The Connection between ADHD and Emotional Regulation

If your child with ADHD experiences intense emotions and strong reactions, that’s actually completely normal. ADHD affects more than just academics, and the same executive functioning skills that influence learning also play a key role in how a child processes and responds to their emotions.

Here’s what we mean:

1. Big, quick reactions? Difficulty with impulse control means it’s harder to stop yourself from reacting to strong emotions.

2. Sensory and emotional overload? The ADHD brain may have a harder time tuning out sensory information (leading to sensory overwhelm) as well as emotional input (leading to emotional overwhelm).

3. Stuck thinking about exciting or frustrating things? Children with ADHD may find it difficult  to re-focus attention away from overwhelming or emotionally provocative situations.

4. Reacts before thinking? For kids with ADHD, following multi-step directions and recalling past information in the moment can be more difficult. This means that, when they feel angry or even excited, it’s hard to remember to take a deep breath instead of hitting a sibling or running across the street.

In general, kids with ADHD can experience their emotions more quickly and intensely from the start. Pair that with the brain’s tendency to jump into fight or flight mode when it perceives some sort of threat, and layer a still-developing frontal lobe with executive functioning difficulties on top, and emotional regulation for children with ADHD becomes incredibly challenging.

Mightier is an evidence-based tool for helping your child with ADHD improve their emotional regulation from the comfort of your home. As your child plays Mightier they’re practicing emotional impulse control, shifting their attention from play to cooldowns, and fine-tuning the calming strategies that work best for their body. With practice, this combination is helping them internalize that skill of emotional regulation in a way that will translate out to the rest of their life. Start your free trial and see the difference Mightier can make!

3 Tips to Help Kids with ADHD Emotionally Regulate

For kids with ADHD, emotional dysregulation can look a few different ways: 

• Angry outbursts (yelling, crying, hitting, throwing)
• Hyperactivity (constant movement or talking, racing thought and ideas)
• Sudden mood swings 
• Quick and impulsive reactions (running across the street, hitting a sibling)
• Fixation (not letting up in an argument) 

Why it happens:

Children with ADHD often experience their emotions quickly and intensely and don’t necessarily have the impulse control to put the brakes on their reactions. 

What you can do to help:

1. Model calm. It’s 100% normal to feel frustrated or impatient when your child is dysregulated – but we all know that heat from both sides never helps things cool down. Take a few seconds to let yourself regulate (deep breaths, a slight pause) so you can address the situation calmly and with a clear head.
2. Validate your child’s emotions. Regardless of their reaction, there’s likely a valid reason your child is feeling angry, overwhelmed, or anxious. Maybe they had their heart set on something that didn’t work out, or maybe they perceived something as unfair. When feeling those quick, intense emotions it may be hard for your child to truly understand how they feel and why. Your ability to validate their feelings not only helps them feel seen and heard, but also helps them process why they’re feeling this way in the first place. 
3. Calm with them. If your child has been playing Mightier for a while, or has a favorite calming strategy, use it with them. Not only do they need the reminder (remember, their brain has a hard time accessing coping skills in these moments), they may also actually need that feeling of safety and connection with you.  

These strategies are great for responding to the big moments when they happen, but prevention strategies, like practicing emotional regulation regularly, are best for building self-regulation skills.  Mightier is a digital mental health tool that helps your child learn calming skills while wearing a heart rate sensor and playing games. Learn more!