The Health Diva

Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity are the key behaviors of ADHD. It is normal for all children to be inattentive, hyperactive, or impulsive sometimes, but for children with ADHD, these behaviors are more severe and occur more often.

ADHD symptoms often manifest in three key area’s with your child often having a dominant trait: Inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity.

Children who have symptoms of inattention may:

Be easily distracted, miss details, forget things, and frequently switch from one activity to another

Have difficulty focusing on one thing

Become bored with a task after only a few minutes, unless they are doing something enjoyable

Have difficulty focusing attention on organizing and completing a task or learning something new

Have trouble completing or turning in homework assignments.

Often losing things (e.g., pencils, toys, assignments) needed to complete tasks or activities

Not seem to listen when spoken to

Daydream, become easily confused, and move slowly

Have difficulty processing information as quickly and accurately as others

Struggle to follow instructions.

Children who have symptoms of hyperactivity may:

Fidget and squirm in their seats

Talk nonstop

Dash around, touching or playing with anything and everything in sight

Have trouble sitting still during dinner, school, and story time

Be constantly in motion

Have difficulty doing quiet tasks or activities.

Children who have symptoms of impulsivity may:

Be very impatient

Blurt out inappropriate comments, show their emotions without restraint, and act without regard for consequences

Have difficulty waiting for things they want or waiting their turns in games

Often interrupt conversations or others’ activities.

In addition to ADHD, many children and adults also exhibit one or more other problems which may include: OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, Tourette’s Syndrome (TS), and Developmental Delays. These people often have food or environmental allergies. Many have a history of one or more of these physical problems: ear infections, asthma, sinus problems, bed-wetting, bowel disorders, headaches/migraines, stomach aches, skin disorders, sensory deficits (extreme sensitivity to noise, lights, touch), vision deficits (the left and right eyes do not work well together, sometimes nystagmus).