ADD and ADHD Statistics

According to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1.6 million elementary school-aged children have been diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In a national survey, the parents of 7 percent of children 6-11 years of age reported ever being told by a doctor or health professional that their child had ADHD.

The report, "Prevalence of Attention Deficit Disorder and Learning Disability," based on 1997-98 data from CDCs National Health Interview Survey, shows that about one-half of children diagnosed with ADHD have also been identified as having a learning disability.

"This report serves as a snapshot of a condition that has important consequences for the development of school-age children," said David Fleming M.D., Acting CDC Director. "However, much more needs to be learned about ADHD and about the spectrum of impairments associated with ADHD."

The report details many of the characteristics of children with ADHD, learning disability, and children with both conditions. Among children with a diagnosis of only ADHD, boys were nearly three times as likely as girls to have this diagnosis. White non-Hispanic children were more than twice as likely as Hispanic and black non-Hispanic children to report a diagnosis of ADHD.

In addition, access to health care plays an important role in the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD. Children with health insurance coverage were more often reported to have a diagnosis of ADHD than children without health insurance coverage.

The study shows that children with ADHD use more health care services than children without this diagnosis. Children with ADHD were more likely to have contact with a mental health professional and to have frequent health care visits.

"There has been concern in some circles that ADHD has been over-diagnosed among those with regular access to health care," said Fleming. "And there is equal concern that the problem may be under-diagnosed among those who have limited or no access to care. It’s clearly important to accurately identify children with ADHD and ensure that they have appropriate health care."


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There are many children experiencing ADHD, parents should not worry if their children has it. Acceptance is the key, your child needs you and they need your support, time, patience, love and understanding.

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Premature babies face double ADHD risk

Premature babies face more than twice the risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared with term babies of normal birth weight, an analysis of various scientific studies shows.

The analysis, involving more than 1500 cases (children with ADHD) and 1700 controls (children without ADHD), evaluated after their fifth birthday, also showed that low cognitive test scores [which assess the ability to think, judge and learn] were linked directly to length of gestation and low birth weight (Journal of the American Medical Association, 2002; 288: 728-37).

Commenting on the study, Adelaide paediatrician Dr Michael Rice said much of the information was known, and acted on, but the results of the analysis underlined the importance of referring to a specialist any infants who were not progressing satisfactorily.

'Careful follow-up of the developmental progress of preterm, low birth weight infants is just as important as ensuring their immunisations are undertaken,' Dr Rice said.

Most perinatal units had good follow-up for low birth weight infants, but parents often dropped out and it could be necessary to help them re-establish links with the original follow-up programme.

Dr Rice, head of the AMA's new Advisory Committee on Child and Youth Health, said the study underlined the importance to public health of preventing preterm delivery.

The meta-analysis found significantly lower cognitive scores among children born preterm compared with controls.

The researchers found that children born preterm showed increases in externalising or internalising behaviours in 13 out of 16 studies.

Ten out of 15 studies that assessed children for ADHD found a significantly higher prevalence of attention problems in those who were born preterm, giving them a 2.64-fold increased relative risk of developing ADHD.


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Pregnancy is a very delicate situation. Every mother should make sure that they have enough nutrition and a healthy living in able to give birth to a healthy baby. Also ensure that your premature baby has a complete immunizations.

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ADHD Diets (Continuation..)

Making an ADHD Diet Even More Effective

Don't forget about other steps to help with ADHD. These include the following:

* Regularly take any medication that has been prescribed for ADHD.
* Get enough sleep: at least seven to eight hours each night.
* Get regular exercise: at least 20 to 30 minutes most days of the week.
* Learn deep-breathing techniques to help with anxiety and anger.
* Relaxation training and meditation can help increase focus and concentration as well as reduce distractibility.

Most of all, the more you know about your own ADHD and your overall health, the better you can assess which treatments -- including dietary changes --might help. Over time, you can determine whether specific foods, additives, or supplements make ADHD symptoms better -- or worse.


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It's best to give more nutritional foods for your children. It will make them grow healthy and less prone to other sickness especially for your children with ADHD.

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ADHD Diets (Continuation..)

