ADHD or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is often diagnosed after a child or adult has behaviors that are disruptive to their school, social or work situations. There are a two types of ADHD. One is marked by hyperactivity while the other is not. It can be tough to diagnose ADHD in children because the symptoms are often mistaken for normal kid-like behavior.
ADHD Symptoms in Children
Inattention
Children who are unable to concentrate in school, miss homework assignments or are unable to interact with classmates can be suffering from inattention. This is a symptom of ADHD.
Hyperactivity
A child who is hyperactive is constantly in motion. They are fidgeting, talking or moving at inappropriate times. They always seem to interrupt as if they can't sit still and wait to be called upon in class.
Impulsive
…show more content…
It can occur as a result of alcohol use and cigarette smoking during pregnancy
Treatment for ADHD
Adults and Children
One of the most common types of ADHD treatment is the use of medications. Stimulants are often used to relieve the symptoms of ADHD like inattention and distracted thinking. The stimulants increase the chemicals like norepinephrine and dopamine that have an impact on that area of the brain.
In other people with ADHD, non-stimulants are more effective. They'll improve focus, impulsivity and inattention. Anyone with ADHD has to be under the care and supervision of a doctor or therapist to make sure they are taking the correct medication. It can take a few tries to find the right medication to treat a particular person.
ADHD in adults and children must be diagnosed before it can be treated. It can often be quite difficult to diagnose because everyone occasionally has issues with inattention and impulsivity. After diagnosis, treatment can consist of therapy as well as medications to treat
The most common way to treat ADHD is with stimulants or anti-depressants. "These medications stimulate the child's "brake pedal" whereas without treatment the child is all "gas pedal" (Taylor 63)." The most common drugs prescribed for this disorder are Dexedrine, Ritalin and Cylert. They are effective for a four to five hour time period while the sustained-released tablets are effective for seven to eight hour time periods. The drugs stimulate the central nervous system similar to amphetamines. It activates the brain stem arousal system and the cortex (Bailey 2).
ADHD is a very common neurodevelopment disorder of childhood. It is usually diagnosed in late childhood, around the age of seven by the teachers. The symptoms are typical during ages 3-6 and if not treated properly becomes chronic and persists even after entering adulthood. Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, staying organized and controlling impulsive behaviors. It is very difficult to diagnose and when undiagnosed the children can grow to be mislabeled as trouble makers in their adulthood.
The symptoms can often start during the early ages of a child’s life and continue on into adulthood, but symptoms do not always show at a young age(“Treatment”). Some symptoms for inattention include not being able to keep focus during conversations, lectures, or lengthy reading, not listening when one is directly spoken to, not following through with tasks such as school work, getting easily sidetracked, forgetting things throughout the day, and having problems organizing things(“NIMH”). Some signs of hyperactivity could include fidgeting in their seats, talking non stop, blurting out randomly, interrupting in conversations, and constantly being on the go(“NIMH”). Some people could show more symptoms of inattention, and some could show more of hyperactivity, it just depends. ADHD can be mistaken for emotional or disciplinary problems, and also for other disorders that have similar
I have witnessed a child in my preschool class who has almost all the characteristics of Hyperactivity. The child fidgets when seated, she is sitting and starts moving her hands back and forth, moving her waist from side to side. The teacher would tell her to relax and she would stop but 2 minutes later she would begin again. Also, during group time everyone is seated in a circle, the teacher is talking and she would move from one spot to another and all the teachers have to tell her several times to stay in one spot on the circle. The little girl has a hard time completing a task as well, we would ask her to do something simple and she cannot stay seated for a long period of time. For example, all the children are sitting making a picture of their family and Anaya just makes herself and we tell her “make your mom and dad” and she said “ok” and she makes 2 circles and said “I am done”. We ask her “what about the arms” (at this point she is squirming on the chair) and she said “they have arms”.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a chronic condition that affects millions of children and often continues into adulthood. ADHD includes a combination of persistent problems, such as difficulty sustaining attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behavior.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is becoming more known as more people have been diagnosed, children and adult both suffer with disorder, making daily life tasks more difficult to deal with. People with ADHD suffer with concetration issues, forgetfulness, and many other problems. There are also many types of treatment for ADHD, such as medication. Lawrence Robinson, Melinda Smith, and Jeanne Segal gathered togther to write the article, "ADD/ADHD Medications." The
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder that causes children to have problems with paying attention, trouble with following instructions, have impulsive behaviors and become easily distracted. Medications, such as Adderall and Ritalin, are used to treat the symptoms of this disorder by helping the patient to focus and pay attention while also curbing their impulsive behavior and hyperactivity. Side effects of these medications are, but not limited to, anxiety, addiction and in some cases psychosis. Proponents of giving ADHD medication to children argue that ADHD is a real disorder in children and the medication does improve the symptoms of the disorder by a large margin as well as being cost effective.
