ADHD means
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
Parents and teachers should
be aware of how to deal with inattentive, hyperactive and impulsive kids.
ADHD is actually the
disorder of brain and behaviour and affects 3-5% of children. The symptoms
start before seven years of age. If seen globally the children affected by ADHD
is 5 %. ADHD, is one of the most common mental disorders in children.
Children who have ADHD find it hard to be around people, at home, school
and in relationships with peers. If the disorder is not treated, the disorder
might have long term effects in childhood and adolescence.
The symptoms of ADHD are
as follows:
Impulsiveness:
Doing things without
thinking about the result, doing one task and jumping to the other in the next
second, disorganization, interrupting when other people are talking.
Hyperactivity:
Restlessness, not being
able to sit still, fidgeting continously, squirming, climbing and restless
sleep.
Inattention:
Easily distracted, day
dreaming, incomplete tasks, difficulty in listening.
Subtypes of ADHD:
Predominantly
hyperactive-impulsive:
Most symptoms (six or more) are in the
hyperactivity-impulsivity categories.
Fewer inattention symptoms
are present, but they are present.
Predominantly
inattentive:
The majority of symptoms
(six or more) are in the inattention category and fewer than six symptoms of
hyperactivity-impulsivity are present, and hyper activity-impulsivity might
still be present. Children like these have less likely to have difficulties
getting along with other people. They just sit quietly and do not pay attention
to what the others are doing. So, it is possible that a child who has ADHD
might be neglected and the teachers might not notice the ADHD symptoms.
Combined
hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive:
Six or more symptoms of
inattention and six or more symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity are
present.
Most children have the
combined type of ADHD
Causes:
There are no special causes
of ADHD. However, there are some factors that lead to ADHD. These include
genetics, diet, social and physical environments.
Genetic factors:
Studies have shown that
ADHD is very much heritable and genetics are a factor in about 75% of ADHD
cases. Hyperactivity is also said to be a genetic condition but there are other
causes which have an affect. A large majority of ADHD cases arise from a
combination of various genes, which also affects a chemical in the brain called
dopamine. ADHD might not really be a gentic disease and should be seen as a
complex interaction among genetic and environmental factors.
Environmental factors:
Environmental factors that
lead to ADHD include alcohol and tobacco smoke exposure when a women is
pregnant. Complications during the time-period of pregnancy and birth might
also contribute to the ADHD problems.
Diet
Additives
According to studies,
dietary elimination of artificial food coloring and preservatives benefit
children with sugar regulation. It is also known that sugar intake does not
contribute to the symptoms diagnosed in children with ADHD.
Omega-3 supplement
Omega-3 supplement is
another treatment for ADHD but there have been some conflicts about the
supplement.
Social factors
Social factors alone are
not a cause of ADHD. Studies have shown that if children are not given much
attention by their caretakers, it might have a profound effect on the
self-regulatory abilities. It was also seen that the children living in the
foster homes had symptoms that were closely related with ADHD. These also
included those children who were emotionally abused and had gone through
violence.
Head injury
Another cause of ADHD might
also be the head injuries, but some evidence has shown that head injuries might
not really be the cause of ADHD in the patients observed.
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