Nutritional Supplements and ADHD

Amen and Sogn suggest that all people with ADHD should take a 100% vitamin and mineral supplement each day. Many children, teens, and adults don't eat balanced diets, especially when rushing around trying to make it through the day's activities.

ADHD symptoms -- and their causes -- vary from person to person. In addition, some of these supplements can make ADHD symptoms worse in some people. So work with your doctor closely before considering any additional supplements.
Elimination Diets and ADHD

In elimination diets, you identify a particular food or ingredient you think might be causing ADHD symptoms. Then you stop eating anything containing that substance. If the symptoms subside, then you continue avoiding the substance.

Can eliminating foods from your diet improve ADHD symptoms? Research in all these areas is ongoing and results are not clear-cut. Here are some common areas of concern and what the experts recommend.

Food allergies or additives

Starting in 1975, Benjamin Feingold proposed that artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives might lead to hyperactivity in some children. Since his initial theory, researchers and child behavior experts have hotly debated this issue. A recent study showed that some food coloring and one preservative did increase hyperactivity in some children. However, effects varied according to age and additive

Based on this and other recent studies, the American Academy of Pediatrics now agrees that eliminating preservatives and food colorings from the diet is a reasonable option for children with ADHD. Amen recommends that anyone with ADHD avoid these substances:

* Artificial colors, especially red and yellow
* Food additives such as aspartame, MSG (monosodium glutamate), and nitrites

Sugar and ADHD

Some children do become hyperactive after eating candy or other sugary foods. No evidence indicates, however, that this is a cause of ADHD. For best overall nutrition, sugary foods should be a small part of anyone's diet, though there is probably not much harm for a child or adult with ADHD to try eliminating sugary foods to see if symptoms improve.

Caffeine and ADHD

Some studies have shown that small amounts of caffeine may help with some ADHD symptoms in children. However, the side effects of caffeine may outweigh any potential benefit. Most ADHD experts recommend avoiding caffeine.
Creating Your Own ADHD Diet

So how do you put together an ADHD diet for yourself or your child? The first step is to be sure to talk with the doctor who is responsible for treating your ADHD. Why? Here are three good reasons:

1. Your doctor is the person best qualified to judge whether the changes you wish to make might be effective for you. Your doctor may request special tests that can help determine how the brain functions, so that together you can decide which diet changes might help the most.

2. Your doctor can help you monitor the changes to your diet to make sure they really help.

3. Some nutritional supplements are available only through a doctor's prescription. Dosages of all supplements should be carefully determined and monitored.

Once your doctor is on board, then you're ready to take your next step. Whether you are changing your food, adding supplements, or eliminating foods from your diet, here are some tips to help make your changes successful:

* Make changes slowly -- usually one at a time. That way you can test whether the change helped or not.
* Keep a diary of your changes and the effects, much like you would for taking ADHD medication. Include what you changed, when you did it, and the effects -- both positive and negative -- you noticed.
* Show the diary to your doctor at each visit.

Continuation on my next post..


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Parents should be aware on the foods that their children are eating. They should know what foods can contibute more symptoms for their children with ADHD.

Source of ADHD in Children

ADHD Diets

What are ADHD diets? Can they help you or your child? Are there foods you should eat -- and foods to avoid? This article answers questions about ADHD diets, including elimination diets, supplements, and foods that may help improve ADHD symptoms.
Can a Diet Help ADHD?

ADHD (also called attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is a health condition that includes two components:

* An inability to pay attention
* Trouble focusing on tasks

It's often difficult for someone with ADHD to remain still. Many people with ADHD also do things impulsively -- acting before thinking. Other symptoms linked with ADHD include feeling anxious or depressed, having negative thoughts, and having trouble sleeping. ADHD affects children, teens, and adults.

There is no "cure" for ADHD. However, medication and behavioral therapy are prescribed for many people with ADHD. But what about ADHD diets? Can they help too?
What Is an ADHD diet?

Ideally, an ADHD diet would help the brain work better and lessen symptoms of the disorder, such as restlessness or lack of focus. A diet may include the foods you eat and any nutritional supplements you may take. You may hear ADHD diets described in the following ways:

Overall Nutrition for ADHD: This includes the food you eat daily. How can your overall nutrition help or hurt ADHD? The assumption is that some foods you eat may make ADHD symptoms better or worse. You may also be lacking some foods that could help make symptoms better.

