this discussion.
.....It’s generally stated that 4 to 5 % of kids have ADHD, with this condition being diagnosed much more often in boys than girls, although that’s changing rapidly because diagnosing ADHD without the hyperactivity component (see below), that is, focusing mostly on a child’s inability to pay “appropriate” attention, is quickly becoming a growth industry among girls and women, so that lots and lots of daydreaming girls are now being diagnosed with a variant of ADHD (sometimes referred to as ADD), a trend that will only quicken in the foreseeable future, I’m sure).
.....As for adults, a recent review claimed that 50 to 80 % of ADHD cases persist into adulthood, meaning that between 4-5 % of all adults also suffer from ADHD, although most adults apparently don’t know they do.
.....No one knows what causes ADHD, of course, although experts are always quick to emphasize that it has nothing to do with “bad parenting”. Among other potential contributing factors, the one that’s received most attention is diet, especially the effect of “sugar”, and although I’m certain that eating lots of “crap” (not just sugar but also fast foods, prepared foods, salt, additives, corn syrups, trans fats, and tons of other garbage that kids tend to be placated with) can’t possibly be good for a child, I’m also skeptical that diet alone can explain much errant behaviour.
.....The cardinal signs of ADHD are hyperactivity, impulsivity, and attention deficit. Inattention seems the most straightforward sign to define, but when you think about it, lots of variables go into a child’s ability to pay attention and adults’ assessment of that symptom, such as
• how challenging a particular task is
• how much interest a kid has in that task (I hated art
and woodwork, for example - and if you ever saw any
pictures I tried to draw of animals or any models I
tried to make, you’d instantly know why –so I was
extremely restless during those classes, but hey! I
loved history and all those great stories, and I tended
to relatively quiet during history lessons)
• the expectations of and the skills of adults supervising
the task (as a baseball coach, I remember many of my
kids would rather pick flowers than listen to my incredi bly boring and useless instructions on how to hit)
* group dynamics (how much attention other kids are paying, for example)
* other factors weighing on a kid’s mind (if a kid is being bullied, if his girlfriend is in the room, etc.)
* a child’s other personality traits (shyness, etc.), and
on and on.
.....Not always an easy call, in other words.
.....Hyperactivity symptoms include, according to one |
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