Surviving the Holidays with ADHD
Can you feel all the holiday stress in the air? It’s literally buzzing. The holidays bring a lot of extra activity for parents and kids, and it’s the kind of activity that makes things extra stressful for you and your ADD/ADHD child. The shopping, the parties and special events and the overall hype of the season mess with daily routines, healthy eating and sleep schedules. Our kids are already struggling to stay calm and focused, with all the extras ahead, they’re going to need some help navigating the season.
Every parent has experienced the frustration of trying to get their kid to listen and do what needs to be done. But when it’s a visual learner or kid with ADD, there are even more challenges. There’s a lot going on in their head, ALL the time.
If your child is struggling with focus, testing and some academic work, there is no understanding, no work around, no assistance for them as visual learners. But if your child is unfocused, distracted, struggling academically, and diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, help is available in the form of a 504 learning plan. 
If your child has been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, you’ve already put some new things in place and their grades or behavior still hasn’t improved, you might be thinking…. NOW WHAT?!? If you have a child with ADD chances are they are also visual learners.
Approximately 11% of children 4 to 17 years of age have been diagnosed with ADD as of 2011, and it’s most commonly diagnosed in 7 year olds. That’s an alarming statistic, but we can turn the negatives of ADD into positives by understanding and applying the success strategies used with visual-spatial learners.
First and second grade is the time that most children are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. But many of the same characteristics of visual learners are the same traits that point to an attention deficit.
January and February have been busy over here at bettefetter.com as I’m sure they have been for you as well. We have discussed some tips and great books for reluctant readers, what a 504 plan can do for your visual learner, how to appreciate the scattered visual learner, and so much more!
ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder, is used to describe kids who can’t sit still, focus or follow directions, are easily distracted, seem bored and cannot get or stay organized. The good news is – for the majority, none of this is about a deficit – or a disorder.