Supplementation Diets for ADHD: This includes adding vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients to make up for deficiencies in your diet that may contribute to ADHD symptoms. The assumption is that nutritional component that your body needs is lacking from your diet.

Elimination Diets for ADHD: This involves removing foods or ingredients that are suspected of contributing to ADHD symptoms. The assumption is that you are eating something unhealthy that causes ADHD symptoms or makes them worse.
Overall Nutrition and ADHD

Scientific research on ADHD diets is limited and results are mixed. Many health experts, however, do believe that diet may play a role in relieving ADHD symptoms. WebMD's ADHD expert Richard Sogn, MD, points out that whatever is good for the brain is likely to be good for ADHD. Brain researcher and ADHD expert Daniel Amen, MD, recommends these ADHD diet suggestions.

* Eat a high-protein diet, including beans, cheese, eggs, meat, and nuts. Add protein foods in the morning and for after-school snacks, to improve concentration and possibly increase the time ADHD medications work.
* Eat fewer simple carbohydrates, such as candy, corn syrup, honey, sugar, products made from white flour, white rice, and potatoes without the skins.
* Eat more complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables and some fruits (including oranges, tangerines, pears, grapefruit, apples, and kiwi). Eating complex carbs at night may aid sleep.
* Eat more Omega-3 fatty acids, such as those found in tuna, salmon, other cold-water white fish, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and olive and canola oil. Omega-3 fatty acids are also available in supplement form.

Continuation on my next post..


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Diet can help ADHD children's brain work better and can lessen their symptoms. Parents should know what healthy foods are best for their children in able to avoid foods that contribute more symptoms for your children with ADHD.

Source of ADHD in Children

Preschool-Age ADHD Children: Too Young for a Diagnosis?

Is a diagnosis or treatment possible for ADHD children under 5? A new study sheds light on attention deficit in preschoolers.

Mary K., of Hillside, New Jersey, suspected that her son, Brandon, should be diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD ADHD). At home, life was difficult -- as it is for many families with ADHD children. “Brandon drew on the walls and didn’t listen to anything we said. He threw pictures or silverware across the room when he was frustrated, which was all the time. We lived and died by Brandon’s moods. If he was in a good mood, everyone in the house was in a good mood, and vice versa. I had a three-year-old running my household,” says Mary.

At first, Mary and her husband ascribed Brandon’s high activity level to 'boys being boys'. But when the preschool he attended asked the three-year-old to leave because of concerns about his aggressive and impulsive behaviors, she began to suspect an ADHD diagnosis was needed.
An elementary school disorder?

After Brandon was asked to leave a second preschool — he’d chased a girl around the playground with a plastic knife, saying he would “cut her up” — Mary booked an appointment with her son’s pediatrician to ask about diagnosing the preschooler with attention deficit disorder. Her doctor’s response, however, was that Brandon was much too young for an ADHD diagnosis. And this response is one that parents of children with ADHD across the country in similar circumstances can expect to encounter. Why?

Attention deficit disorder has traditionally been viewed as a disorder of elementary school children. While there are hundreds of scientific studies generating a wealth of data for diagnosing and treating ADHD in school-age children, there are few equivalent studies about diagnosing and treating preschoolers with ADHD. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) criteria used to diagnose ADHD include symptoms such as, “out of seat during school,” “does not follow through on instructions,” “avoids tasks with sustained mental effort,” and “fidgety and restless while sitting”—describing behaviors that may be developmentally appropriate for some preschoolers.
Diagnosing ADHD in preschoolers

Is it possible, then, to diagnose children with attention deficit disorder when impulsivity, opposition, and extreme activity are normal preschool behaviors? Yes, but the tipping point in diagnosis is usually a matter of degree. “Children with ADHD are much more extreme than the average three-year-old,” says Alan Rosenblatt, M.D., a specialist in neurodevelopmental pediatrics. “It’s not just that a child with ADD can’t sit still. It’s that he can’t focus on any activity, even one that’s pleasurable, for any length of time.”

