ADHD could be abbreviated as “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder”. ADHD disorder affects children and it can continue through teen and adulthood. This disorder is commonly diagnosed among children. ADHD is one type of mental disorder were children behave hyperactivity, inattentive or impulsively. These behaviors start during school life. The percentage of children diagnosed with this kind of mental disorder is getting a rise. There is an increase of 42% in ADHD diagnosis over the past 8 years. A recent survey reports that symptoms of ADHD start to appear at the age of 3 to 6. In recent times, ADHD has become one of the most common mental disorders.
Signs of ADHD
There are certain signs for ADHD which are grouped into three categories.
- Inattention – The child may get easily distracted in doing things, the child doesn’t follow a regular pathway, the child doesn’t listen to others, pay less attention in its regular activity, lack in organizing the daily schedules, often loses things and impaired motor skills.
- Hyperactivity – Children suffers from hyperactivity often squirms or bounces while sitting, talks excessively with everyone, doesn’t sit in a place for a long time, the child will always feel restless and trouble in playing quietly.
- Impulsivity – Children suffering from impulsivity often interrupts while others speaking and blurt out the answers.
How does ADHD affect the handwriting?
Motor skills involve the actions happening in the movement of muscles. In general, two types of motor skills are identified – Gross motor skills and Fine motor skills. Gross motor skills are larger movements with arms, legs or the entire body. Some common examples of gross motor skills are running, climbing and trampoline. Fine motor skills involve small movements in hands, wrist, fingers, and toes. Most of the children with ADHD are suffering from gross and fine motor skills.
If a child has a problem with fine motor skills such as poor handwriting and shaky fingers, then it can make the child hard while writing. The handwriting of the children is not clear and looks messy. As a result of the messy handwriting, the child may find difficult in the classroom environment. Because of the poor and messy handwriting, the child could find difficulty in participating in group projects. At certain points, the child may get frustrated and feel low self-esteem in schools. Because of the frustration, a child could lack its self-confidence in class. Additionally, it can impact a negative performance in school. Finally, the child starts to avoid handwritten assignments that are assigned in classes.
How is ADHD treated?
There is no single test available to diagnose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. When you go for a consultation with doctors, they will start by conducting a complete medical test. Once after the diagnosis, the doctors will start a treatment plan with the combination of medications, behavioral therapy, lifestyle changes and counselling. Some treatments given by doctors may help to improve their handwriting skills as well as other symptoms with ADHD. Stimulant medication may improve handwriting legibility and speed among children. Addition to that, the combination of medication along with motor skills training may be more efficient for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
How to encourage fine motor skills
- Build on basic skills – Some toddler does not use both hands to its task. This may lead to a lack of fine motor skills. To avoid this, encourage the children to use both hands to do a task. Play games like “Itsy Bitsy spider” and teach the children to work with his hands.
- Play Dough and Putty – Using this activity, the child can squeeze, stretch, pinch and roll the clay in different shapes. By doing this activity, the muscles of hands, wrists and fingers get strengthened.
- Origami – Origami is a paper-folding art that develops the skills. This activity helps the toddler to nurture creativity and also develops fine motor skills. As this activity includes construction and wrapping, playing origami helps the child to think creatively and build a structure.
Conclusion
In today’s world technology and digital learning are moving forward. However, handwriting is also one of the important factors in spite of the evolution of technology and digital learning. Every parent must look after the handwriting of the children. Even a small change might make a great impact on the future of the children. As a parent, kindly note the regular task done by a kid and makes sure everything goes right. A small messy activity of your children could lead them to a mental disorder or equivalent problem.
