Indicators - ADHD / ADD

Just last week, my 8-year-old started ADHD medication. My older two (15 and 13) had started in junior high. Neither of my older two are hyperactive, so there were no behavior problems in school (other than my 13-year-old talking too much to all her friends). But they couldn’t focus, organize, remember or discipline themselves to stay on task in a six-period day. I had been hoping against hope that my youngest would never need medication. He has had some behavior problems in school (chatty, lots of energy, seeming unwillingness to buckle down and work), but I was hoping they were just normal little boy problems. I told myself I wouldn’t medicate him unless he wasn’t able to function in school and that we… [more]

Nothing ever seems to go just right or easy for my 15-year-old son with ADHD. He is smart, in fact he is very smart, at 15 he is a sophomore at the local community college. His younger brother is jealous of him, as many of the kids who know him are, because he is so smart. However, most do not realize how difficult life is for him. Everything seems to go wrong and for no reason. He has a good heart; he would do just about anything for anyone. Yet many people don’t like him. Adults think he is a know it all, rude, or disruptive. Other children think he is mean, too smart, or a troublemaker. Does having ADHD make everything go wrong? How many kids… [more]

If your adopted child constantly leaves jackets and shoes outside, somewhere, but doesn’t know where, then your child might have ADHD. If you cannot find your child because he is on the roof, he might have ADHD. If your adopted child accidentally breaks something almost every day, she might have ADHD. If your child broke your DSL cable plug, he might have ADHD. If your child has broken chunks out of ceiling tiles while playing basketball indoors, he might have ADHD. If your child decided that the fastest exit from the house was the bedroom window, she might have ADHD. If your child slid a chair across the kitchen floor and broke the glass oven door accidentally, he might have ADHD. If your child filled the woodstove, then left the… [more]

This study, coming out of Michigan State University, points to a growing body of research that says that low level lead exposure could be a factor in the increases in ADHD. This study was of 150 children in the Lansing area, and showed that the children with ADHD had higher levels of lead in their blood than those without ADHD. Other studies have shown a link between low level lead exposure and lower IQs. So, maybe we should be on the warpath about banning all toys from China and cleaning out all subsidized housing to insure that all lead-based paint has been removed from these aging buildings. Or… Maybe it’s more complicated and more internal than that. While I’m in no way… [more]

MRI scans and DNA research revealed that children with the version of the dopamine D4 receptor gene, 7-repeat variant, with ADHD started out with the thinnest cortex areas of the brain. This area of the brain is important for controlling attention (right orbitofrontal and posterior parieto-occipital). However, 3-D MRI scans revealed that teenagers with this variant and ADHD ended up with normal thickness in the areas on the right side of the brain’s outer mantle, or cortex, resulting in clinical improvement by age 16. While 7-repeat variant was found to increase the risk for ADHD, it also indicated a higher IQ and better outcomes for teenagers and adults than those with the other two common versions of the gene. The gene variant 7-repeat contains the… [more]

1. While at your pediatrician’s office, a nurse asks you to get your child off the roof, and you didn’t know your child had gone outside. 2. You spend more time trying to find your child’s homework, than it takes to finish it. 3. The school has your child call home everyday, asking you to bring gym shoes, because your child has forgotten them so many times. 4. Your child gets a zero on an exam, for talking to others before the exams are collected. 5. Your child always has the last word. 6. If allowed to play with legos while listening to a story, your child can recant the details perfectly. 7. You’re afraid to walk on your child’s bedroom floor because you can’t see the carpet. 8. Your child lost lunch money everyday… [more]