How Television Viewing Affects Kids Diagnosed With Add
March 2, 2009
If you are the parent, of a child who has been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, you must have thought about whether you need to change your child’s television watching habits or not. That’s a confusion that most parents face, and so we thought we’d put down a few words on the effect television viewing has on children suffering from attention deficit disorder (ADD).
There is a popular misconception that has been adopted as a fact by most parents, that it is long hours of unrestricted TV viewing that leads to attention deficit disorder. And although, watching television is not the sole cause of this disorder, it still has a bad reputation in aggravating the symptoms.
Several studies have been conducted in this field, and although there is no clearly established link between attention deficit disorder and television viewing. However still, most of these studies do indicate that excessive TV viewing does exacerbate the symptoms of this disorder. In clear and plain words, what comes out as the baseline is that while television viewing may not really lead to this disorder, once your child has been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, you need to be particular about his TV viewing as this may aggravate his symptoms.
The path ahead
Since it is indicated, that ADD affected children could experience aggravated symptoms, if they spends longer hours in front of the TV, the very obvious first step for the parents is to control the children’s TV viewing. When your child is watching TV, his brain is too over occupied with what is happening on the screen and thus your child’s brain isn’t getting enough activity and he’s never able to think about other things.
Also, sitting in front of the TV the child becomes physically inactive and distant from other children and other human beings.
Apart from controlling your child’s TV viewing, the other most important thing is to get your child into activities which will enhance his listening, patience, social skills and observation. You have to guide your child onto a different track by making changes to his regular curriculum.
While the regular medication and therapies may follow, you too can contribute towards his recovery by setting up a daily plan which includes exercises, proper eating and social interaction of the child with other people.
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