Does anyone feel that home environment | ADHD Information

The home environment can affect the ADHD either way. If you have a calm, structured environment they will do better, where chaos or disorganization and lack of structure makes it harder for them. I really don't believe it causes ADHD but I do believe it has a definite effect. You can't judge the home by their behavior though because of all the comorbid things that may not be diagnosed but definitely also affect them.Some people have reported that fluorescent lights,
and especially non 'full spectrum' lights
cause some children to become disruptive and hyper.

Perhaps you are observing this effect.

It make take a while to occur and a while to the effect to stop after you leave the light. I think the child is Adhd no matter what.  Home environment, and alot of other things can make the symptoms of ADhd worse.  The calmer the environment, and more positive, the better they learn to cope with the disorder.Hi I am not sure if this has been addressed before...but...does anyone feel that home environment can contribute to a child having ADHD??  My son is better at school than at home but often in the general public he is worse than at homeNo, My son is better at home than out...My son would rather be at home, due to being able to be himself. He gets exhausted trying to hold it all together out in the "world". Things are structured at home (as much as they can be since I'm adhd, too), and he feels more comfortable being himself at home. Adhd kids have to work harder than others in general; I don't feel his home environment caused his condition. Perhaps if an adhd child is in chaos at home, they might become worse, feel worse or more overwhelmed?JMHOADHD is neurological. It isn't caused by the environment in the home, although a bad home life can make any child worse (with our without a disorder).

I think home environment can cause children to act like they have ADHD, when, in fact, they do not.  I say this because I have been a foster mom and have taught kids from chaotic homes.  I do not believe, however, that home environment causes ADHD.  It's just hard to diagnose a child from a chaotic home because the doctor has to decipher if the ADHD behavior is situational or neurological.  If it is neurological, the chaos did not cause the ADHD, but, in my opinion, makes it harder for the ADHD child, or any child for that matter, to cope.  I think ADHD kids do better in a structured home, where they know what is expected of them.  My son says this outright.  He'll look straight at you and tell you that he has to have structure. 

joemom wrote:
I thought that adhd symptoms were supposed to cross settings...isn't this one of the criteria for diagnosis

The symptoms have to be present in more than one setting on a consistant basis. As others have said, if the child feels overwhelmed by the home environment, it exacerbates the symptoms but certainly doesnt cause Adhd.

 

I thought that adhd symptoms were supposed to cross settings...isn't this one of the criteria for diagnosis?

I agree with what everyone has said so far, but I wonder specifically what you mean by environment? There's the "environment" of family structure, relationships, feeling of safety & well-being, and order & organizational abilities of the parents, etc.

Then aside from that, there are the environmental influences that can cause weird allergic reactions, that may affect some people in a seemingly neurological way: cleaning products, animals, building materials, food.

We've had one such incident. We bought one of those carpets with a race-track printed on them for using with Hot Wheels cars. My son was a totally different person when that thing was in the house (it took us about 4 days to figure it out, then we promptly returned it). I don't know what the toxins were in that thing, but it was scary. Just my 2cents.

PB

One interesting comment I've had on this topic ... DS's doctor told me that ADHD kids with supportive home environments tend to "get more" out of the medications than those living in a chaotic environment.

A back and forth thing, no doubt.