Recognizing the symptoms of ADHD soon can help boosting the effectiveness of the treatments. However, for children under 5, the symptoms of ADHD can be equate to the active nature of kids. I’ve heard many parents said that “they are kids, active is their nature”. Granted not all hyperactive kids suffer from ADHD but when you notice hyperactivity, impulsiveness… it’s time to pay more attention.
ADHD and ADD in children under 5
Both ADHD (hyperactive, impulsive and maybe inattentive) and ADD (inattentive) can be found at very young children, even at age 3. While ADHD symptoms can be easily recognized, it is almost impossible to recognize ADD because the kids with ADD appear, act just like normal kids. Only when they go to school and the workload increase, the bad learning results can be the initial warning signs.
Symptoms of ADHD in children under 5
In this post, I will only mention to the hyperactive, impulsive type of ADHD. Here are the most apparent symptoms of ADHD in kids under 5 years old:
- Hyperactive: they cannot stay at the same position for a long time. You may see them running, climbing and words have little to no effects to keep them quiet
- The kids with ADHD usually annoy their peers. They usually have aggressive behaviors toward their peers such as biting, clawing…
- Talking excessively (more than the normal level at their age)
- Defiant: They are usually described as “hard to teach” kids. Words almost ineffective in control the children’s behaviors. Even when parents spank, the kids can defy and repeat the bad behaviors.
Treatments option
It is highly recommend for parents to use behavioral therapy to deal with ADHD in children under 5. The reason is two main medications are approved for kids at 6 year-old or older. Applying a good reward-punishment system can be vital in order to help the kids manage ADHD well.
As you can see, ADHD can be found in very young kids and their behaviors are quite disruptive. Many parents have made the mistakes by complaining, spanking the kids. You must know that the kids themselves find it hard to control their behaviors. A proper approach and treatments will be the best solution. Don’t punish the kids too much. You only make the problem worse if you do so.