Normal active child vs hyperactive.


How do you distinguish between a normal excited energetic child and someone suffering ADHD? (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder). It's the same question I raised on my FB page. Hmphhhh....Because very often we hear a statement "budak ni hyperactive lah!" but the statement itself is rarely being explained fully. 


And Aiman is no exception. "Hyper" is the most common remark that I hear from people, upon seeing Aiman for the first time. -______-" Angry? Frustrated? Redha? Mix feelings lah lebih kurang. :/

Personally to me, Aiman looks completely normal, fine and healthy. He is just being active and energetic, just like every other kids do. BUT, after a constant remarks of him being hyperactive, I finally came to a point of "REALLY? IS HE SO? TAKKAN LAH!" He talks clearly, he knows ABC 123, he sings well, he sees things differently, he is creative and brilliant indeed. Not to mention very lovely and sweet too. So what behavior disorder is here? 

So I took a step back and start observing his behavior (and that after several incidents of terguling tenggiling in public of not getting things done his ways).

Yes, Aiman has a persistent pattern of tantrums and often outburst of temper. Well, this is the main point that actually trigger the worry button for both of us but we probably have overlooked this matter due to the thought of "alaaa, biasalah tu, budak-budak, normallah"

The act of him being handful, climbing furniture, seeming to be on the go at all time and lacking of control over sitting still for long period of time, are things that I previously thought as normal. Something that every boy will do. However, we missed the part that he actually has a tremendous energy which most of the time the level is really out of the world. And only few activities that he held interest for more than 15 minutes, otherwise he gets bored easily over things/toys. 

--- Now I am the one who truly worry about thing being abnormal. :/ With all other points that suddenly become very visible, I lagi lah macam must-do-something-now!-now! and not just sitting and assuming everything is normal. But at least he has a routine sleeping pattern; bedtime at 9.00-9.30pm and wake up the next morning latest by 8.00am. Pattern remains even during holidays. 

Not that I'm saying Aiman is one hyper boy (not diagnosed as one), but an early detection (just in case) may help us (family members particularly) to control and to manage him better. For your info, ADHD is not caused by poor parenting, too much sugar or vaccines. Okies?

But my MIL said, "Aiman ni serupa sebijik jaaa macam Kown dulu" 

ô____ô 

Or maybe I should check with my husband, entah-entah dia pernah jadi hyperactive hahahaha and that he keeps the matter secret from me. 

--- Will update more once we get through the session with pakar-pakar yang berkenaan next week. My mom said, "Entah-entah kena sampuk hantu Batu Caves" -_____________-" Waaaaaaa!!!
ShilaShower
5 Comments

5 comments:

  1. Assalamualaikum kak shila. kena check dengan Kown tu. takut tersimpan rahsia ke. hihi. sheila harap aiman sihat sentiasa. and so his brother too :)

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  2. ohmai..I just brought up issue about my hyperactive boys tooo..I simply used word hyperactive , tak pernah plak tahu about ADHD. Kena check out all the symptoms. Tapi betul, mesti susah nak bezakan normal active and energetic boys with the ADHD one. Mesti u pun tak boleh kluar shopping with 2 boys alone without any assistant kan? For time being, I just doa bila dah masuk school ni, diorang belajar how to control themselves. Understand bout rules and boundaries. Apapun u, rasenya Aiman tu, sampai masa nanti, he will behave well. InsyaAllah.

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  3. alamak, my boy is having same symptoms just like yours! Ramai dah i dengar org label my son as hyper. Even his teachers at nursery. Nak kena observe jugak ni. Thanx for the brought up this issue.

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  4. salam..tq shila for brought up this ADHD issue..never knw bout dis..tot all dis while my son umar ni hyper:/
    all the symptoms sama mcm aiman except for tido malam..umar wud go to bed only whn the clock strike 12midnite..and now he is 2y+..mumy umar pun dh 2thn p opis mcm zombie..huhu..

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  5. Hai Shila,

    Actually one of the method that u can try in order to detect whether your son is suffering ADHD or not is simple - just by giving him iPad or you can observe while he's watching tv! Kalau dia boleh focus and stay still perhaps 3-5 minutes thsn he should be normal. Then you can go back to "biasala budak" mind...hehe.

    Previously my son was like that too, masa umur dia lebih kurang Aiman (1 half-2 years plus) and people around me pun keep on saying "hypernya budak ni". Agak tersentuh jugalah jiwa raga, maklumlah mak kan. But when I went for early childhood development courses conducted by UM then only I got to know the difference between active and ADHD. And from my observasion I think your son is normal just that dia ada banyak idea dlm kepala and he's doing exploration on his own way. Mak pak dia lah kena sabaq lebih nooo...

    By the way, I saw you at Kem Wardieburn than day, during wedding anak Cik Jah but nsk tegur macam malu pulak. Perhaps u can jengah2 my blog so that we can share our experience in raising these amazing children :)

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