Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd) - a short guide.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common behavioural disorder that affects between 8 and 10% of children of school age and is round three times more likely to occur in boys than girls. Children who suffer from ADHD (or ADD) will have trouble focusing on even the most simple of tasks and will often act on impulse without thought. Many people say that ADHD is being over-diagnosed as most children do, at some stage, show these signs. However, a child with ADHD will carry on these symptoms long-term and their behaviour will affect their family, social and educational lives, stopping them from functioning correctly with family, friends and at school.

Initial diagnosis of ADHD will begin with your doctor. At present there is no hard and fast diagnosis of ADHD as children can often display the symptoms of ADHD for other reasons such as stress, environmental disturbance (such as divorce, new baby, moving house etc), depression or even changes at school. Your doctor will take into account any external disturbances when evaluating your child's mental health. Once your doctor considers that your child is showing signs of ADHD your will be referred to a consultant who will initiate a diagnostic assessment and will also endeavour to see if there are other complications within their ADHD/ADD.

The most typical symptoms of a child with ADHD are:

• Easily distracted
• Quick to lose things
• Fidgeting, squirming, unnecessary running and climbing
• Find difficulty taking turns or waiting in line
• Forgetful of everyday activities
• Unable to pay attention to details
• Often make careless mistakes
• Have difficulty following instructions
• Seem to have listening problems
• Unable to play quietly and always seem to be on the go

ADHD can also be said to be linked to other learning disabilities such as dyslexia and although not actually highlighted as a learning difficulty, ADHD can cause problems at school as your child is unable to concentrate or perform.

As ADHD has had plenty of media coverage in recent years, so have many myths grown up about the condition. Here are some of the most common ones:

• ADHD doesn't exist - it is just children being naughty. ADHD is an internationally recognised neurobiological disorder.
• If your child is not hyperactive they don't have ADHD. Hyperactivity is not a definitive part of ADHD, although it is one of the indicators. Many girls do not suffer from the hyperactivity side of ADHD but still suffer from significant problems. And many childen with hyperactivity may not have ADHD.
• Children who can concentrate for hours on the TV/computer can't have ADHD. Many children with ADHD can concentrate on things they find interesting - even to the point of over concentrating.
• Diet is the only effective treatment. It may help the symptoms but there is no hard, scientific evidence that it improves poor concentraion.
• Medication is the only effective treatment. Whilst medication helps around 90% of children, the most effective form of treatment is a combination of medication, education, behavioural treatment and other strategies.
• If the child just tried harder or wasn't as lazy he would do better. Children with ADHD have a brain chemistry problem and are often inconsistent with how well they are able to concentrate. Often their concentraion levels are taken on well they did well and so the condition is often put down to laziness or lack of motivation.
• ADHD medications are addictive with long term side effects. The medication used to treat ADHD has been used in over 5 million people for around 50 years and there have been no apparent side effects. Neither does there appear to be any addiction to the medication.

My thanks to www.lanc.uk.com for the additional information.