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Dangers with ADHD kids crossing street

Children with ADHD are more likely to cross the street when cars are dangerously close, according to a study published. The findings may help explain why studies show children with the disorder have a higher-than-average risk of being hit by a car, researchers say.

Since children with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) have difficulty staying focused and controlling their behaviour, the researchers on the new study thought these kids might not take the time to check for traffic before darting into the street.

But that was not the case. In a virtual-reality test that simulated street-crossing, children with ADHD did typically check traffic like they should.

"They were actually like other kids in looking right and left before crossing," said lead researcher Dr Despina Stavrinos, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Instead, things went awry somewhere in the children's decision process about whether it was safe to cross.

What ADHD children considered

Compared with their peers, Dr Stavrinos said, "Children with ADHD chose to cross when there were smaller gaps between cars, which is risky."

On average, by the time kids with ADHD reached the other side of the virtual road, they had less time to spare before traffic would have closed in on them.

That suggests problems with "executive function" could be playing a role, the research team believes.

"In the example of crossing the street," Dr Stavrinos said, "that would mean questions like, 'How far away is that car?' and 'How long will it take me to cross?'"

The findings, reported online in Pediatrics, are based on 78 children ages 7 to 10, half of whom had been diagnosed with ADHD. The other half had no known developmental disorders.

Each child made 15 simulated street-crossings in a virtual reality environment. They also took standard tests of attention and executive function, while parents reported on their kids' tendency to follow, or not follow, rules.

Kids with ADHD picked bad 'time' to cross

Overall, the children with ADHD picked less-safe times to cross the street. And their scores on the measure of executive function correlated with the safety of their street-crossings in fact, "executive dysfunction" seemed to fully account for the link between ADHD and the safety of a child's crossings.

Dr Stavrinos said the findings offer parents practical tips for making sure a child with ADHD knows how to cross the street safely.

"It's important for parents to be aware that maybe teaching kids to look right and left is not enough," she said.

Dr Stavrinos suggested that parents also talk to their children about how to judge when it is safe to cross and practicer safe crossings with them. "I think practice really is the key," she said.

One limitation of the current study is that all of the children with ADHD had been off of their medication for 24 hours before the tests - so it's not clear if children on medication would fare better. That's a question for future studies, Dr Stavrinos said.

She noted, though, that kids usually take ADHD medications in the morning. So by after-school time, when many would be making their solo street-crossings, the medication would be wearing off

(Reuters Health, Amy Norton, July 2011)

Read more:

ADHD in the classroom

An alternative to Ritalin

 

  

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