My daughter has just been diagnosed with ADHD

Hi there,

Thank you for getting in touch with ask Robyn.

You have said your daughter has recently been diagnosed with ADHD and that you are now looking for support on how best to meet your child’s needs now knowing what is going on for them. It is really great that you are reaching out as it can seem overwhelming to get a diagnosis for your child and not be sure of next steps.

First of all it may help to enhance your own understanding ADHD. Here are some child friendly videos that can help with just that. Let’s talk about ADHD: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeamHE6Kank) What is ADHD?: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t9UHQgtDfU ). It can help for you too watch them first to ensure you understand what might come up for your child. Then it would be good to watch them with your child. Ensuring your child is aware of there own needs can support them in understanding themselves and not feel ashamed or embarrassed when asking for support.

Allow for time as it is likely that this conversation won’t be a once off. Encourage open conversations and allow them to ask questions. If they ask questions that you are unsure of you can respond with “I’m not sure but we can find this out together.” It may mean doing some research yourself such as speaking to other teachers or a professional in primary care.

It may also help to implement some strategies to help with their learning such as the following:

• Allow for movement breaks, short and often. These can help concentration for when the child returns.
• Use visuals to support reminding of the task at hand or how long each task needs e.g. visual timers or pictures of the task
• Make checklists using visuals with tick boxes so the child can ensure they have what is needed done or in their bag. When introducing this the child may need reminding for the first while to check their check list in reminding them to use it
• Your child may need gentle reminding of the task at hand and what the instructions were. Encourage the child to ask for help when needed if he feels he has forgotten the task to reduce feelings of shame.

ADHD can look different for every child and it is important to keep this in mind. You may wish to seek additional support. Your local Primary care team can support further implementation of strategies at home. You can find information on your local primary care team here: https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/2/primarycare/pcteams/ ADHD Ireland also provide supports for parents and you can find more information here: www.ADHDireland.ie

We hope you have found this helpful. If you would like to talk more about this, you can contact ISPCC’s Support Line which can be contacted by email to [email protected] or by phone from Monday to Friday 9am – 1pm on 01 522 4300 

Take care,  

Robyn