You are currently browsing all posts tagged with 'hyperactivity'

Does Your Child Snore?

  • Posted on July 2, 2009 at 7:15 am

Occasional snoring may be normal to children. Recent studies show that 3 to 12 percent of children between the age of 1 and 9 snore. But frequency doesn’t mean normality. Habitual snoring can be a cause of a more serious medical condition called obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) or simply, sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a condition characterized by loud snoring with periods of breathing interruptions. Interruptions may be short or prolonged, usually between 5 to 30 seconds. During this period, the child’s could not get straight sleep. He rouses and moves to another sleeping position, then resumes sleep. After a while he will once again begin snoring. This activity often happens several times during the night, each night. Although this condition rarely appears on children, it is very important that parents should watch out for symptoms that come along with it.

Symptoms of sleep apnea include

• Poor speech habits – talking that sounds like words over a mouthful of hot potato.

• Reduced growth rate. Children suffering from sleep apnea use more energy in breathing during the night. During meals, they tend to eat slowly since it is hard for them to breathe and chew at the same time. The result is, they have insufficient nutrients to support their growth.

• Hyperactivity. Lack of sleep can cause drowsiness on children during the day. To stay awake, children act frantically.

• Poor performance in school. Since children do not get the right sleep during the night, they tend to appear tired and lack the concentration to focus at school, thus, having a poor performance.

When these symptoms are visible, it is imperative for parents to bring their child to a pediatrician and have him examined. A child can be happy and smiling when he is brought to the doctor and therefore, it is difficult to diagnose if he really has sleep apnea. Parents are advised to record their child’s snoring so that the doctor can analyze the situation in actually.

Meanwhile, sleep apnea is not the sole reason why children snore. Other reasons include allergy attack, obesity, asthma, and enlargement of adenoids and/or tonsils caused by cold or tonsillitis.

Some allergy attacks can cause swelling on the linings of the nose that can direct to the enlargement of adenoids. This keeps the child from breathing normally. This causes the child to snore. After the allergy attack, the snoring stops.

Obesity can also lead to snoring. In fact, 20% and 40% of the obese children snore. This is because fats can form around the throat that can cause constriction and makes the limited airways. Also, fats in the stomach can cause the diaphragm to function irregularly

Asthma is said to be another cause why children snore. A study revealed that 40% of the children diagnosed with asthma snore.

Enlargement of adenoids and/or tonsils caused by cold or tonsillitis also results to snoring. While cold or tonsillitis can be cured by decongestant and antibiotics, adenoid enlargement is treated by surgical procedure to remove adenoids and tonsils.

Underdevelopment of the jaw inside the womb can cause snoring as well. There is also the possibility that the nerves and the muscles cannot control the airway properly and cause that child to snore.

Everything on rules of netball can be found at the Netball Rules website. Visit the Middle Back Pain website to find information on back pain causes. Drop by the Mumps Symptoms website to read about prevention of mumps.

Article Source: Does Your Child Snore?

  • Share/Bookmark

What is Psychoeducational Testing, and When is it Helpful?

  • Posted on July 1, 2009 at 9:05 pm

Psychoeducational testing is appropriate for individuals who want to have a more sophisticated understanding of their cognitive functioning (what is my “ability?”), their math, reading and/or writing skills, their memory skills, and whether emotional factors may be contributing to or affecting learning in school. While I assess individuals from six years old up to middle-aged adults, other psychologists specialize in developmental issues, and evaluate children between infancy and five years old. Some psychologists assess individuals in the later stages of middle-age including the geriatric population. This article will address assessment of school-aged children and college-aged young adults.

A typical referral question might be, “My second grade son is struggling with math, and despite extra help from the teacher, he continues to obtain poor grades in this subject. Is it possible that he has a learning disability?” Psychoeducational testing could help determine if the individual has a learning disability in math or any other area, and the psychologist will provide recommendations to the parents and the teacher as to how to improve the student’s ability to learn math. Another referral question might come from a college student who recently completed their freshman year, and despite feeling that they “studied hard,” they obtained poor grades. Perhaps this individual found it difficult to concentrate during class, and is wondering if she has Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Predominantly Inattentive Type. Some high school students who have already been identified as having a reading disability may feel they will benefit from extended time on the SAT. A psychoeducational evaluation would be appropriate for this student in order to document the need for extended time.

