ADHD Quiz: How Much Do You Know About ADHD?

ADHD is more common in boys. The reation is about 3 boys to every girl

The three domains of ADHD are hyperactivity (restlesness, being fidgety), Impulsivity (interrupting when people talk, doing thinsg without thinkig of the consequences) and Inattention (having to be told things several times over, always forgetting and losig things).

ADHD was first described by a Scottish doctor in 1798! A formal diagnosis was first suggested in the 1980s.

There is some strong evidence that ADHD does run in families and siblings of children with ADHD are 8 times more likely to also have ADHD. It is thought that the genes make a child more predisposed to developing ADHD, and then other factors contribute to the child developing the illness.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a diagnosis that comes from an American classification of illnesses. It is a little more inclusive as children with only attention problems, or only hyperactivity and impulsivity problems would still meet the diagnostic criteria for ADHD. Hyperkinetic disorder is a diagnosis that comes from the international classification of illnesses system. To receive this diagnosis a child must have hyperactivity, impulsivity AND attention problems.

The Royal College of Psychiatrsits states that between 3 and 5 out of a hundered school aged children meet the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD.

3 out of 10 children with ADHD have a remission in their symptoms during their teenage years. By the time they are 25 only 15 out of a 100 children who had a diagnosis of ADHD, will continue to have all the symptoms associated with the condition, though quite a few will go on to have some symptoms.

It is true that some parents notice that if their child eats certain things their symptoms tend to get worse. However, this is different for evey child, so what effects one child may have no effect on another. No foods have been found that effect most children, but if this is something you notice there is nothing wrong with avoiding that food.

In most cases, medication is not started for ADHD straight away. It is well recognised that helping parents learn how to deal with their children who have ADHD and how to react to their behaviour really helps these bvehaviours decrease. n fact even the government recommends that in most cases parents should be offered a programme like this one before medication is considered. However, if this doesn't work, or only works a little but medication can be considered by your doctor.

All of these people have had a diagnosis of ADHD or ADD (attention deficit disorder!) and many of them say that the energy they had spurred them on to do what they did. So ADHD can be a positive thing too.