Larry Silver, M.D., a psychiatrist at Georgetown University School of Medicine, says that an experienced teacher, one with a baseline of appropriate three-year-old behavior, can be a tremendous help. “You have to look at whether or not the behaviors are consistent in more than one environment,” he notes.

But experts caution that, even with “red flags,” early diagnosis of ADHD can be difficult. “You have to delve deep into the root of certain behaviors,” says Silver. “A child might have separation anxiety, his fine motor skills or sensory problems could be making it hard for him to behave, or it could be evolving Pervasive Developmental Disorder,” he says.

Nonetheless, Laurence Greenhill, M.D., of Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute, points to two behavioral patterns that often predict ADHD diagnosis later in life. The first, preschool expulsion, is usually caused by aggressive behavior, refusal to participate in school activities, and failure to respect other children’s property or boundaries. The second, peer rejection, is one that parents can easily identify. Children with extreme behaviors are avoided by their classmates, shunned on the playground. Other children are “busy” whenever parents try to arrange playdates.

In these extreme cases, parents should take their preschooler to a pediatrician or a child psychiatrist. Diagnosis of ADHD should involve a thorough medical and developmental history, observation of social and emotional circumstances at home, and feedback from teachers and health professionals who have contact with the child. In many cases, neuropsychological testing may be needed to rule out conditions whose symptoms might overlap with ADHD, including anxiety disorder, language-processing disorders, oppositional-defiant disorders, and sensory integration problems.
Treatment options

If your preschool child is diagnosed with ADHD, what is the next step? Both the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry advise that ADHD treatment in children proceed according to the severity of the symptoms. For children who play well with others and who have healthy self-esteem, Carol Brady, Ph.D., a child psychologist in Houston, says that environmental changes can help. “A smaller classroom, with less stimulation, and a strong routine often make a tremendous difference in improving ADHD symptoms in preschoolers.”

In most cases, parent effectiveness training or behavior therapy is the next course of action (see sidebar, at left, The Preschool ADHD Treatment Study (PATS)). There is increasing evidence that treating ADHD symptoms in preschoolers can be extremely effective, even for children with a high degree of impairment. But what if your child with ADHD doesn’t respond to behavioral interventions? Is ADHD medication the answer? Methylphenidate (brand names include Ritalin and Concerta) is the most commonly prescribed medication to treat children diagnosed with ADHD, but it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in children younger than six.

The Preschool ADHD Treatment Study, or PATS, conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is the first long-term study designed to evaluate the effectiveness of treating preschoolers with ADHD with behavioral therapy, and then, in some cases, methylphenidate. In the first stage, the children (303 preschoolers with severe ADHD, between the ages of three and five) and their parents participated in a 10-week behavioral therapy course. For one third of the children, ADHD symptoms improved so dramatically with behavior therapy alone that they did not progress to the ADHD medication phase of the study.

Preliminary data were released in late 2006. “PATS provides us with the best information to date about treating very young children diagnosed with ADHD,” says NIMH director Thomas R. Insel, M.D. “The results show that preschoolers may benefit from low doses of medication, when closely monitored.”


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ADHD in preschooler can easily be noticed because they are much more hyperactive than other three year old children. Parents, if you noticed that your child is different or extremely active that other children his age, consult your pediatrician.

Source of ADHD in Children

Helping children with ADHD make friends

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can affect a child in many different ways. Most people know that ADHD can cause children to struggle with things like sitting still, being quiet, paying attention, and staying organized. But ADHD also can make it hard for children to make friends.

In a classroom of 30 children, it is likely that at least 2 students are affected by ADHD. Exactly how ADHD adds to social problems is not understood fully, but children with ADHD often have trouble with simple social interactions and struggle to follow social cues. Children with ADHD are half as likely to have many good friends and are less likely to play with a group of friends, compared to children without ADHD.

Having good friends adds to children's happiness and impacts their mental health and development. In some cases, children with peer problems may be at higher risk for anxiety, behavioral and mood disorders, substance abuse, and delinquency as teenagers.

