8 ***^ Sunday 11 August 2019 The Sunday Telegraph
Older parents take longer to spot children with ADHD
By Sarah Knapton SCIENCE EDITOR
OLDER mothers and fathers suffer in
silence because their better parenting
skills mean they fail to realise their
children have attention deficit hyper-
activity disorder (ADHD).
Researchers at the University of Sur-
rey found that the larger the age gap
between children and their parents,
the older the children were when diag-
nosed with ADHD. For every year’s dif-
ference, there was a 3.8 per cent
increase in the age of ADHD diagnosis.
Children with siblings were also diag-
nosed later, the study found.
Researchers speculated that older
parents may be better at coping with
the stress from raising children with
the condition and so may take longer to
seek help or realise there is a problembeyond usual childhood disobedience.
Dr Uy Hoang, a University of Surrey
research fellow, said: “It is important
that more support and information is
given to older parents and those with
large families to help parents recognise
the signs of ADHD.
“Busy family lives and strategies al-
ready in place to cope with overactive
behaviour can distract from underly-
ing issues that need medical attention.”
ADHD is the most common psychiat-
ric disorder in children and adoles-
cents. Around 75,000 youngsters agedsix to 17 are prescribed medication for
the condition.
It leads to difficulties in meeting
developmental milestones, brings
challenges in school and can cause
poor family and peer relations and low
self-esteem.
In the largest study of its kind, re-
searchers investigated the age at which
children were diagnosed and what fac-
tors influenced the diversity.
They examined the records of
353,744 children aged under 19 from
158 GP practices across the country,from the Royal College of General Prac-
titioners’ research and surveillance
network database, and found 3,
children with an ADHD diagnosis.
The average sufferer was diagnosed
aged 10 and a half, but for every addi-
tional child in the household after two,
there was a 27.6 per cent increase in the
age of the diagnosis.
Researchers also found a correlation
with parental age, with every year’s dif-
ference between the age of the parent
and the child resulting in a 3.8 per cent
increase in the age of ADHD diagnosis.They said that households with more
children may delay parental recogni-
tion of an overactive child, and that
older parents’ greater parenting expe-
rience and skills can result in higher
absorption of overactive behaviour.
Prof Simon de Lusignan, the pro-
ject’s principal investigator, said: “It is
important that children with ADHD are
diagnosed early to ensure that they re-
ceive the medical and educational care
and support that they deserve.”
The research was published in the
BMJ journal Evidence-based Medicine.Recovery from trauma
‘more likely on mountain
than a therapist’s sofa’
By Dominic Nicholls
DEFENCE AND SECURITY
CORRESPONDENT
MEN find it easier to talk about their
feelings when climbing Snowdon than
sitting with a counsellor, the founder of
a new male trauma charity has said.
Efrem Brynin, whose son was killed
serving in Afghanistan, set up Strong-
Men to help traumatised men.
He said one of the benefits of talking
while walking up a mountain is that in-
dividuals are not staring straight into
each other’s faces.
“You’re not sat in a chair, almost be-
ing interviewed. You’re facing up the
hill, so if you do find things a bit diffi-
cult, it’s not as much of a big deal,” he
said.
StrongMen, a play on the words
“strong mentally”, aims to get men to
discuss traumatic life events and focus
on physical health. Its first event in
April when 20 men climbed Snowdon
in North Wales, “worked really well,”
Mr Brynin said. “After a number of
hours we began to hear laughter.”
He established the charity after his
son, James, 22, a soldier in the Intelli-
gence Corps, was killed in Afghanistan
in 2013. He felt the support offered by
the Ministry of Defence to bereaved
families was extremely poor. “Once the
obligation is gone, you’re forgotten
about. There’s no empathy,” he said.
In an effort to understand his son
better, in 2016, Mr Brynin took part in
the television programme SAS: Who
Dares Wins. Through that, he met Dan
Cross, a participant in a later series,
who was also recovering from a trau-
matic event: the murder of his wife.
The men had found established be-
reavement counselling inadequate.
The Bereaved Support Group pro-
vided by the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen
and Families Association was a great
help, but funding was limited. Also, the
dynamic of a mixed group did not work
well as “blokes are less likely to show
weakness or vulnerability [in front of
women]”, Mr Brynin said.
StrongMen gets men to share a mod-
erately arduous outdoor pursuit, which
allows space for conversations to hap-
pen at their own pace. They are all
strangers. “They can’t even lift-share to
the campsite, so there are no little
groups forming early,” Mr Brynin said.
One member was physically sick atthe top of Snowdon, although he hadn’t
struggled on the way up. The pent-up
stress of his memories, and the act of
speaking about them on the way up
had been a significant emotional re-
lease, to which his body was reacting.
“Not being experts on mental health
but having suffered our own issues, we
have an understanding. When people
know you have an empathy, they are
more likely to trust you,” Mr Brynin, a
commercial fitter from Pulborough in
West Sussex, said.
“When people say, ‘What you’ve
been through inspires me’, it makes me
sound like I’m doing something impor-
tant, but I’m just being me.”Celestial vision Lichfield Cathedral is hosting a light and sound installation inspired by the 50th anniversary of the Moon
landing. The work includes a 36m (188ft) Moon surface covering the nave floor and footage of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission.ANDREW FOXBetter coping strategies in
families with bigger age
gap across generations may
delay diagnosis, study finds
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