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Children with ADHD need compassionate, informed support to navigate a world that often feels boring, overwhelming, or distressing to them. Parents, siblings, and others also need help to understand and support the child well. At Union Square Practice in NYC, we offer comprehensive, personalized mental health care for children with ADHD and their families.
Our services include:
Expert ADHD care is available in person at our Midtown Manhattan offices and via telehealth across New York State.
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a chronic neurodevelopmental condition with symptoms of inattentiveness, hyperactivity/impulsivity, or both. ADHD is genetically inherited, and symptoms start to manifest in childhood. Because ADHD behaviors can be disruptive or inconvenient for others, children with ADHD are often misjudged as lazy, unintelligent, or purposefully defiant.
Children often come to internalize these judgments and believe something is “wrong” with them. In fact, ADHD is a difference in brain functioning that has both drawbacks and benefits. Under the right circumstances, people with ADHD are often exceptionally enthusiastic, focused, dynamic, and creative. Understanding a child’s different experience of the world and why they behave as they do allows parents and caregivers to work with the child’s unique brain instead of fighting it.
Note that ADD (Attention-Deficit Disorder) is no longer distinguished from ADHD. Children with the condition may or may not exhibit hyperactivity symptoms, but the underlying diagnosis is still ADHD.
There are three clinically recognized forms of ADHD:
Although hyperactivity is the most stereotypical symptom of ADHD, the exclusively hyperactive type is the least common. Most children with symptoms of hyperactivity and impulsivity also exhibit inattentiveness, and many people with ADHD are inattentive but not hyperactive. Due to common misconceptions about ADHD, children with only inattentive symptoms can be easily overlooked.
Most ADHD symptoms are things everyone experiences here and there, but people with ADHD experience them much more intensely and consistently. Each child has a different mix of symptoms, but the following are common signs your child may have ADHD:
As mentioned above, while these are common symptoms, many children with ADHD are not hyperactive or impulsive. Hyperactivity in children can manifest as fidgeting, tapping, bouncing, impatience waiting their turn, difficulty staying seated, and verbal hyperactivity such as excessive talking and interrupting others. Children with ADHD often have developmental delays in impulse control, leading them to speak or act without sufficient consideration of consequences.
Distractibility and difficulty focusing tend to go hand in hand with forgetfulness, or being “scatter-brained.” People with ADHD often quickly forget what they were doing or are supposed to do next. With children, this might look like disobeying clear instructions to put on shoes and a coat, when in fact they lost track of what they were doing while looking for the coat. They may frequently show up to class without a pencil or the right textbook, or have extreme trouble keeping homework assignments and due dates straight.
Inattentiveness and distractibility are the most widely occurring symptoms of ADHD. Children with ADHD often have extreme trouble following verbal instructions or completing processes with multiple steps, getting distracted almost immediately. In general, they may feel entirely unable to focus on a subject or task that does not interest them, often escaping into daydreaming in response to boredom.
On the other extreme, a child with ADHD will often hyperfocus on their interests, becoming extremely absorbed in certain activities. This may be typically fun things like video games. Or, for instance, a child who is usually bored in science class suddenly becomes deeply engaged in the chapter on prehistoric life, spending time outside of class learning everything they can about dinosaurs.
Some children with ADHD have trouble understanding the finer points of social interactions, which can result in relationship difficulties with peers and adults. Hyperactive children might interrupt other people, dominate conversations, or otherwise act in offputting ways. The child’s inattentiveness can feel to other children like disinterest or rudeness, and impulsivity can result in saying or doing things without a normal level of filter, causing hurt feelings or alarm.
These problems are likely to get worse as the child gets older and social demands become more complex. Left untreated, individuals with ADHD risk internalizing the negative feedback they receive at home and school and suffering from anxiety, mood, and substance abuse disorders. USP therapists with ADHD expertise help your child and the whole family understand their experience better and provide support for them to thrive.
Children with ADHD can experience emotional distress in response to circumstances that seem insignificant or normal to others. Certain activities, environments, and social situations can overstimulate or overwhelm the child, in turn triggering emotional shutdown or outbursts as well as attempts to avoid those circumstances in the future.
While you can recognize and respond to ADHD symptoms without a diagnosis, a formal ADHD evaluation helps clarify and validate your child’s experience and your own. If the difficulties are not due to ADHD, you can explore other possibilities. If the diagnosis is positive, it becomes the basis for ongoing treatment, education, and sometimes accommodations for your child at school and elsewhere. Union Square Practice offers expert neuropsychological testing and evaluation for ADHD and other conditions in a comfortable, friendly environment. Our evaluations are in-depth, thorough, and follow current best practices.
Treatments for ADHD typically involve behavioral therapy accompanied by medication management for the child and coaching for parents. While medication is more often indicated for ADHD than for most other conditions in children, we understand that not all parents feel comfortable with this step. We will be straightforward with you about our recommendations, but we always respect each family to make the treatment decisions that are best for them.
Union Square Practice practitioners work together closely as a team, so all parts of your child’s treatment are coordinated and aligned. Importantly, we treat your child as a person, not as a diagnosis. At every step, we take a personalized, collaborative approach to design a tailored treatment plan that works for your child and your family.
Union Square Practice is a group of psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists who empower individuals to be the best versions of themselves using the latest science has to offer.
If your child is struggling with symptoms of inattentiveness or hyperactivity, our therapists are here to help. If you’re not sure whether it’s ADHD or something else, a formal evaluation is a good first step. Diagnosis, therapy, and medication management are available under one roof at our NYC offices, and we also serve clients via telehealth across New York State. We look forward to listening, investigating, and developing a customized treatment plan that supports your child to thrive.
Reach out to us using any of the contacts below or our general contact form.
