You have a child who is more active, more easily distracted and more impulsive than your other children; thus, you have been given a special role and assignment--you have to learn to work with an exceptional child. When you took your child to a doctor, she suggested that your child had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Your child will, throughout his life, present you with more difficult challenges that you need to face and handle while loving him.
Significance
While you may have suspected something was amiss with her before you asked her pediatrician, having a definitive diagnosis of ADHD is vastly different from only suspecting the condition.
You probably realized early in your child's life that she reacted to situations and stimuli differently from her siblings, that she was more easily distracted or hyperactive or that you needed to put more effort into parenting her. This realization can impact her future school performance and interactions with family and peers, according to Kids Health.
Effects
The child with ADHD can be more impulsive, hyperactive or distracted. Even when assignments or behavioral expectations are clearly communicated to him, he has trouble following through in completing and handing in assignments or conforming his behavior to his parents' or teacher's expectations, because it's very difficult for him to pay attention or sit still, according to Kids Health.
As your child gets older and progresses into higher grades, his ADHD will begin to have a bigger impact on his ability to achieve success in his subjects. Because of his ADHD symptoms, he has a harder time functioning socially and may be delayed emotionally and in his interaction with classmates, according to Kids Health.
Function
Your child's symptoms of ADHD have impacted her ability in several areas of her life. If she has lost friends because of her inability to read their non-verbal cues or if she has failed a class or grade because she's not able to concentrate on her assignments, she has already begun to feel bad about herself and develop low self-esteem.
For this reason, her symptoms need to be treated with more than just medication. She should ideally begin to see a therapist to address her poor self-image if this is an issue for her. She should also work with a therapist to help her learn to interact appropriately with her peers and interpret their reactions to her, according to Dr. Sam Goldstein, a clinical neuropsychologist who specializes in working with children and adults with ADHD.
Considerations
Understand how your attitudes toward your child's diagnosis can affect your relationship with him. If you blame him or his illness for situations he is unable to control, he'll begin to feel as if he can't satisfy you no matter how hard he tries--and this may have a negative impact on your future relationship.
Your child's symptoms can only be managed with a constellation of treatments such as medication, therapy and behavioral therapy. He won't be cured of his ADHD, although he can learn how to control his behaviors, according to Goldstein.
Transition to Independence
Teens with ADHD mature more slowly than teens who don't have ADHD. A young adult with ADHD will not reach the maturity of a 21-year-old until she is in her late 30s, according to ADDitude Magazine. The frontal lobes of an adult without ADHD reach full maturity at about 35 years of age. This means that these young adults need more parental support and professional assistance, as well as more time to adjust fully to adult life.
Though the young adult craves independence, she'll need to have her parents help her out. Her parents need to understand that their daughter won't follow the same path as her same-age peers. They need to adjust their expectations and allow her to continue living at home. Other adjustments could include paying rent, covering her own bills, taking responsibility for her own meals, paying for her own phone and taking care of her own belongings such as laundry. She should also contribute to cleaning the house and cleaning up after herself.
