Many of them are parents and bring a special understanding to what our patients and families experience. Skip to Content. Urgent Care. Featured Expert. Michalsky, MD Marcel J.
Kowatch, MD, Ph. Long, MD. For example, boys may be more hyperactive and girls may tend to be quietly inattentive. Most healthy children are inattentive, hyperactive or impulsive at one time or another. It's typical for preschoolers to have short attention spans and be unable to stick with one activity for long.
Even in older children and teenagers, attention span often depends on the level of interest. The same is true of hyperactivity.
Young children are naturally energetic — they often are still full of energy long after they've worn their parents out. In addition, some children just naturally have a higher activity level than others do. Children should never be classified as having ADHD just because they're different from their friends or siblings.
Children who have problems in school but get along well at home or with friends are likely struggling with something other than ADHD. The same is true of children who are hyperactive or inattentive at home, but whose schoolwork and friendships remain unaffected. If you're concerned that your child shows signs of ADHD , see your pediatrician or family doctor.
Your doctor may refer you to a specialist, such as a developmental-behavioral pediatrician, psychologist, psychiatrist or pediatric neurologist, but it's important to have a medical evaluation first to check for other possible causes of your child's difficulties. While the exact cause of ADHD is not clear, research efforts continue. Factors that may be involved in the development of ADHD include genetics, the environment or problems with the central nervous system at key moments in development.
Although sugar is a popular suspect in causing hyperactivity, there's no reliable proof of this. Many issues in childhood can lead to difficulty sustaining attention, but that's not the same as ADHD.
ADHD can make life difficult for children. Children with ADHD :. ADHD doesn't cause other psychological or developmental problems. However, children with ADHD are more likely than others to also have conditions such as:. To help reduce your child's risk of ADHD :. Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. Request an Appointment at Mayo Clinic.
Share on: Facebook Twitter. Arlington, Va. Accessed Jan. These situations include being expected to do things like homework, go to bed, stop playing a game, sit down and eat dinner. These situations are difficult for them to tolerate because of the deficits that are a part of ADHD.
These include:. Your child may be diagnosed with a disorder. Oppositional defiance disorder ODD is when a child has a pattern of behaving in uncooperative, defiant, hostile, and annoying ways with authority figures. Conduct disorder CD is when a child has a pattern of being aggressive, disruptive, deceitful frequent lying or stealing and breaking rules. About one in four kids with combined-type ADHD also have conduct disorder.
Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder DMDD is when a child is almost always irritable. This includes having frequent, severe temper outbursts that seem completely out of proportion to the situation.
PCIT has parents interact with their child while at the same time receiving live coaching from the therapist about which skills to use. Both kinds of parent training have been shown to decrease disruptiveness, aggression, and disobedient behaviors. Reading- and math-related learning differences are common among kids with ADHD. For some children, learning a new concept while following a lesson in a classroom might be easy.
But reproducing and applying new knowledge at home might prove frustratingly difficult. What to do : If you think your child might have a learning disability , the school is legally required to provide an evaluation according to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act IDEA. A learning specialist can help determine the services or accommodations your child might benefit from at school.
ADHD increases the chances that a child will develop depression, particularly in adolescence. What to look for:. Treatment for ADHD will not relieve symptoms of depression. Kids who have depression may be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy CBT. In CBT, a psychologist would work with your child to recognize the pattern of negative thoughts. Kids can train themselves to think outside that pattern.
Antidepressant medication, which can be taken alongside ADHD medication, can also be effective. Generalized anxiety disorder is when someone is generally worried about everything and nothing specific all at the same time. A child might have fears and phobias about school, certain foods, germs, etc. Social anxiety is when someone is extremely fearful of new people and new situations to the point where it gets in the way of daily life at school and with friendships.
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