The Signs and Symptoms
Every child has difficulty sitting still or paying attention sometimes. But for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), these behaviors-and others-occur regularly, making life at school and home especially challenging. ADHD is a disorder that makes it hard for children to control their behavior. For these children, each day can be a jumble of rapid-fire images, thoughts, and sounds. They may become bored very quickly and fidget or squirm constantly. Organizing their thoughts or waiting their turn can be unusually difficult for them. They may be disruptive in the classroom or at other gatherings of friends or family.

Without treatment, ADHD can have long-term effects on a child's self-esteem and his or her ability to make friends and succeed in school or work.

The Challenges of Parenting
As the parent of a child with ADHD, you already know that you face unique challenges. Of course, parenting a child with ADHD has special rewards too. Children with ADHD can be wonderfully creative, outgoing, and imaginative also. But their ADHD behaviors can overshadow their talents, which may go unrecognized or unappreciated. The challenge for you as a parent is to nurture and channel your child's special energies and behaviors in ways that can help him or her become the best he or she can be. At the same time, it is important that you take care of yourself and avoid becoming consumed and exhausted by your child's disorder.

An Issue of Self-control
ADHD is an umbrella term that describes several similar disorders. All of these disorders are caused by impairment in the brain's circuitry that affects self-control and causes three main types of behavior.

Inattention
With this behavior, the child may:

• Have a hard time staying focused on one thing
• Become bored easily
• Have difficulty organizing and completing tasks
• Lose or forget things often
• Make frequent careless mistakes

Hyperactivity
In this instance, the child may:

• Always be "on the go"
• Squirm and fidget often
• Run around or climb things frequently
• Talk constantly
• Regularly try to do several things at once

Impulsivity
In this case, the child may:

• Act before he or she thinks
• Shout out inappropriate comments
• Grab toys from other children
• Get into fights because he or she does not want to take turns

The Types of ADHD

ADHD-inattentive: The child has difficulty paying attention.

ADHD-hyperactive-impulsive: The child has hyperactive/impulsive symptoms.

ADHD-combined: The child is inattentive and is hyperactive/impulsive.

The Causes of ADHD
If your child has been diagnosed with ADHD, you may be asking yourself, "Why our child-did we do something to cause this? Who is to blame?" While the causes of ADHD are not entirely clear, it is believed that the disorder is caused by biological factors.

Heredity
ADHD tends to run in families, which means that genes may play a role. Most children with ADHD have at least one family member with the disorder.

Changes in Brain Function
Studies show that the brains of children with ADHD may function differently than those of other children. These children may have an imbalance of chemicals in the brain that help to regulate behavior.

What Does NOT cause ADHD

• Poor parenting
• Family problems
• Bad teachers
• Ineffective schools
• Too much television
• Refined sugar
• Food allergies

A child with ADHD may find it harder to deal with home stresses or an ineffective teacher than other children, but these things do NOT cause ADHD.

Other Disorders Common With ADHD
Children with ADHD often have other behavior disorders, such as:

Learning Disabilities
While ADHD itself can cause difficulties with learning, a learning disability is a specific learning difference not caused by ADHD. More than half of all children with ADHD have learning disabilities. These children can be as smart or smarter than other children, but they may have difficulty reading or doing math.

ODD (Oppositional-defiant Disorder)
Children with ODD may be angry, argumentative, lose their temper, refuse to follow rules, and deliberately annoy others.

CD (Conduct Disorder)
Characteristic behaviors of CD include deliberately destroying property, setting fires, lying, stealing, running away, skipping school, or being cruel to animals or others.

Depression
Children with this mood disorder may have difficulty sleeping or sleep too much, lose their appetite, criticize themselves harshly, withdraw from others, or talk about death.

Mania/Bipolar Disorder
This disorder also affects mood and can cause children to be extremely happy and energetic for periods of time and then become depressed.

Anxiety Disorders
Characteristics include excessive worry, edginess, and fatigue.

Tics and Tourette's Syndrome
A small number of children with ADHD have tics or Tourette's syndrome, which causes them to make sudden, involuntary movements or sounds.

Substance Abuse
As children with ADHD get older, they are at greater risk for abusing drugs or alcohol. They often smoke cigarettes at a very early age and are twice as likely to become addicted to nicotine.