Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
In 1845, a physician named Dr. Heinrich Hoffman was the first to document on paper what Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may actually look like. More accustomed to writing medical text, Hoffman stepped out of the box eager to find appropriate material to read to his 3-year-old son and wrote a collection of poems about children and their characteristics. "The Story of Fidgety Philip" was a colorful depiction of a little boy who likely had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Yet it was not until 1902 that Sir George F. Still published a series of lectures to the Royal College of Physicians in England in which he described a group of impulsive children with significant behavioral problems, caused by a genetic dysfunction and not by poor child rearing—children who today would be easily recognized as having ADHD. Since then, several thousand scientific papers on the disorder have been published, providing information on its nature, course, causes, impairments, and treatments. Some reports say an estimated 3 to 5 percent of school age children suffer from ADHD. Because kids with ADHD present unique challenges to teachers as well as parents, they are singled out from the beginning. If proper intervention is not implemented, a spiral of low self-esteem and social or academic failure begins and is hard to stop.
It is important to note that boys and girls appear to share the same risk as it relates to ADHD. However, girls manifest their symptoms somewhat differently and are frequently overlooked. The more aggressive display in male behavior garners quick response from parents and school personnel. Girls may manifest ADHD in bad grades and social difficulties.
For both, the symptoms of ADHD are inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. You may be saying, well yeah aren’t all kids? That is indeed the case but the question becomes to what degree. While ADHD symptoms are usually noticeable from early childhood, they are best seen when a child is put in a situation that calls for sustained mental activity. This is why school is often the first place ADHD seems to make itself known even though it might have been present all along.
ADHD is suspected when these characteristics interfere with learning in school, socialization with peers, or behavior in his or her home life. It is important to keep in mind that symptoms will vary depending on the child’s surroundings in any given moment. This complicates diagnosis and makes ADHD hard to pin down especially when inattentiveness is the primary symptom. To be specific, a diagnosis of ADHD is based on the number, persistence, and history of ADHD behaviors, and the degree to which they impede a child's performance in more than one setting.
All kids go through periods of inattention and hyperactivity as they navigate through various stages of development. For a diagnosis to be warranted, symptoms of ADHD must appear over the course of many months, often with the symptoms of impulsiveness and hyperactivity preceding those of inattention, which may not emerge for a year or more. It can be a confusing picture and different situations may aggravate different symptoms depending on the stress placed on the child’s resources and the demands of the situation. For example, a child in school who has problems with inattention may find themselves in hot water when the teacher calls on them five times and receives no answer, but this would be typical of a child with ADHD.
Because ADHD is so difficult to diagnose, the most recent version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) attempts to offer some guidance. However, we at The Learning Center feel strongly that every child is unique and each individual that walks through our doors should be seem in light of their distinctive gifts and personal circumstances.
Because ADHD often continues into adulthood, a prompt and thorough examination resulting in an informed diagnosis by a well-qualified professional is imperative. Early intervention can help a child convert their weaknesses into strengths and their strengths into possibilities. A psychological evaluation can determine whether your child has ADHD.