Goals and Behavioral Objectives for Preschool Children With ADD

Evaluation

• Children with ADD are often described as disorganized, easily distracted daydreamers. While some children show traits as early as 2 or 3, the problem isn't apparent in others until elementary school, when demands become overwhelming. If you suspect your child has ADD, your first goal is to take him to your pediatrician for advice and screening. Your pediatrician will educate you on what behaviors are normal and which could be problematic. If necessary, he'll refer your child to specialists, such as developmental pediatricians, psychiatrists, psychologists or neurologists, who will conduct a thorough evaluation, including observation and testing.

Medication

• If a qualified professional has diagnosed your child with ADD, medication management is an important for effective control of this condition. Stimulant medications, such as ritalin and adderall, stimulate the brain's ability to pay attention and control impulses. The decision about whether or not to put a preschooler on medication for ADD is best made with the consultation of the treatment team and often depends on the severity of the symptoms. In more severe cases, medication may be the best choice; however, some treatment professionals advocate waiting until children are at least 7 or 8 years old and only medicating if the ADD interferes with the child's progress in school or daily life.

Behavior Modification

• Another goal is to have your child engaged in a regular program of behavioral therapy with the objective of helping your child manage her impulses. A qualified behavioral therapist will work with your child and your family to help you teach your preschooler to control her impulses and maintain focus and concentration. A parent's objectives should be to reinforce what is learned in therapy by imposing routine and structure at home. Checklists with pictures, rather than words can be posted in a central spot to help your ADD preschooler keep on track. The Parents website advocates a technique called "Parent Child Interaction Therapy," which involves having parents monitor and reinforce positive behaviors, ignore negative behaviors if they are mild, and maintain a calm, cool demeanor when disciplining their child.

Coping Skills

• Because the part of an ADD preschooler's brain that controls behavior, focus and attention is smaller, adults should help their ADD preschoolers learn strategies to compensate. A popular technique, according to ADD experts Richard Guare and Peg Dawson, is called verbal scaffolding. Parents use words like "if" and "then" as a gentle way to help preschoolers learn to control their behaviors. Instead of saying, "Don't break your pencil," for example, you could say, "If you press down hard on your pencil, then it will break." The authors cite research indicating that children as young as 3, whose mothers used techniques such as behavioral scaffolding, showed significant improvement in problem-solving skills and goal-directed by the age of 6.