Many children who are disruptive in class, impulsive and just can’t sit still are mistaken as troublemakers, but they may have attention deficit hypersensitivity disorder. More boys are diagnosed with ADHD than girls, but it affects 3-5% of school-aged children. ADHD begins early, at the start of brain development. The symptoms are inattention, impulsiveness and hyperactivity. The symptoms can all occur at the same time or the person may just have one of the symptoms. Since there are no physical signs or symptoms to diagnose the child, the child’s behavior is the only method of diagnosis. With this method it can be mistaken for depression or other psychological disorders. ADHD can be managed using medication such as Ritalin and Adderall and antidepressants. There are theories that ADHD is hereditary, but the true cause is unknown.
As stated above, diagnosing ADHD is difficult because it can be mistaken for other problems such as depression, other psychological disorders, or the child may simply be bored. Misdiagnosing children to have ADHD can be harmful due to the medications being prescribed. The medications are meant for children who suffer from ADHD and if they are misdiagnosed could cause more problems when the child may have simply bored in class. Diagnosing children with ADHD has been difficult due to lack of screening methods until recently. It has been discovered that children with ADHD process visual information differently from those that do not have the disorder. Researchers are trying to find specific brain pattern activity in children with ADHD. Researchers watched brain activity in children between the ages of 9 to 15 years old with and without ADHD to see the differences between brain pattern activity. Functional MRI scans are used to observe the different brain patterns. While the children are being observed they are also taking a series of tests. The children are tested for their concentration, visualization, and memory. Children with ADHD were found to have less activity in the region of the brain where other children would have more activity, the regions of the brain where visual attention and working memory are located. Although the research has shown to have some significance between children with and without ADHD, it needs to be confirmed that the brain pattern activity is not due to other psychological disorders. Another setback is that MRI scanning is costly, starting at $3,000 to $5,000 dollars.
There is still much research to be done, but with a more precise method of screening for ADHD it will be much easier to diagnose and treat children. Thus reducing if not eliminating the misdiagnoses of children with other psychological problems and giving them the right treatment and medications.
Radiological Society of North America 97th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting, Chicago, Nov. 27-Dec. 2, 2011.
Xiaobo Li, PhD, assistant professor, radiology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York City.
I work with many students who are in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade. Most of them are often hyper and tend to zone out during class activities. Economic literacy and biology may not be the most interesting topics for 6-8 year olds, but most of them know when to calm down and listen to their teachers. I have one student who is impulsive, cannot sit still, and is always disruptive in class. No matter what I or other staff members do, we cannot get her to relax and focus. After talking to her grandmother, we found out that she was confirmed to have ADHD. However, her parents refuse to put her on any medications. Is there natural way to control ADHD without medications?
ReplyDeleteMy sister was diagnosed with ADHD when she was in elementary school. The symptoms were the usual ones - she was overactive, couldn't focus and stay on topic, and tended to distract the other kids around her as well. Since then she has tried several different medications such as Ritalin and Adderall. She never stayed on either for long however due to the many adverse side effects - large weight gain and what my sister describes as feeling like the entire world around you is slowing down. True, the medications addressed the issues of not being able to focus on one subject and it definitely slowed her down, but they began to cause the opposite problem of slowing her world down a bit too much. She was constantly lethargic and had issues when it came to driving because she wasn't as alert as she used to be. Ritalin increases the brain's ability to inhibit itself and allows the patient to focus on one thing and be less distracted - but in this case it became dangerous for my sister. This is why doctors are beginning to offer other options to parents such as nutritional medicines like Attend and Extress rather than stimulants such as Ritalin.
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