Having ADHD does not mean children always have poor relationships with their peers. Parents and caring adults often can help children with ADHD to make friends. Here are a few ways to help:

* Keep in regular contact with the adults who are involved in the lives of children with ADHD. These adults include teachers, school counselors, after-school activity leaders, health care providers, and faith leaders. Keep them informed about your child's treatments and, when possible, ask them to help your child improve his peer relationships.

For example, ask the adult leaders to make sure that they avoid belittling him in front of his peers. If the adult in charge belittles the child, other children may think it's okay for them to belittle the child as well.

* Involve your child in activities with her peers. Many children with ADHD do well with structure in their daily routines, so look for a class or program that interests your child and that meets consistently. Find your child's interest and build on it! Many children with ADHD also do better in small groups of people rather than large groups.

For example, an art class of 8 students that meets every Wednesday at 3 p.m. may suit a child with ADHD better than a soccer team of 20 people that practices on both Tuesday at 6 p.m. and Friday at 3 p.m. and holds games on random weekends. Find an activity the child really likes and support her efforts.

* Coach your child about the social settings he might face, and help him come up with ideas about what to do. For example, if he finds himself sitting alone on the bus, help him practice asking, "May I sit here?" Even though it may feel uncomfortable, roleplay these scenes so that your child starts to feel more confident in social settings. Also talk about how to handle positive and negative outcomes. It's not easy to prepare your child to respond to rejection, but learning to cope when things don't go his way is an important social skill.

* Help build your child's self-esteem. It's easy for kids with ADHD to feel like they're always in trouble and that no one-not even Mom or Dad-likes them. Let your child know that-in addition to loving her-you like her. That will help her feel likeable and may make it easier to share her wonderful traits with others.

* Look for a social skills group geared toward children with ADHD. These classes are being offered in more and more communities, and they can help your child learn how to act in social settings.

Regular, everyday activities can be challenging for children with ADHD-and this includes making friends. Parents often want children with ADHD to direct their energy toward getting good grades and staying out of trouble, but helping kids with ADHD make friends is important, too. With help from their parents and other caring adults, children with ADHD can build lasting friendships, and in doing so, they will build their own health and happiness.



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Children with ADHD often have difficulties in social relationship. Parents should help their children to build a good relationship to the people around them like their teachers, health care providers and their peers.

Source of ADHD in Children

School Supplies for ADHD Children

Kids with ADHD can really benefit from the right school supplies. Color, simple designs, labels can make it easier to be organized and stay focused.

Children who have ADHD have an unusually hard time staying organized, especially at school. One easy way to help a disorganized, distractible child is to choose school supplies wisely. Little things can help prevent chaos!

Here are some easy strategies that will make a difference.

Buy Extra Supplies

Every parent gets a school supply list. However, the quantities of pencils, crayons, etc. that are specified are only the minimum quantity. It's a sure bet that the child who has ADHD will lose a few of his supplies during the year. Rather than punishing the child for a problem he can't control, parents can buy duplicates of items for later use. The very best time to buy extras is at the beginning of the school year, when stores typically run deep discounts on supplies as a marketing tool.

Colors Help Organization

One way to help a disorganized child is with color. The child can choose the same color spiral notebook and folder for each subject. Even better, when the child gets his textbooks, he or she also can decorate the spine of the book with a piece of colored duct tape to correspond with the spiral and folder. For example, if social studies is "red," then the folder, spiral notebook and textbook should all be marked with red. Or, if stretchy book covers are preferred, they should be bought in the designated color for the subject. This way, if a child has social studies homework, he can grab everything red to take home, without too much searching for the correct materials.

Extra Books Save Stress

Children with ADHD have an usually hard time remembering to take their schoolbooks home for homework. Many ADHD experts advise parents to ask for an extra set of schoolbooks, one to keep at school and one to keep at home. This extra set can be part of an Individualized Education Plan or a 504 plan, which provide extra academic and/or social supports to children with special needs.

Keep Supplies Simple

Parents who have children with attention issues are often advised to help their child reduce visual clutter in the environment, because clutter can add to distractibility. Choosing pencils, holders, bags, etc. with plain designs will provide less visual clutter in the locker and desk.

