When ADHD is mentioned many us of immediately think of a hyperactive boy who is out of control. We also question whether it is just caused bad parenting and a lack of boundaries. We wonder if the child is simply being naughty or lazy.
But ADHD is far more than this narrow view and there are many misconceptions held by parents and educational professionals alike.
The first thing to say is that most people have some elements of ADHD some of the time, but for those with ADHD they are habitual difficulties that have a significant impact on everyday life.
In essence ADHD is a developmental impairment of the brain's Executive Function. This impairment is both the delay in these executive skills developing and that they do not work consistently.
One of the main areas affected is working memory, for this reason there is often overlap with other learning difficulties. Reading, Writing and Maths can all be areas of difficulty for children with ADHD. Working memory also makes it difficult to hold more than one idea in your head and so doing a task that requires more than one process can be challenging. Also tasks were you have to
draw on prior learning and combine it with new information.
Children with ADHD have difficulty with organisation and time management. They have trouble estimating how much time a task may take and prioritising what is important within a task. They often procrastinate and leave things until the last minute. This affects their ability to manage homework tasks or longer projects. They may spend hours on one aspect of a project because they find it interesting but neglect or rush the main part of it because they run out of time.
They have trouble keeping focus and can be distracted by external noises and movement or internal thoughts. They also have difficult switching focus and gaining an overview of the whole situation. They very quick lose interest in a task particularly if it is tedious. The busy classroom environment can be very challenging as it is full of distractions and most tasks require children to focus on several aspects at once.
As with all learning differences there is a spectrum of difficulties from mild to severe. Every individual is affected in a slightly different way. Hyperactivity which is often the first thing people mention when discussing ADHD is only a difficulty for some children.
An important area which is often overlooked is the emotional side of ADHD. People with ADHD have difficulty managing their emotions. Small upsets, frustrations and worries can flood their mind making it impossible to move on or focus.
One of the puzzles of ADHD is that each person has a number of tasks or situations where they have no difficulty in focusing. This makes many teachers and parents think that it is just a matter of willpower. But people with ADHD find that even when they want to do something or know it is important they can struggle to get started. They focus best on something of high interest or when there is fear associated with not completing a task. This is because the brain chemicals needed to make connections are not produced at a high enough level when a task is not interesting. The lack of engagement is not actually a choice as many perceive but is a genuine difficulty.
On the difficult subject of medication, stimulants like Ritalin or Concerta do help about 80% of people with ADHD. However the way each person responds is different. For some it can make a huge difference, for others it may only help a little. While medication helps focus which can put a child in a better place to learn, it is not cure. Issues like working memory difficulties and lack of organisation do not do away. Support is still needed for the weak executive functions.
Many only associate ADHD with children. However it does not disappear in adulthood but the way it shows itself is different at different ages. Sometimes ADHD is noticed later in high school or even university when the scaffolding parents and teachers have provided gets taken away.
For more information take a look at www.BrownADHDClinic.com
Thomas Brown PhD is very knowledge and has written many books including Smart but Stuck