While a “battery” of measures within a psychoeducational evaluation may differ from psychologist to psychologist, a typical battery will often consist of a measure to assess intellectual functioning and a measure to assess achievement levels (often math, reading, and spelling and/or writing). In addition, many psychologists also include a measure to assess visual-motor functioning and a measure to assess memory skills.

In order to ensure that the evaluation is addressing the referral question, the psychologist will typically gather a great deal of background information. This information could include, but would not be limited to, the following: when developmental milestones were met, medical history, school history, and whether there is any family history of mental health issues or learning difficulties. If the parents or student perceive there to be any emotional difficulties that could be affecting learning in school, additional measures may be included. For example, behavior rating scales to be completed by the parent, the student and sometimes the teachers are often included, and at times additional assessments may also be included to learn more about the individual’s emotional functioning. At times, the psychologist may also gather information from the examinee’s teachers, and will often wish to review recent report cards and any previous evaluations.

A typical assessment session takes between four and six hours, depending on the individual. While some students prefer to complete the evaluation in one sitting, other students, particularly young children, may benefit from completing the assessment over the course of two or even three sessions.

After the assessment is complete, the psychologist writes a report which includes the scores from each measure, as well as a description of the measure and what the scores mean. The report will also answer the referral question, and many recommendations are provided. The psychologist then reviews the results of the evaluation with the family, and can answer questions about the report, as well as how to proceed.

Lauren S. Lineback, M.H.A., Psy.D.
Delaware/Pennsylvania Licensed Psychologist
Pennsylvania Certified School Psychologist
Back to Basics Learning Dynamics, Inc.

Lauren S. Lineback, M.H.A. Psy.D. is on staff of Back to Basics
Learning Dynamics, a full service educational facility providing tutoring and instruction for children and adults.
She is an educational consultant.

Article Source: What is Psychoeducational Testing, and When is it Helpful?

  • Share/Bookmark

The Relationship Between Sleep Habits and Symptoms in ADHD Children

  • Posted on July 1, 2009 at 9:04 pm

A new study on children, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and sleep, gives parents good reasons to make sure that their Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder kids develop good bed-time habits and are in bed as early as possible.

The study reported the obvious: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder children need sleep, and lots of it.

The study was just published on March 1, 2009 in the journal SLEEP. It confirms what many parents already know about their Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder children or teens, that they simply are not getting enough sleep at night, and that they often wake up tired and sluggish in the morning, which causes other problems all through the day.

The study was led by Dr. Reut Gruber, Ph.D., the director of the Attention, Behaviour, and Sleep Lab, which is a part of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, in Montreal, Quebec. “The Douglas” is associated with McGill University and is also very involved in World Health Organization programs. Dr. Gruber has been studying the effects of a lack of sleep in children for years, including its effects on depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and school performance. She even has done a study on the impact of sleep (or lack of it) on continuous performance test (CPT) performance (tests such as the TOVA). She is a big advocate of teaching children good night-time habits to improve the quality and quantity of their sleep so that their performance through the day may improve.

While Dr. Gruber does not believe that a lack of sleep causes Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, she does believe that sleep problems make Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder symptoms worse, which is easy enough to see when thinking about focused attention or impulse control. The study reports that as many as 50% of children and teens with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have reported having sleep problems, which can impair daytime learning and performance.

Reports of this study show that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have significantly shorter sleep times than the non- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder control group. The children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in the study got an average of 8 hours, 19 minutes of sleep per night, while the control group averaged 8 hours, 52 minutes of sleep. This missing half-hour of sleep each night adds up over the course of a week, a month, a year. The study also reported that the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder children had less REM sleep time each night than the control group.

So parents, this gives us good reasons to consider how our family spends its time from about 7:00 pm and later into the evening. Try to structure the evening so that your children can wind-down, relax, and get ready for a full night’s sleep. The results could be better performance at school the following day.

Dr. Douglas Cowan is the Clinical Editor of the ADD ADHD Information Library’s family of websites, including http://newideas.net and http://ADDinSchool.com for parents and teachers. Dr. Cowan has a Doctorate in Psychology, and a Masters in Marriage, Family, and Child Therapy, and has helped hundreds of ADHD children and families. See our free online screening tool for adhd.

Article Source: The Relationship Between Sleep Habits and Symptoms in ADHD Children

  • Share/Bookmark