Attention deficit hyperactive disorder

In this research report I will write about attention deficit hyperactive disorder, also called ADHD. It is a chronic disease, which means it is long lasting. It is found in children and then it goes on into adulthood. It makes children have a short attention span. When children have it they are usually hyperactive and restless. It is said to be found more in boys then in girls, up to two to four times more often (Dulcan M (October 1997)). It is usually passed down from family members, but no one has ever found an exact reason for people having ADHD yet. As I have mentioned before, the exact reason for the cause of ADHD, and from where you get it is unknown. It is known to be genetic and passed down from family members, but people who dont have any family members who have ADHD are known to have gotten the disorder already. It is said to be set early in the life as the brain is developing (David B. Merrill (February 2010)). Studies have shown that the brains of children that have adhd are different then the brains of children which dont have adhd. ADHD is found in about 3-5% of school children. Usually the children that have ADHD also have at least one other developmental or behavioral problem. There are some theories that state that adhd is an evolutionary disease in which the affected is usually acting like prehistoric humans. They think this because the person keeps wanting to move around and do stuff (like the hunters) instead of sitting and trying to figure complex stuff out over a long period of time. It is also thought that ADHD might be caused by the infected person being exposed to tobacco, alcohol or lead while still inside its mother or during a very early state of the persons life. ADHD has many symptoms. These symptoms are divided into three groups; inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and the combined. The symptoms of the inattentive group are losses of attention, not listening when spoken to directly, looses stuff, is forgetful and being disorganized. The symptoms of the hyperactiveimpulsive group are moving around and being restless in seat, standing up when the person is supposed to be sitting. The affected person is restless and has problems staying still when it is appropriate. The third, combined group is shown as interrupting, blurting out answers and difficulty in awaiting the persons turn. The way to find out if a child has ADHD is to consult with a pediatrician or psychologist about its problems. If there is a suspicion of adhd then the doctor gives a questionnaire to the parents and teacher of the child. There are specific guidelines that doctors or psychologists have to follow when trying to find out whether or not

the child has ADHD. The guidelines are that: the child should have at least 6 attention symptoms or 6 hyperactive/impulsive symptoms, with some symptoms present before age 7, the symptoms must have lasted for at least for 6 months before the diagnosis can be stated and the symptoms must be very severe. The guidelines are so tough because lots of problem children are took to check if they have ADHD while most of them dont even have ADHD. There are a couple of different types of treatment of ADHD. There is the medical treatment, which consists of taking medications for a period of time. There are surprisingly quite a lot of different medications for ADHD even though we dont know the reason for getting it. The other type of treatment of ADHD is called behavioral therapy, which is a mental type of treatment. The best way of treating ADHD is said to be by using both medical and behavioral treatments at the same time. ADHD is a serious disorder which affects a persons learning abilities a lot. It mainly affects a persons learning ability by making them restless which makes them not be able to focus on work for a long time. It also makes people not to be able to follow the guidelines that are given by their teacher, which then results in bad work. Also, when you have ADHD then you want to move around so even during lesson people suddenly just stand up and start disrupting the lesson. Once people who have adhd get older, they slowly learn how to deal with the symptoms of ADHD better. Their nervous system starts becoming more complex and makes the symptoms less severe. The person also makes the symptoms less severe with all the behavioral treatments the person absolves during his life. Even though the symptoms get better over time, once a person gets ADHD, he will never be normal again.

Sources:
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd), David B. Merrill: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002518/ PubMed health (23.5.2011)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (adhd), NIMH: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/attention-deficit-hyperactivitydisorder/complete-index.shtml NIMH (25.5.2011)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_deficit_hyperactivity_disorder#cite_note-12 Wikipedia (25.5.2011)

-Jan Nemcok