Dealing With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

What us ADHD Disorder? ADHD is an acronym that stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This condition was formerly known as the attention deficit disorder, though the name was modified when it was noted that the affected people were also prone to severe hyperactivity.

ADHD commonly manifests in young children, though most of them carry the traits over into adulthood as well. ADHD is also referred to by some people as the "single-synapse" or the "short attention span" problem.
The reasons for this is because ADHD's main characteristics are a marked inability to concentrate on any one thing for very long, accompanied by extremely impulsive behavior where the person doesn't stop to think at all when they get an idea or react to a situation.

One of the most common indicators in a young child of ADHD is that they get bored easily. ADHD actually causes a decrease in the mind's capacity to focus on a single act for very long, so anything repetitive or requiring attention will tax the person's mental endurance far more than it would for a normal person. Kids who avoid homework because it's "boring" or don't want to do chores for the same reason often have ADHD.

ADHD also shows up in what parents call the "My child is a living ball of yippee" problem. It has other similar names, most of which are unprintable in polite company, but I'm sure you get the point. Afflicted children constantly fidget, never stop moving, run/climb/crawl/jump everywhere, seem to have boundless energy and undirected curiosity about anything and everything, and are almost always getting into trouble as a result. This is often accompanied by a total lack of discipline and self-control.

While the above factors are actually present in almost every child ever born in the history of the planet, ADHD is only applicable IF the child doesn't "grow out" of the symptoms. This is the reason why ADHD is referred to as a deficiency-type of disorder; because, while children will display these symptoms early on and then mature later in life, learning self-discipline and focus, ADHD-afflicted children will develop much slower in their abilities to mentally focus and think logically. If your child still retains the same symptoms well after everyone else his or her age has "outgrown" it, then it usually indicates ADHD.

ADHD is present in adults as well, though because this disorder doesn't completely stunt a persons mental development, only slows it in certain areas, all adults will have the same symptoms but in a lesser and more controllable fashion. ADHD is classified as an incurable psychological disorder, though modern methods of therapy are available to help ADHD afflicted children (and their parents!) cope with the effects.

The therapy sessions for the kids are geared towards teaching them to take the boundless energy that often accompanies ADHD and redirect it in a more constructive fashion. The parental therapy sessions teach the parents how to properly address the ADHD problem and teach their kids discipline. The therapy also helps the parents avoid the nervous breakdowns that usually accompany raising a kid with ADHD.

ADHD, is generally regarded as a relatively minor and non-fatal disorder (except maybe for cases when parents want to kill their kids out of sheer frustration and annoyance). The fact of the matter is, any child afflicted with ADHD will eventually learn enough self control to overcome the biggest of it's effects.

However, even in adulthood these people will still retain some semblance of ADHD, manifesting in various ways like absent-mindedness, fickleness, and impulsive behavior. It has also been shown in studies that the traits of ADHD that carry over into adulthood make these same adults more prone than their peers to more serious psychological afflictions like manic-depression or melancholia.

Lastly, on a perverse note, ADHD has been proven to be 100% hereditary. This basically proves the old lines that your parents used to tell you when you were younger, that "Some day, your children will put you through what I'm going through". ADHD can also be triggered in a child whose parents don't have ADHD by various environmental influences like verbal abuse or a mother's ingestion of drugs or alcohol while pregnant.

What are the symptoms of ADHD? ADHD, or the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a partially neurological, partially psychological problem that crops up in some kids. It's genetically hereditary, but can also be triggered by various social and environmental influences. What ADHD basically does is that the parts of a child's mind and nervous system that deal with control and focus suffer from a slower growth rate than normal, meaning children afflicted by it will learn self control and discipline more slowly than their peers. This fact usually leads to it's own sets of problems that manifest as symptoms you can watch for to see if your child has ADHD. These are given below in terms that any parent will understand.

The perpetual yippee factor; ADHD afflicted kids will have boundless energy, screaming and laughing at the top of their lungs and generally being hyperactive pests that skitter around all over the place in an ecstatic state of whoopee. Trying to get them to sit still for more than a minute will lead to their fussing and fidgeting.

I'm bored mom! - There are two things that an ADHD afflicted kid will be unable to do. One, they will be unable to focus on or pay attention to anything for more than a few minutes at a time, and forget things that you tell them mere minutes after you say it. Two, they will avoid repetitive and monotonous acts (like schoolwork, taking a bath, or mowing the lawn) like the plague.

The plan? What's that? - Kids with ADHD have a very hard time focusing on anything, which also leads to difficulty in arranging their thoughts in a controlled and logical fashion. Trying to teach them anything to do with organization, planning, and forethought is a trial in extreme patience.