Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood disorders and can continue through adolescence and adulthood. Symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior, and hyperactivity (over-activity).

It could be pretty alarming for a parent when he or she comes to know the fact that his or her child has Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder or ADHD for the first time. The news could be very annoying for the parents. Many of the parents could be ignorant of what exactly the disease means. So they may be running pillar to post to learn about it.

Of course, the parent might know that the child is hyperactive. Or even about the child’s often thoughtless and impulsive behavior. Here are a few tips that could help parents to cope with the situation and respond positively on the news breaking the most unwanted disclosure that their children have ADHD they might chance upon.

1) Try to learn what ADHD really is. Learn from sources such as specialists working with child with ADHD or biographies of people who have coped with ADHD and become successful.

2) Understand that ADHD is not a disease but a neurological disorder that can be genetic. The disorder can also be the outcome of a difficult labour or birth that has caused stress to the child in his early hours of existence.

3) Recognize the fact that children diagnosed with ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, may well have intelligence that is higher than the average child.

4) Treat your child who has the disorder as you would any other child. Try to figure out the dominant traits of ADHD that your child has - inattention, impulsitivity or impulsiveness, or hyperactivity and a combination of the traits.

5) Different approaches are required to deal with different behavioral traits. Find out the triggers for his manifestations.

6) Get rid of guilt feelings.

7) Any guilt feelings on yourself or anger at the genetic make-up of your spouse who has passed the ADHD gene onto your child should be avoided.