low self-esteem that build up from negative feedback?
Along with impulsiveness or inattentiveness, your child also has positive qualities.
The ollowing are tips on ways you can help build up your child’s confidence by focusing on their strengths.
Help your child explore different interests
While your child may have difficulty sustaining focus on topics or school subjects they don’t like, they may bring unique strengths to what they’re interested in. That’s why it’s important to expose your child with ADHD to a broad range of hobbies, sports, and creative opportunities. What keeps their interest?
Help your child find a hobby they love. Clubs are a great way to reinforce skills. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts introduce children to a variety of interests and even potential careers. Help your child take an interest further by signing them up for enrichment opportunities related to the subject or hobby that they like.
Emphasize exercise
If your little one finds a sport they like, this is a great vehicle to help them. Exercise burns off that excess energy. Experts say that exercise aids your child’s ability to pay attention as well as improves their mood. Sports can help your child feel a sense of accomplishment as they improve their skills over time and contribute to a group goal.
If your child has sensory issues and isn’t successful at group sports, they may be interested in an individual sport like Taekwondo, which promotes sequencing and memory as well as reinforces the importance of respecting others. Track and field is another great option.
Promote creativity
Your ADHD child may think outside the box. You may have noticed that they have an alternate perspective on a topic that you hadn’t thought about. Many individuals with ADHD are highly creative. Famous adults with ADHD include Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Beethoven, and Winston Churchill.
Your child could exhibit their creativity in many venues: theater, art, music, building/constructing, working with machines, and more. Helping expose your child to a variety of environments can spark a natural talent. Their characteristics of Impulsiveness and a willingness to take risks can lead your child to form original ideas and move them to make a dream into a reality.
Excerpted from “How (and Why) to Help Your ADHD Child Embrace Their Strengths” from AMS Neurology. Read the full post online.
Source: AMS Neurology | How (and Why) to Help Your ADHD Child Embrace Their Strengths, https://www.amsneurology.com/post/how-and-why-to-help-your-adhd-child-embrace-their-strengths | copyright AMS Neurology 2023
If you have concerns about your child or teen, CHC Care Coordinators can arrange a free 30-minute Care Consultation so you can explore options with an expert. We invite you to call or email us at 650.688.3625 or careteam@stage.chconline.org to set up an initial Parent Consultation appointment. CHC teletherapy services are available now.
