ADHD in children

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Dis in Children

Melissa Huynh

University of Arkansas Fort Smith

Abstract

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Dis affects almost two million Americans and disrupts not only their lives , but the lives of their families , teachers and classmates as well . The dis rarely affects the children physically , but due to the reduced attention spans , the inability to concentrate on a task , and the behaviors involved with the dis create serious problems for the children who suffer from the dis

They get used to being told to pay attention or

to focus . The problem is they simply do not seem to be able to do that . It is not an attitude problem or defiance , but rather a dis the child is born with Approximately 1 .6 to 2 million people suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Dis (ADHD (Lemer , 2003 . Many of the people diagnosed with it are children , and it affects them in every aspect of life and creates problems for the children and their families . Every parent hopes to have a perfect child they can show off and brag about but the parents of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Dis often virtually become hermits in their homes , because of a fear of how the child will act in public . The same parents are called into school repeatedly due to behavior problems

ADHD is often considered to be a relatively new dis and many people do not consider it a real dis , but rather a lack of parental discipline . In actuality however , symptoms of ADHD have been documented for many years , it was simply not given a name until much later . Signs of the dis were first recorded in 1845 by Dr . Heinrich Hoffman in a book he wrote for his three year old son in a of his behavior . The book was called Fidgety Phillip (NIMH , 2008 . In 1902 Sir George F . Still published a series of lectures describing a group of children he referred to as being impulsive caused by genetics rather than behavioral issues (NIMH , 2008

The first signs of this dis often appear in the toddler years , but it is often not diagnosed until the child enters school . The child looks perfectly healthy and has little or no problems with physical health , but the parents usually begin to notice fairly early that the child acts somewhat differently than other children . The child may have a very short attention span and can not sit for even a short period of time without fidgeting . The toddler child may not sleep well and when awake runs around continuously . Preschool children with the dis are often unable to play quietly or entertain themselves

Once the child enters kindergarten the symptoms become more obvious Although almost all children at this age have very short attention spans and have difficulty staying on task if a project gets complicated children with Attention deficit Dis often show even less ability to stay on task than other children . These children often run around during class...