Last updated 13:40, Thursday, 01 May 2008

They’re the ones screaming on the floor of the supermarket aisle. They misbehave in class, cause problems in the playground, while on planes and trains they’re just a nightmare.

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Rachael Davis

The cliche is that they’re naughty children of bad parents who allow them to do what they want and get away with anything.

But Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects around one in 20 youngsters.

It has multiple causes including genetic, inherited and environmental factors.

The two women sat at Rachael Davies’s kitchen table in Cleator Moor know plenty about the condition.

Their giggles and belly laughs are mixed with wide-eyed worries and quiet concern.

Rachael has hundreds of embarrassing moments to choose from, but adds: “You get over the situation by using your sense of humour.”

Cara Ferguson admits she has left a trolley full of shopping and marched out of a supermarket because of the behaviour of her son.

But millions of parents, with and without ADHD children could identify with the mum-of-four when she says: “I’m not a bad parent, I know I’m not, it just takes that one moment where they show you up in public.”

“The thing I find hard,” agrees Rachael, “is people staring and tutting. If they could distract the child they would help the parent and ease the situation.”

Rachael, 39, fizzes like a pop factory as she bounds from point to point, remembering events and conversations.

Although she is more restrained, Cara, 32, who lives just a few miles up the road near Egremont, smiles and laughs almost as much.

Words fly thick and fast as she makes her points.

One of the habits of Cara’s 13-year-old lad is to chatter constantly.

“He talks excessively and he talks rubbish. When he has not been medicated, he talks like a mobile phone with poor reception and words are missing,” she adds.

Words and orders can be taken literally.

When told to write lines by a teacher, he wrote 1-10 down the page, then made a series of lines.

“One was a squiggle, one a straight line ...” explained Cara.

“I thought it was just funny, you have to laugh at things like that, but the teacher wasn’t very pleased.”

He was one of a group of youngsters on a walking trip near Keswick who were warned not to drop litter because it would ruin the countryside.

When a gust of wind blew his empty crisp packet across the fell, he chased headlong after it and was only stopped short of a cliff edge when he was rugby-tackled by a teacher.

“He burst into tears because he thought he had ruined the countryside,” says Cara quietly.

The behaviour of youngsters with ADHD can be annoying and frustrating. It is not necessarily anti-social.

But without the right help and strategies, they can develop anti-social behaviour.

Rachael explains: “It is hard, but they can learn and do know the difference between right and wrong.”

Rachael also has four children, two are hyperactive and she is hyperactive herself.

Her care advice applies to all children – and their parents.

“If you are constantly saying ‘that is wrong, don’t do that, don’t do this’ they will never listen.

“They don’t hear the word ‘don’t’.

“They need understanding and calm, but parents are only human and sometimes, saying things the 10th time can send you over the edge.”

She tries to explain how the mind of a hyperactive child works and it seems like an extended, uncontrollable adrenaline rush: “You get caught in a moment, in the energy of what you sense is around you.

“If you go into a place and it is buzzing, you feed off that and it starts a chemical reaction and you get carried away.

“If someone says ‘jump off there’ sometimes, you don’t take a step back to think about it, you just do it.

“I have learned that I need a lot of exercise and drinking lots of water and eating decent food does help.”

Both women praised the help and work they had received from schools, though they say there is still plenty of work for staff to do.

“The reports are the worst,” sighs Rachael, “we know our children can’t concentrate, please don’t tell me again!

“Concentration is something very difficult to learn and we need to work together to develop a method to help them.

Because of the bullying their children suffer, both asked for their youngsters not to be identified.

Rachael sips her milky coffee and says: “Bullying at school is the main issue.

“They have a tendency not to be able to interact with other children, or they go the other way and end up looking like the ringleader of a group.”

Cara adds: “My lad tries so hard to fit in, over-reacts and then cries.”

Making things better for the youngsters and easier for their parents is not a simple task, according to her. “There is not just one thing, there is so much we need help with.

“Special schools would go a long way in helping them, though our secondary school has been wonderful.

“My big worry is what is he going to do when he gets older?

“I can deal with him as a child, but what is in store when he is an adult.”

The National Autistic Society and the ADHD charity ADISS are drawing closer links as both conditions share conditions such as Aspergers syndrome.

Cara said: “I think joining forces is a good idea if it means children with ADHD get more help and support, rather than get thought of as being naughty.”

Both agree that eating the right food is important and that cutting out E-numbers is important.

“If I’m eating rubbish, I feel horrible and it makes me sluggish,” admits Rachael.

Rachael is chairman and Cara is vice chairman of the ADHD North West Cumbria Family Support group and they are hoping to establish a similar help group in the east of the county.

“We want to set up parent-led groups in different areas and get a support worker sorted,” explains Rachael. “We want people to know they are not on their own, we can get involved as much or as little as they want.”

Cara adds: “We all get stressed and we just want parents to know they are not the only ones.”

To contact Rachael and Cara, call 07936 406808.