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Why Other Children are Rejecting Your Child
by Anthony Kane MD
Introduction
Developing healthy peer relationships is critical for the normal development
of a child. Peer relationships have been found to be an important predictor of
positive adult adjustment and behavior. Difficulty in finding friends leads to
feelings of low self-esteem and these feelings usually continue into adulthood.
Children with poor social skills are at risk for delinquency, academic
underachievement, and school drop out. Even though the inattentiveness,
impulsiveness, and restlessness frequently persist into adult life, these
problems are of less importance as the child gets older. Rather, the main
difficulty ADHD patients encounter as they reach maturity is their inability to
interact appropriately with others.
ADHD children often lack the social skills that are essential to success in
life. These children can be socially inept, and their lack of interpersonal
skills may cause them a multitude of difficulties. In addition, positive
relationships with friends in childhood provide a critical buffer against stress
and help to protect against psychological and psychiatric problems. ADHD
children lack these positive interactions and thus are at risk for a number of
emotional problems.
Probably 60% of ADHD children suffer from peer rejection. ADHD children are
less often chosen by peers to be best friends, partners in activities, or
seatmates. As the children grow older, their social problems seem to get worse.
Their inappropriate behavior leads to further social rejection and exacerbates
their inability to relate to others appropriately. Long term these children are
more likely to have difficulty finding and maintaining successful careers. This
is not surprising since social aptitude can make or break careers and
relationships in the adult world.
Causes of Poor Peer Relationships
ADHD children are frequently disliked or neglected by their peers. It is
difficult to determine all the factors that make a child unpopular, but children
who frequently display aggressive or negative behavior tend to be rejected by
their peers.
Impulsivity and Aggression
ADHD children tend to be more impulsive and aggressive than other children.
Teachers observe that the social interactions of ADHD children more often
involve fighting and interrupting others. These children are more intense than
others and behave inappropriately in social contexts. For example, ADHD children
are more likely to yell, run around and talk at unsuitable times. They also tend
to want to dominate play, engage in off task behaviors and engage more in
teasing and physical jostling of peers. This sets up a process of peer
rejection.
Academic Problems
ADHD children often do not do well in school. Poor school performance by
itself does not result in social rejection. However, the way the child responds
to his academic difficulties can contribute to inappropriate social behavior.
Children who cannot engage themselves with classroom work assignments often
disrupt and irritate their peers.
Inattention
ADHD children have difficulty with sustained attention. Deficit in attention
seems to be related to peer rejection independently of the aggressive,
impulsive, and hyperactive behaviors of ADHD children. These children become
bored more easily than other children. As a result, they are more likely to
become disruptive in the classroom.
ADHD children have difficulty in modulating their behavior and changing their
conduct as the situation demands. They have apparent social-cognitive deficits
that limit their ability to encode and recall rules of social cues. Children
with ADHD pay less attention to others verbally in games and other activities.
Many ADHD children are aware that they are socially inept. Children who are
anxious or fearful about peer relations are unlikely to behave in an effective
manner. These children withdraw from peer interactions and, in this way, limit
their ability to gain acceptance and friendship.
Children are rejected by peers when they appear to be different. Similarity
fosters social acceptance. Because ADHD children do not learn social clues as
well as other children, they tend to be viewed as strange.
Bad Behavior
One of the keys to your child's social success is proper behavior. If your
ADHD or ODD child frequently misbehaves, it is your obligation as a parent to
teach your child how to improve his behavior.
If your child is aggressive or defiant, if he does not accept the authority
of adults, or if he conducts himself in a such a way that children his age will
view him as a behavior problem, then your child will have a difficult time
making and maintaining friendships. The friends he will attract are other
aggressive problem children, the type of child with whom which you would rather
your child not associate.
All children need friends. Behavior problem children have trouble making
friends with others, so these children tend to congregate together. They
reinforce each other's bad behavior. If you are an aware parent and you have
control of your child you can put a stop to friendships with these children.
However, you must have control of your child's behavior in order to help him to
avoid the trap of bad friends.
Conclusion
Helping children with ADHD build close peer relationships is an important
goal to focus on, and is one that often may be over looked. You, as a parent,
have the ability to help your child accomplish this important social goal. You
should make every effort to help your child in this area. His psychological
health and his happiness, both now and in the future, are very much dependent
upon how successful he is at making and maintaining childhood friendships.
Anthony Kane, MD is a physician, an international lecturer, and director of
special education. He is the author of a book, numerous articles, and a number
of online courses dealing with ADHD, ODD, parenting issues, and education. You
may visit his website, ADD ADHD Advances at
http://addadhdadvances.com. Sign up
for the free ADD ADHD Advances online journal. Send a blank email to:
subscribe@addadhdadvances.com?subject=subscription
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