Preschool injuries, ADHD & ODD
The Archives of Psychiatric Nursing journal recently published a study confirming what experienced pre-school teachers already know, that ADHD and ODD children engage in significantly more risk-taking behavior. The had some surprising findings about the severity of those injuries.
The surprise was that there was no corresponding increase in injuries serious enough to need medical attention. This finding contradicts an earlier study of school-age children and teenagers, which found significantly more instances of serious injury among those diagnosed with ADHD or ODD. The authors speculated that the difference "may be attributable, in part, to the impulsivity, oppositionality, and hyperactivity that occur developmentally in children from this age group." In other words, all preschool children are impulsive, defiant, and energetic to some degree, but most change those behaviors as they grow up. Of course, any experienced teacher or camp counselor could have told us the same thing, but science and the law always demand empirical proof.
This and earlier research does confirm the need for close supervision of children who have been diagnosed with ADHD or ODD. Youth service organizations need to ensure that supervision, as well as designing activities that compensate for the child's energy and impulsiveness.
The abstract of the study is available for free at the Hub Med database. You can buy the full text of the article either through Elsevier at the Hub Med link, or at the Archives of Psychiatric Nursing site. Both the abstract and full text of the earlier study about school-age children is available from the Pediatrics magazine website (search for DiScala in the December 1998 issue).
