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Hyperactivity and ADHD in Children: Parent Podcast
In this episode of the Impressive podcast, Dr Kimberley O’Brien speaks with Rose, the mother of a seven-year-old child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Rose describes the early patterns she noticed, the assessment process and the practical support used at home and school.
This is one family’s experience. It can help parents identify questions to ask, but it does not establish how ADHD will look or which treatment will be appropriate for another child. ADHD assessment and support should be individualised and involve the child, family, school and relevant health professionals.
For an overview of signs, diagnosis and treatment, read our parent guide to ADHD in children.
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What this family noticed
Rose describes high activity, rapid shifts between activities and difficulty starting, sustaining and completing tasks that were not immediately interesting. She also noticed that her child could remain engaged with construction play and digital games. This variation is common in ADHD: being able to focus intensely in some circumstances does not rule ADHD in or out. Interest, novelty, reward, structure, fatigue and environmental demands can all affect attention.
The podcast discusses practical approaches that helped this family:
- breaking a task into smaller, visible steps
- giving brief, specific instructions
- using visual prompts rather than relying only on spoken directions
- keeping expectations predictable and checking understanding
- providing planned movement and regulation breaks
- working with school staff so strategies and communication are consistent.
These strategies are starting points, not a universal program. A useful plan identifies the particular activity affected, tests one or two supports and checks whether participation improves. Our guides to managing attention difficulties and movement and fidgeting in children with ADHD provide more detailed options.
Support at school
A diagnosis can help a school understand a student’s needs, but Australian students do not need a diagnosis before reasonable adjustments can be considered. Adjustments should respond to functional needs and may include clearer task structure, visual schedules, reduced distraction, movement opportunities, assistive technology, additional check-ins or different ways to demonstrate learning.
Ask the child what helps and include their strengths, interests and preferences. Review the plan with the teacher using observable goals, such as beginning a written task within an agreed time or returning from a movement break ready for the next step. Support should protect dignity and avoid publicly singling out the child.
Further Reading
How ADHD is assessed
The episode refers to the Conners 3 because it was the version in use when the recording was made. It has since been replaced by the Conners 4. Rating scales can collect structured information about behaviour and functioning, but no questionnaire, observation or computer task is a diagnostic “gold standard” on its own.
Australian clinical guidance recommends a comprehensive assessment by an appropriately qualified health professional. This usually includes:
- a detailed developmental, medical, educational and family history
- information from the child and from adults who know them in more than one setting
- evidence that symptoms are persistent, developmentally atypical and impair functioning
- consideration of strengths, co-occurring conditions and alternative explanations
- review of hearing, vision, sleep, learning, language, mood, anxiety, trauma and physical health where relevant.
School observation may be useful in some cases but is not required for every diagnosis. Psychologists contribute assessment within their training and scope; medical assessment may also be needed. Rating scales support clinical judgement rather than replace it.
What you will hear
- a parent’s account of recognising hyperactivity and inattention
- how assessment changed communication between home and school
- ways the family structured tasks and instructions
- the parent’s experience of medication benefits and appetite effects
- school adjustments that supported participation.
Listen with the understanding that benefits, adverse effects and family preferences vary. A positive or difficult experience in one family does not predict another child’s response.
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Clinical update before the transcript
This episode is preserved as an audio record and the transcript reproduces the spoken conversation. Some clinical language reflects the time of recording. In particular, the Conners 3 has been superseded by the Conners 4, and rating scales do not diagnose ADHD by themselves. Diagnosis requires a comprehensive, multi-informant clinical assessment.
Medication comments in the episode describe one parent’s experience. Decisions about ADHD medication should use shared decision making with an authorised prescriber and consider the child’s needs, preferences, possible benefits and adverse effects. Monitoring commonly includes symptoms and functioning, appetite, growth, sleep, mood, heart rate and blood pressure as clinically appropriate. Families should contact the prescriber about adverse effects or concerns and should not start, stop or change a dose without professional advice.
Current Australian clinical information is available from the Australian evidence-based clinical practice guideline for ADHD, including guidance on diagnosis and multimodal treatment and support.
How Quirky Kid can help
Quirky Kid can assess attention, activity, development, learning and emotional or behavioural concerns within professional scope, provide practical recommendations and collaborate with families, schools and medical professionals. Contact the clinic if you are unsure which service is appropriate.
This podcast and article provide general information and do not replace individual assessment, diagnosis or treatment advice.
Podcast transcript
The full transcript appears below. Spoken wording has been retained for transparency; apply the clinical update above when interpreting older statements.
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Dr Kimberley O'Brien (00:04):
Hi, I'm Dr Kimberley O'Brien, child psychologist, and founder of the Quirky Kid Clinic. We are a child psychology clinic as well as a publishing house, and we've put together this podcast series to bring to you the stories that we hear on a daily basis, and to share the practical strategies that we do also share with our clients. Today, we're going to be talking about helping children who find it difficult to concentrate. We're talking about harnessing hyperactivity in a positive way. We're talking to Rose who's doing the interview with her two children in the background, although it's not very distracting. So, I hope you enjoy this episode.
Rose (00:44):
My son, he's a smart inquisitive child and he loves to have a chat. He likes to know the how and why of everything, and he really loves building and construction. It helps bring out his imagination. He likes to discover new games on his iPad, and he will tell anyone that's willing to listen about all of his games that he plays. My name's Rose. I'm a mother of two boys, one that is nearly seven that has ADHD and a two-year-old boy as well.
Dr Kimberley O'Brien (01:18):
And Rose, when did you notice that hyperactivity and inattention were a problem for your eldest son?
