Monthly Archives: January 2011

ADHD & Focus, Focus Attention, SYN Digital Enrollment Director

What is ADD?

You just got the report from the school psychologist and you are confused and frustrated, what the heck is ADHD and how did my child end up with it? Rest assured that it was not something you did or didn’t do. More and more children are being diagnosed with ADD and ADHD on a daily basis and you would, in all likelihood, be surprised just how many children have it.

Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD)

ADD is a syndrome, which is characterized by serious and persistent difficulties in three key areas:

1. Attention Span
2. Impulse Control
3. Hyperactivity (Not All Cases)

ADD is a chronic disorder which often begins in a child’s infancy, and can extend through adulthood. All too often ADD can have negative effects on a child’s life at home, school and within his/her community. For reasons unknown to medical science, ADD disappears during adolescence in some students. There are two types of ADD:

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Children with ADHD typically have eight or more of the following characteristics;

• Fidgets, squirms or seems restless.
• Has difficulty remaining still or quiet.
• Is easily distracted.
• Has difficulty waiting their turn.
• Blurts out answers.
• Has difficulty following instructions.
• Has difficulty sustaining attention.
• Shifts from one uncompleted task to another.
• Has difficulty playing quietly.
• Talks excessively.
• Interrupts or intrudes on others.
• Does not seem to listen.
• Often loses things necessary for tasks.
• Frequently engages in dangerous activities.

Try to remember that if your child is displaying these types of symptoms, it may be caused by a condition that is currently beyond their control and really cannot help themselves.

I don’t know about you but from what I’ve read on this list I probably would have been diagnosed with ADHD when I was a child. The big difference would be in that way my parents chose to deal with the problem. My parents would have given me a good spanking (I know there are no GOOD spankings) and I would have been warned not to continue that type of behavior. But when it is something that a child can’t control by himself then we, as parents, need to get involved and actively help our child deal with this disorder.

Undifferentiated Attention Deficit Disorder

In this form of ADD, hyperactivity is not present.  These children have some or all of the above symptoms, excluding those related to physical self-control.  This type of ADD is often undiagnosed as these children tend to be overlooked, simply because they are not “hyper”. They are often passive or quiet in nature and tend to be withdrawn.  Thus, these students are at a higher risk for failure, simply because they have no outward behavioral problems.

ADHD & Focus, Focus Attention, SYN Digital Enrollment Director

Causes of Attention Deficit Disorder

Researchers are unclear exactly what happens within the brain of an ADD child. Medical science is sure that ADD is caused by abnormalities in neurological function. Chemicals known as neurotransmitters are improperly balanced in an ADD child. The average person can automatically communicate thoughts from the left side to the right side of the brain.  This inner communication does not occur in an ADD child. Thus, these children have problems with attention, impulse control and activity level.

Although many ADD children tend to develop secondary emotional problems, ADD is not primarily an emotional disorder. However, emotional and behavioral problems can frequently be seen in ADD children due to the problems these students tend to have within their school, home and community.

The ADD, ADHD child is very often caught in a negative loop. They often fail in school, are rejected by peers, and are the center of a family’s turmoil. All of these lead to developmental delays and psychiatric complications caused from low self-esteem and frustration. With this downward cycle occurring, ADD can lead to poor social adjustment, behavioral problems, school failure, dropout and delinquency, and drug abuse.

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., rev.) (DSM-IV-R). Washington, DC: APA.

“Merely watching someone else’s continuous movements will not allow me to mimic them–I have to have the steps broken down sequentially, much like how I must have explicit directions on how to get to a new place rather than trying to follow a continuous map.”

– Dr. Lars Perner (asst. professor clinical Marketing at Univ. of Southern California)