Have you ever wondered how health care professional diagnose ADHD in children? After all, it seems like there has been a marked increase in the number of youngsters being treated for this disorder. Are doctors and parents being overzealous in medicating children? As a parent, you need to discover the ADHD symptoms in children and determine whether your child is at risk.
Unfortunately, all children exhibit any and all signs of difference between add adhd at one time or another. So, it is a real challenge to determine whether your child is simply going through a period of inattentiveness and hyperactivity, or whether it is truly ADHD symptoms. First, it may be helpful to list some of the attributes health care professionals will be looking for, if your child is tested for the disorder:
- Often fails to pay close attention and making careless mistakes with schoolwork
- Unable to stay on task
- Seems not to listen even when personally addressed
- Does not follow through
- Does not like to exercise mental effort
- Easily distracted
- Loses things
- Forgetful
Of course, this is only the list of the attention deficit side of the disorder. Honestly, any parent reading through this list can recognize their child. It does not necessarily mean your youngster is displaying ADHD symptoms.
Parents who are genuinely afraid their child is showing signs of ADHD will also look for this list of hyperactivity symptoms:
- Squirms and fidgets most of the time
- Cannot remain seated, even when it is expected
- Restless, constantly climbing when younger
- Playing quietly is difficult
- Never slows down
- Talks incessantly
- Has trouble taking turns
- Blurts out responses
- Interrupts and intrudes on others
Again, ever parent can see his/her child displaying any one or all of these symptoms at one time or another. It does not necessarily mean a child has the disorder. Therefore, parents need to be careful about self-diagnosing a child and starting to panic.
In many cases, what seems like ADHD symptoms is simply due to the age of the child, the present circumstances that might be excitable, and whether the youngster is overtired or over stimulated. Generally, ADHD is not diagnosed until a child is school age. By this time, if many of the signs of ADHD are still prominent, it will be difficult to attend school and have the proper social skills to behave properly.
Conversely, your child may not have all of the attributes listed, yet he/she may still have the disorder. For example, girls are more likely to display more inattentiveness and boys are generally more hyperactive. In truth, it is very difficult to pigeonhole anyone with ADHD. The disorder is similar to other kids with the same problem, but also unique to him or her.