Because of the difference in the years of schooling, the'mature differences' cause younger children to be mistaken for ADHD (deficiency of attention, hyperactivity, impulsivity). In the past few years, scholars from several countries have observed clinical observations Make an appeal with research.
"The New York Times" Health Edition titled "Is it Really ADHD, Or Is It Just Not Maturity?" "Report.
According to the data of children aged 4 to 17 years, it is found that children born in August, who are the youngest children in the same grade, are more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than children born in September. In other words, children born in September only enroll in school because they have a whole year of physical and mental development, so they avoid being seen as opportunities for lack of attention, hyperactivity, impulsivity and other illnesses.
In the past, the medical profession believed that'ADHD' is a real physical deficiency that would seriously affect children's personal development and school learning and require medication. The single statement has been strongly questioned by researchers from many countries from the viewpoint of physiological differences and cultural development. Among them, the relative age gap will cause a high risk of diagnosis and medication.
continues to highlight this important message. As an indicator of neurocognitive development maturity, the difference in relative age plays an important factor in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD, leading to the risk of children and adolescents' diagnosis and medication.
Therefore, we call on parents, teachers and medical professionals to give young children in the same grade enough time to assist and give them opportunities to prove their abilities. When doctors are diagnosing and treating ADHD and prescribing prescriptions to treat ADHD, doctors must consider the importance of children’s age gap in the same school year.
The report of "New Times" also mentioned a study published in the United States as early as 2010, "The importance of relative standards in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD: using the actual birth date as evidence" found that children born one month before the school age are more The ratio of children born one month late to be diagnosed as hyperactive was 8.4 and 5.1.
In addition, Dr. Li Jiayan, the founder of the alliance, often mentioned in his speech that in 2012, the University of British Columbia in Canada also conducted a large-scale study of more than 900,000 children between the ages of 6 and 12, and published a paper. It was found that boys born in December (based on birth in Canada) were 30% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than boys born in January. The data gap for girls is even worse, and the maturity difference of less than one year makes the diagnosis rate 70% higher.
In 2014, Sweden also published an article "Relationship between Relative Immaturity and Hyperactivity". It also found that younger children in the class were more likely to be diagnosed and prescribed medications than older children, especially those between 6 and 7 years old. The ratio gap is the most significant. The researchers therefore called for adults to give more flexibility to the maturity of individual children, so as to reduce improper demands on children, and improve the accuracy of ADHD diagnosis and treatment and the legitimacy of medication. The
alliance also shared a paper entitled "The Gift of Time, Age of Enrollment and Mental Health" published in 2015 by Stanford University in the United States and the Danish National Center for Social Research. They also tracked data on tens of thousands of Danish children. It was found that children who delayed attending kindergarten by one year, when they reach the age of 11, their assessment of'deficiency and hyperactivity' can be reduced by up to 73%. Even if the target age is raised to seven-year-old school-age children, there is a similar difference when they are 11 years old.
Israel also published a paper "The relationship between the use of hyperactive stimulants in Israeli children and the relative age of the class" in February this year. Researcher Helga Zoëga also studied the relative age of Icelandic children. According to the data, she was of the same age. The youngest person is 20% to 100% more likely than the oldest person to be diagnosed with ADHD. She pointed out that if teachers and doctors treat children of different ages with the same standard, it will lead to the risk of false diagnosis of ADHD. Who is
sick? Who is immature? Studies like
are warning us that many children are belittled, reprimanded, and enter the clinic just because adults are not patient enough in their development and growth. However, a large percentage of these children just need space games and time to develop. We need to face this problem honestly: children may not be "mature", but the real "illness" that needs to be corrected is a group of adults who are seriously lacking in prudence and patience
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-