ADHD
What is ADHD?
ADHD is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is extremely common and often goes overlooked, even in today’s society in which the media would have us believe that the condition is diagnosed too frequently and treated with reckless abandon.
Symptoms Include:
- Persistent inability to sit still
- Fidgetiness
- Rushing through homework/making careless mistakes
- Frequently losing objects or possessions
- Persistent inability to organize oneself
- Trouble following tasks
- Easily distracted
- Blurting out answers or having trouble waiting ones turn
- Trouble controlling impulses even when there are significant needs for not controlling those impulses
- Difficulty sustaining attention under concentration
Diagnosis
There are a great number of issues that cloud and complicate the process of making a correct diagnosis of ADHD. A diagnostic evaluation from a trained psychiatric professional is one of the very few methods available to accurately determine if your son or daughter has ADHD.
For some children, skill acquisition occurs but only with the greatest of effort and even though they manage to acquire the necessary skills, they may get certain messages from this process, taking from it ideas like, “School’s not for me; it’s just too hard,” simply because others in the class seem to acquire skills so much more readily.
Commonly Asked Questions and Misconceptions
Your Title Goes Here
My child isn’t hyperactive therefore he doesn’t have ADHD.
My son reminds me of my husband. He just can’t pay attention even if he wants to.
My child can pay excellent attention sometimes (especially during videogame time–which seems to be always, by the way), therefore he cannot have ADHD.
Videogames are the ultimate red herring for ADHD diagnosis. Videogames themselves are stimulating, and can create an effect similar to that of a stimulant medication in the brain. Of course children can pay attention to them!