Rose (01:24):
I noticed it quite early. He was around a year-and-a-half old and he just couldn't stay on task with anything. He would just kind of bounce around from one thing to another and he just couldn't sit still.
Dr Kimberley O'Brien (01:41):
I can picture that in the clinic. Usually, they'll come in. Kids that have ADHD traits, they'll really just want to look at absolutely everything all at once, pulling open all the drawers, emptying things out, then onto the next box, empty that out. It's not like they're really generally engaged in any one thing. It's like this massive exploration that takes about three minutes and then the room just is a complete mess, but they're still searching for more. So, I don't know if that sounds like your son, but can you kind of paint a picture of what that might look like on a daily basis?
Rose (02:13):
Yeah, that certainly resonates. When he was younger, that's exactly how it looked. So, it would look like this big destruction, just like he was just dumping things out, but in reality, he was dumping, looking, off to the next thing, dumping, looking, off to the next thing. Now that he's a little bit older, it's not as messy, but it still looks a little bit similar. More so with my son, it affects him kind of socially. He can't keep up with his friends with conversations. So, they'll start talking about something and he'll get distracted by something and he'll just take off, or they'll start talking about something and he'll start talking about something else. In his school life, sort at school, he still has concerns with tasks. So, initiating tasks, keeping on tasks, finishing tasks because he's just very distracted.
Dr Kimberley O'Brien (03:13):
I'm wondering what you did to try and harness the hyperactivity. Was there more extracurricular activities or trying to give him more things to look at? Did you work at his pace or maybe try to slow him down? What did you find was most useful?
Rose (03:28):
It's been a little bit of a juggle to work out what works well for him. I do find that he does slow down with tasks that he is very interested in and he kind of just really puts all of his focus into that. So, things like building and construction, he can sit there and play with LEGO and other types of blocks for hours. When it comes to his iPad and different games, he can sit on that for hours, but again, he kind of bounces from game to game. So, he'll start playing something and then close that, and he'll open something else and he'll play that for a little bit. So, it's never, never harnessed in its entirety, but there are other supports for things that he's not interested in as well that I found have worked. So, just really breaking down tasks for him. So, giving him very clear instructions, keeping his expectations consistent, and visual aids as well. He seems to follow things a little better when he can see what he needs to do. When he's told verbally, it's almost like it goes in one ear and out the other.
Dr Kimberley O'Brien (04:37):
And I was going to ask you about an ADHD diagnosis. Did you decide to get your son assessed, and when did that come into the picture? At what age?
Rose (04:46):
My son was diagnosed when he was six.
Dr Kimberley O'Brien (04:49):
And was that helpful or unhelpful in thinking about school and labels? Is it something you'd recommend for other parents?
Rose (04:56):
I definitely recommend it. It has been the best thing for my son. A label was never a concern for me. If anything, what it's done, it's given him the extra support that he's needed. So, now school understands his needs a little better. At home, we understand him a little better as a person, and the pediatrician has recommended a medication that has significantly helped my son.
Dr Kimberley O'Brien (05:24):
That sounds similar to lots of families that come to the clinic in that we'll do the assessment. We usually do the Conners 3, that's the standard or the gold standard in ADHD assessments, as well as observing them in the clinic, and going to school typically and doing a school observation to see how they compare when they're with their peers, and we make recommendations, and one of them is to just check in with your pediatrician to see whether medication might be appropriate because it's not always appropriate. Can you tell us a little bit more about the pros and cons of using medication for kids with ADHD?
Rose (05:55):
Yeah. Well, I found with my son, there's been a lot of pros. So, he's been able to pay attention to tasks a lot easier. He can remain focused for longer as well. He's finishing a lot more tasks than what he was previously and it's been seen across the board so at home, at school, in his other therapies. Particularly speech therapy, he has a lisp and it involves a lot of sort of just sitting at the desk work and constantly repeating those sounds, and before, he just was up and down, off the chair, around the room. Now, he can get through a whole session just sitting and doing what's expected of him. The only cons that I've come across is really his appetite being suppressed when he's on his medication, and that's usually the time that he's at school. So, the way I work around that is by giving him a bigger breakfast and giving him a bigger meal after school and a big dinner as well.
Dr Kimberley O'Brien (06:53):
Great. And I wonder, Rose, how has it been at school? Have there been any issue in the beginning and now they've been resolved or did you get any additional support in terms of like a teacher's aid? Yeah, how did it go after you had the ADHD diagnosis in the school setting?
Rose (07:09):
It has really helped with school. So, his teacher now understands the why behind why he does things and why he can't stay focused, or if there are too many distractions why he's not finishing his tasks. It has meant that she has implemented some other strategies as well like giving him some extra breaks, giving him some visual aids, having a little downtime area as well in the classroom for him so when he gets a bit overwhelmed because any of the tasks that are expected of him, he can have a break and reregulate and come back and try again.
Dr Kimberley O'Brien (07:48):
That sounds great. So good to have supportive teachers on side when you're looking for a network to communicate with on a regular basis so that you can praise the positives and prioritize the next step and have a consistent approach moving forward. Thank you so much for your time today. That was amazing. I'm so appreciative, Rose. With the kids in the background, you did a great job.
Rose (08:08):
Thank you. Thank you for your time too.
Dr Kimberley O'Brien (08:12):
A huge thank you to the lovely Rose who juggled that interview so beautifully and shared so much. So, thank you again for listening to this topic on harnessing hyperactivity and inattention. If you'd like to find out more about the Conners 3, and you're thinking about a diagnosis and how it might be helpful, go to the Quirky Kid website, that's quirkykid.com.au. In our next episode, we're talking about encopresis, that's toileting issues, and you'll need to listen up to find out the details. I'm Dr. Kimberley O'Brien. I'll see you next time.
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