Paying Attention to The Signs and Symptoms of ADHD - And How to Manage Them

All children act up, but for the parents of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, the simplest routines sometimes offer the biggest challenges.

Regardless of parenting or age, children with ADHD are more prone to "act out." Yet for all its perceived symptoms, ADHD is not a result of poor parenting (the pampering colloquially known as "spoiling" the child) or the expression of a willful personality. Nor is it necessarily a sign of a bored intelligence. Instead, the answers lie in the very basic foundations of brain activity.

ADHD is a chronic condition, with no definitive cure yet available. It first manifests itself not long after children begin preschool or kindergarten, though now more adults are diagnosed every year. Nevertheless, parents can take heart: medical research has made giant strides in offering solutions to managing symptoms, so that children can have as happy and successful a childhood as possible.

ADHD is a developmental disorder.

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder is a very common developmental disorder that's believed to be neurological, or related to the nervous system, in nature. It's considered a developmental disorder since its effects are measured against norms established by the general population. For reasons yet unknown, boys are roughly three times more likely to have it than girls.

Research estimates that about five percent of the world's total population has some form of ADHD. Among American school children, that number correlates to around two to three million – roughly one in every classroom of twenty-five to thirty students. Symptoms may fade over time, though some sixty percent of children diagnosed will continue to deal with them as adults.

Diagnosing the three types of ADHD

Prior to 1994, ADHD was known simply as Attention Deficit Disorder, until research compelled an expansion of its definition. At the same time, psychologists broke the disorder down into three separate groupings, each with distinct behavioral patterns:

• An inattentive type will struggle with paying sustained attention or listening to instructions and will avoid tasks requiring mental effort or organization. He is usually distracted, forgetful, and tends to misplace or lose everyday items such as toys and school supplies.
• A child afflicted with the hyperactive-impulsive type is often fidgety and restless. He has trouble waiting for his turn to speak, strains to remain quietly in one place, fidgets or squirms even when standing, and often talks or "babbles" for long periods.
• A combined type displays one or more symptoms from the other two types. The combined type is the most common diagnosis.
  
  A formal diagnoses is made under very strict criteria, using guidelines within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition (DSM-IV). A formal diagnosis is not given lightly, and depends on whether the child has displayed the symptomatic behavior:
  • before the age of seven,
  • to a degree more severe than similarly aged children,
  • for at least six months.
  In addition, the symptoms must negatively affect at least two areas of the child's life and not be connected to stress in the home, such as what commonly results from factors such as relocation or divorce. Hearing and vision problems are also ruled out, as are other more routine stress and depression issues.

The potential physical causes of ADHD are biological, genetic.

The exact cause of ADHD is as yet unknown, though researchers believe the disorder is very likely heterogeneous in nature: several causes probably create a similar pattern of symptoms. While a direct cause is not yet conclusively proven, there is a physical component as well. Some areas of the child's brain are five to ten percent smaller in size and effectiveness in children with ADHD, compared to other children their age.

Scientists also point to a strong likelihood of genetics as an underlying cause. Children with ADHD likely have a relative with the disorder. In particular, one third of all men who experienced ADHD symptoms as a child will bear children with the disorder.

Conventional medical wisdom believes that ADHD symptoms are caused largely through a deficiency or malfunction of the neurotransmitter dopamine in different but equally important sections of the brain. A study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found decreased dopamine levels in the parts of the brain related to cognition and attention. A 2007 research project by the Brookhaven National Laboratory, in conjunction with Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, suggests that the brain's ability to produce dopamine itself may play a factor in forming ADHD.

Finally, research by the National Institute of Health showed slower brain growth in 223 ADHD patients. A delay in physical development of the frontal and temporal cortexes of the brain hindered full brain development by an average of three years. The frontal and temporal cortexes are believed to control the brain's ability to focus on making decisions and concentrating. Similarly, growth of the motor cortex – the part of the brain controlling voluntary motor function – lagged by as much as five years.

In part two of this series we'll look at the causes and treatments of ADHD, how parents can help their children deal with its effects, and what other disorders disabilities typically appear alongside the disorder.

Michael Kabel is senior staff writer for http://www.cornerstorkbabygifts.com. Stop by for parenting and baby resources, unique baby gifts, baby gift baskets and baby shower favors.