What is ADHD? What are its Symptoms and its Treatment?

In decades past a child who had difficulty sitting still and couldn’t concentrate on school work or home projects was often “diagnosed” as being a high-energy person with a lot of mental ability that was hard to harness. In the last couple of decades many children with similar “personalities” are diagnosed as having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Now, parents who have a son who is constantly moving, often breaking things or abandoning projects without finishing them, often find that their child has ADHD. In some cases they would finally understand why this child would get into situations that were obviously unsafe or would damage objects without realizing it was a problem.

School Troubles

This condition often becomes obvious when a child is required to sit still and complete school work, in a school setting or at home in the evening. If this is literally impossible for the child, a parent may be seeing one of the symptoms of ADHD. Apparently, about 10 percent of children of school age suffer through this malady. It is much more common in boys.

ADHD is generally found in intelligent, capable children who just can’t seem to complete tasks or focus on what is being said to them or shown to them. If a child seems to get “out of control” in a mildly exciting situation, ADHD may be indicated. Symptoms include lack of ability to pay attention, difficulty listening to spoken instructions, apparent disorganization and general forgetfulness. If a child regularly loses things that are important to him and the family, such as toys and school-related items, ADHD might also be indicated.

When the hyperactivity part of the condition is present a child might not be able to sit still, might talk far too much, might start talking or answering a question before the original speaker is finished and might have trouble playing (tendency to be argumentative or combative after a short time). There are true combination ADHD cases as well. If you suspect ADHD problems, talk with your doctor or another medical professional about what constitutes true ADHD.

Diagnosis

Doctors will look at hearing and vision in the early part of diagnosis. Doctors may also look for signs of clinical depression, Tourette syndrome and learning disabilities of various types. Parents can watch for unusual changes in behavior after a traumatic event in the child’s life. A child should exhibit this symptom for more than a few days and the action should have a negative effective on the child and other’s on a consistent basis. Remember, not all high-energy children have ADHD.

Experts on ADHD emphasize that this condition is not the result of child having bad or inattentive parents. It doesn’t result from eating too much sugar and it is generally not the result of a child being vaccinated with particular types of vaccine. ADHD might be linked to children who are born smaller or with specific sections of the brain being small.

Medical research has started to link parent smoking and premature delivery to ADHD as well. Parents should be aware that excessive time in front of the TV might make the attention-deficit problem worse.