According to the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) there are three main types of ADHD. These types are Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder with predominance in inattentiveness, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder with predominance in hyperactivity and impulsiveness, and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder with a combination of both hyperactivity and inattentiveness. There are certain criteria that must be met before a diagnosis can be made to attribute ADHD to the behavior of anyone.
Medicine such as, Amphetamine is a stimulant. Methylphenidate (Ritalin), is commonly used to treat ADHD disorder. Studies are always changing to inform readers. Many side effects from the medication will always be the challenge for most that are diagnosed with the disorder. Although with the side effects, the
To add to that, the research that has been conducted on the disorder has led to a variety of effective treatments. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) (2014) the most widely used medication is a stimulant. There is a wide variety of stimulants available for ADHD subjects. Although, with these stimulants come side effects including sleep problems, decreased appetite, anxiety and other diverse uncommon side effects (NIMH, 2014). Stimulants tend to calm children with ADHD. However, these medications can be detrimental to the patient in many ways. Certain medications have been subject to abuse, including Adderall and Ritalin. These medications are in some cases abused by patients who are over diagnosed. Since these patients do not have the disorder they can feel the side effects and use the drug to achieve a certain kind of high. When using these drugs for non-medical purposes they can seem to replicate the effects of cocaine
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is a common mental disorder whose definition continues to change. Most clinicians make a diagnosis off of a list of symptoms in three categories: inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. There are three different subtypes of ADHD: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Combined Type if both the inattentive criteria and the hyperactive/impulsive criteria have been present for the past six months; Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Predominantly Inattentive Type if the inattention criteria are met but the hyperactive/impulsive criteria has not been present for the past six months; and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Predominantly Hyperactive/Impulsive
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), is a neurobehavioral disorder that affects school aged children with a high degree of inattention, excessive hyperactivity, impulsivity or a combination of any of these. In order for a child to be diagnosed with ADHD, there must be two different environments in which the child has displayed his or her symptoms and it must occur before the child is twelve years of age (Halter, 2014). Children have a high comorbidity level with developmental, learning and psychiatric problems. There are three types of ADHD; inattentive type, hyperactive-impulsive type and combination type. With inattentive type the child displays disorganization, is unable to complete tasks, becomes easily bored, and
The increase academic and social demands of formal schooling, as well as stricter standards for behavior control often illuminate the problems of the child with ADHD. Elementary school teachers typically report that this type of child has difficulty in working independently, completing seat work, and organizing work. Restlessness and distractibility are also very common. These problems are more likely to be observed in repetitive or taxing tasks, or tasks the child perceives to be boring, such as completing worksheets or doing homework.
Inattention is one of the distinguishable traits of ADHD (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). A child suffering from the symptoms of inattention in ADHD would probably lag behind schoolwork, have problems with communicating, and would struggle with cognitive activities like reading and comprehension. APA listed a total of 9 symptoms that are crucial to identifying ADHD in children (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Following is the list of these symptoms and their brief explanation:
For a child to be diagnosed for ADHD, the child or adult has to have the symptoms for 6 or more months before the doctor can diagnose the child or adult.Certain medicines can help people with ADHD by improving their focus and attention and reducing their impulsiveness and hyperactivity. Some of the medications are Adderall, Adderall XR, Concerta, DAytrana, Desoxyn, Dexedrine, Dextrostat, Focalin, Focalin XR, Metadate ER, Metadate CD, Methylin, Ritalin, Ritalin SR, Ritalin LA, Strattera, amd Vyvanse.