Children with ADHD typically struggle to keep track of anything and everything. One way to make it easier is to make the supplies easier to find. While opaque decorated containers for pencils and such can be attractive, a child will likely do better using see-through containers. Keeping things in plain view eliminates having to take the mental step of remembering what supply is in which bag.
Labels Help Organization

There's a reason that many teachers are fiends for labels in the classroom: It makes organization easier. The same applies for any child, particularly one who has extra trouble keeping supplies together. Even an older child will benefit from having all school supplies clearly marked. Parents or the child can label everything with an indelible marker. Other options: A low- cost labeling machine to make labels for supplies or the purchase of a variety of preprinted, brightly colored labels.

While a child who has Attention Deficit Disorder will have extra organization problems in school, there are many strategies that can help him cope. Among the most simple is to buy school supplies with care, taking advantage of color, product design and labels that will help the child keep things in order.



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Parents should make sure that they give the needs of their children with ADHD. They should be given simple designs because these children are easily distracted.

Source of ADHD in Children

Is ADHD Over Diagnosed?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is one of the most diagnosed childhood disorders (Barkley, 2005). The DSM-IV TR estimates that 3-7% as school age children meets the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD, but there is concern that ADHD is over diagnosed. In order to definitively assert that ADHD is over diagnosed, it must be shown that the number of false positives, which is the number of children inappropriately diagnosed with ADHD, must significantly exceed the number of false negatives, which is the number of children who are not diagnosed or identified who actually have ADHD (Sciutto & Eisenberg, 2007).

The media has portrayed ADHD as a disorder which is over diagnosed. Some have suggested that ADHD is the diagnosis of today and that parents actually desire this diagnosis for their children rather than other disorders (Bogas, 1997). These types of claims make light of a serious issue. To ascertain whether ADHD is over diagnosed is a very complex issue and one that should never be taken lightly. Although there is a general agreement among the scientific community that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a valid diagnosis, there is a great deal of uncertainty in regards to the diagnostic terminology of ADHD.

The abnormal ADHD behaviors, which include hyperactivity, attentiveness, and impulsiveness, are not easily distinguished from normal temperament variations. There is also concern that the current diagnostic system fails to consider the contributory role that environment plays on a child's behavior and instead purports that the problem is all inside the child. The questionnaires that are commonly used in order to diagnose ADHD are very impressionistic and subjective (Jensen & Cooper, 2002).



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Parents should make sure that the diagnosis of ADHD in your children should be positively correct. You can have second opinion to make sure if your child really have ADHD.

Source of ADHD in Children

Treatment for ADHD

Treatments for ADHD includes medications, education and training. Some reccomendations by doctors include stimulant medications and behavioral theraphy are needed and safe treatments for ADHD. Children should have a regular check up to monitor their respond in the treatments. Most often, children who do not respond in treatments are those who are not continuously monitored or stopped their medications and behavioral theraphy. Children should be given appropriate treatments and medications to decrease disruptive behaviors, improve their performance in school, relationship to other people, to improve their self esteem and enhance the abilities they have.

Educating children is essential to treat ADHD. It will bring out the best in your children and will help them interact more successfully with others. Going to shcool is an important treatment for ADHD in children. They ensure assistance and support the children to be successful in school. Educational specialist can help them overcome challenges in shool, they can teach your children to be more focused and study more effectively.

Training is also important. Correcting your children in their wrong doings will help them improve their social interactions with other people and understand what is right from wrong.

You can consult your doctor for a treatment plan for your children.There are many effective treatments available and skilled professionals can help your children to improve their ability to pay attention, control impulsive behavior and improve their social skills.

Aside from those skilled professionals, parents and the whole family can help to treat this disorder in children. Give them your continuous support, undivided time, love and encouragement. Teach them good values and be patient explaining to let them understand the things surrounding them.

Tips for parents with children who have ADHD

The most important thing parents can do for their child with ADHD disorder is their undivided time, love and suppot. These children needs a constant monitoring because of their unusual hyperactivity, they are very spontaneous, impulsive and playful. It will take a lot of your patience,it would definitely be tiring and frustrating sometimes. Remember that you are they're strength, they rely on you, so always be positive and make sure that your children feels your prescence and love.

