Crossing the street safely can be a challenge for kids with ADHD

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder causes children to act impulsively and become easily distracted. That’s a problem when it comes to helping these children learn to cross streets safely, according to a study published Sunday in the journal Pediatrics.

Researchers studied 78 children ages 7 to 10 who had ADHD and compared them with 39 children with normal development. The study found that kids with ADHD knew street-safety rules and appeared to try to cross streets appropriately. They knew they should look left and right and wait for a gap in traffic. However, these children seemed to have difficulty processing the information they collected by looking at their surroundings. They attempted to cross streets with smaller gaps in traffic compared with the other children and had less time to reach the curb before the next car approached.

“[A]t some point in the decision-making process, things go awry, which results in a more dangerous crossing environment,” wrote the authors of the study, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

However, the children with ADHD in the study were not taking stimulant medication. It’s unclear how much medication might help with decisions like crossing the street safely. Adults should consider spending extra time with children with ADHD to work on safe pedestrian behavior, the authors said.

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