Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Abstract

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed neurobehavioral disorders in children. Controversy surrounding ADHD, as well as our understanding of the disorder, continues to evolve. Although ADHD was once characterized primarily in terms of overactive and inattentive behavior, and later by marked impulsivity, it is now described by deficits in executive function and motivation. Challenges with activity level, attention, and impulsivity are viewed as behavioral manifestations of problems in the capacity for self-regulation and corresponding deficits in planning and successfully completing goal-directed activities. The basic premise is that children with ADHD need to feel successful because they rarely encounter success due to their impulsivity and/or inattentiveness. The play therapist's work with children with ADHD is valuable because it facilitates experiences of success for the child, and helps guide the parents through parent training sessions tailored to their child. Once the initial symptoms of the child are minimized in the playroom, then the child can use the therapeutic powers of play to work through underlying psychological issues that any typical child might do in play therapy. Children with A D H D are on the same continuum as typical children, and although the typical behaviors they exhibit are more intense, more frequent, and may last longer, they too need the play to help them succeed and work through and with the difficulties they experience. Play therapy gives children with A D H D the ability and freedom to feel successful in their own lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)