Looking for a sidebar?

Identifying the Active Alert Child

What is "active alert?" It's not a disability, it's not a problem—it's a temperament.

So says Linda Budd, the creator of the term and the author of Living with the Active Alert Child: Groundbreaking Strategies for Parents, a psychologist who has spent almost three decades working with children who are unusually intense and physically active.

How can you tell if your child was born an "active alert?" Here are five of the 20 questions Dr. Budd suggests you use to assess your child:

1. Does your child seem to have unending energy?
2. Does your child have difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep?
3. Does your child's memory of details amaze you?
4. Does your child seem bossy, even with parents and friends?
5. Does your child swing from one intense emotion to another?

If you're nodding "yes" to these questions, you'll want to see Dr. Budd's complete description of the active alert child and her suggestions for techniques for parenting this challenging but delightful son or daughter. You'll find her advice and insight in the new third edition of Living with the Active Alert Child.