Encourage your children and help them enhance the abilities they have. Teach them how to use their abilities and uniqueness they possess. Parents have a big role in bringing out the best in their children, especially to those children who have ADHD because they are naturally intelligent and inventive.

Parents should correct every wrong doings of their children, they should have a constant communication and reward system would also be effective in every good behavior the children showed. They need more of your time, attention, love, encouragement, support and patience.

Positive effects of ADHD in children

Though ADHD is a disorder in children, it also have some positive traits associated to children with ADHD disorder. Here are the following traits:

1. Creativity - Children with ADHD are very creative and imaginative. They have many ideas which results to be artistic and inventive. They also have the ability to notice what others don't.

2. Flexibility - Children with ADHD are open to try new things. They are very curious in everything they see and they are open to different ideas.

3. Enthusiasm and spontaneity - Children with ADHD are very lively and over-active. They always try new things that looks fun to them.

4. Energy and drive - Though these children are easily distracted, they do their best to be successful in whatever they do when they are well motivated.

These children may have disorder but they are gifted, very artistic and intelligent in a lot of things. ADHD is not a hindrance for a child to be successful and to fulfill their dreams, it also have the positive traits which most children have.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

What is attention deficit hyperactivity disorder?

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood disorders and can continue through adolescence and adulthood. Symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior, and hyperactivity (over-activity).

ADHD has three subtypes:1

* Predominantly hyperactive-impulsive
o Most symptoms (six or more) are in the hyperactivity-impulsivity categories.
o Fewer than six symptoms of inattention are present, although inattention may still be present to some degree.

* Predominantly inattentive
o The majority of symptoms (six or more) are in the inattention category and fewer than six symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity are present, although hyperactivity-impulsivity may still be present to some degree.

o Children with this subtype are less likely to act out or have difficulties getting along with other children. They may sit quietly, but they are not paying attention to what they are doing. Therefore, the child may be overlooked, and parents and teachers may not notice that he or she has ADHD.

* Combined hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive
o Six or more symptoms of inattention and six or more symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity are present.
o Most children have the combined type of ADHD.

Treatments can relieve many of the disorder's symptoms, but there is no cure. With treatment, most people with ADHD can be successful in school and lead productive lives. Researchers are developing more effective treatments and interventions, and using new tools such as brain imaging, to better understand ADHD and to find more effective ways to treat and prevent it.

What are the symptoms of ADHD in children?

Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are the key behaviors of ADHD. It is normal for all children to be inattentive, hyperactive, or impulsive sometimes, but for children with ADHD, these behaviors are more severe and occur more often. To be diagnosed with the disorder, a child must have symptoms for 6 or more months and to a degree that is greater than other children of the same age.
Children who have symptoms of inattention may:

* Be easily distracted, miss details, forget things, and frequently switch from one activity to another
* Have difficulty focusing on one thing
* Become bored with a task after only a few minutes, unless they are doing something enjoyable
* Have difficulty focusing attention on organizing and completing a task or learning something new
* Have trouble completing or turning in homework assignments, often losing things (e.g., pencils, toys, assignments) needed to complete tasks or activities
* Not seem to listen when spoken to
* Daydream, become easily confused, and move slowly
* Have difficulty processing information as quickly and accurately as others
* Struggle to follow instructions.

Children who have symptoms of hyperactivity may:

* Fidget and squirm in their seats
* Talk nonstop
* Dash around, touching or playing with anything and everything in sight
* Have trouble sitting still during dinner, school, and story time
* Be constantly in motion
* Have difficulty doing quiet tasks or activities.

Children who have symptoms of impulsivity may:

* Be very impatient
* Blurt out inappropriate comments, show their emotions without restraint, and act without regard for consequences
* Have difficulty waiting for things they want or waiting their turns in games
* Often interrupt conversations or others' activities.


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ADHD is common in children, parents should pay more attention in their child with this disorder. Treatments for ADHD includes medications, education and training. Parents should be more patient in their children with this disorder because they are very hyperactive, distracted and inattentive.

Source of ADHD Disorder in Children