About ADHD...
My son can play video games for hours... so how can he have ADHD?
My student spends hours on their phone, texting, posting to social media, and watching videos, and too often, homework is put off to the last minute, or isn't done at all. Isn't the PHONE the real problem here?
The distinction between true attention deficits and inadequate effort/motivation is a difficult one. All of us find it easier to stay focused and avoid distraction when we are engaged in activities we find interesting, stimulating, and fun, but for children, students, and adults with ADHD or other types of attention deficits, the amount of extra effort it takes to stay focused on a task or set of material that is not as engaging or interesting may be huge. For this reason, some children who have attention deficits (and sometimes adolescents and adults as well) will tend to resist tasks they perceive to be difficult -- even if they truly can perform the tasks competently.
Children and adolescents (and yes, adults!) are surrounded these days with MANY interesting, engaging, and highly stimulating activity options... videos, electronic games, and social media, to name just a few. Computer- and phone-based games, for example, are often designed to be highly engaging, making concentration easy, even for students who have trouble with attention at other times. Thus, the same child who can play Minecraft for hours (and who may be so caught up in his game that he does not hear a parent calling him to dinner) may struggle to stay focused while trying to finish his math homework. Socializing can also be interesting and compelling, and thus easier to attend to... thus social media and texting with friends can much more easily hold the attention of an adolescent who struggles to complete the paper that is due tomorrow. Blaming the source of alternative engagement (most often, the student's phone), while very understandable from a "proximity to the problem" standpoint, often misses the real underlying issue.
In short, while a positive attitude toward learning and school work is clearly very important, please don't assume your son's or daughter's attention issues with school work are all about attitude: They may truly be having more difficulty concentrating when performing less stimulating, less intrinsically motivating tasks, and a tendency to fall back into activities that are engaging may reflect a very real underlying difficulty with attention and focus. A proper evaluation can help make the distinction.
How can I tell if I have ADHD?
Self-diagnosis is not a wise idea! While it is easy to find lists of symptoms, self-tests, and discussion by experts and non-experts alike, online and elsewhere, diagnosing ADHD is not as simple as it may seem. For one thing, many of its symptoms also occur in other disorders. For example, poor concentration can happen as a result of ADHD, but can also be due to depression, certain medications, substance use, anxiety, head injuries, various medical conditions, and loss of sleep, to name just a few other possible causes. Next, most "tests" that are available online or in popular publications are not reliable indicators of whether a person has or does not have ADHD. Good tests are always standardized and carefully prepared, to ensure reliability and validity, and must be administered by a professional qualified to properly interpret the results. Finally, discussions posted on social media, in blogs, or on topical websites can be very interesting, but depending on the source, the information presented may or may not be accurate, and may or may not be applicable to any particular individual. The bottom line is: Always see an appropriately qualified health or mental health professional, for questions about the diagnosis of ADHD or other learning-related challenges.
ADD or ADHD? What's the difference?
The terminology can be confusing... Basically, the official diagnostic guide used in the USA (the DSM-5) calls both the inattentive only and hyperactive/impulsive patterns of behavior and functioning "ADHD," or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. So yes, you can be diagnosed with ADHD and not be hyperactive or impulsive. However, the situation is really more complicated than even the terminology makes it seem, as the official diagnosis of ADHD does not require proof that a child or adult actually HAS deficits in any of the various attention skills that can be measured with neuropsychological tests. Instead, the diagnosis relies on observable behavior in real-life situations, such as in school or on the job. The trouble is, the behaviors that are used to diagnose ADHD can occur for many other reasons. For example, a child can have trouble sitting still and staying focused while in school because of ADHD, but could also be feeling anxious because the work is too hard due to an unsuspected learning disability, be depressed due to difficult family issues, or be suffering from an unsuspected medical difficulty that is impairing concentration. It's very important to consider all possible causes, and not just assume that it's ADHD that's causing the problem. Additionally, performances on actual tests of attention can help a child or adult toward effective compensation for any problems that are evident, whether or not ADHD is present, because performance on such tests facilitates understanding of the problems and selection of appropriate interventions.
My son can play video games for hours... so how can he have ADHD?
My student spends hours on their phone, texting, posting to social media, and watching videos, and too often, homework is put off to the last minute, or isn't done at all. Isn't the PHONE the real problem here?
The distinction between true attention deficits and inadequate effort/motivation is a difficult one. All of us find it easier to stay focused and avoid distraction when we are engaged in activities we find interesting, stimulating, and fun, but for children, students, and adults with ADHD or other types of attention deficits, the amount of extra effort it takes to stay focused on a task or set of material that is not as engaging or interesting may be huge. For this reason, some children who have attention deficits (and sometimes adolescents and adults as well) will tend to resist tasks they perceive to be difficult -- even if they truly can perform the tasks competently.
Children and adolescents (and yes, adults!) are surrounded these days with MANY interesting, engaging, and highly stimulating activity options... videos, electronic games, and social media, to name just a few. Computer- and phone-based games, for example, are often designed to be highly engaging, making concentration easy, even for students who have trouble with attention at other times. Thus, the same child who can play Minecraft for hours (and who may be so caught up in his game that he does not hear a parent calling him to dinner) may struggle to stay focused while trying to finish his math homework. Socializing can also be interesting and compelling, and thus easier to attend to... thus social media and texting with friends can much more easily hold the attention of an adolescent who struggles to complete the paper that is due tomorrow. Blaming the source of alternative engagement (most often, the student's phone), while very understandable from a "proximity to the problem" standpoint, often misses the real underlying issue.
In short, while a positive attitude toward learning and school work is clearly very important, please don't assume your son's or daughter's attention issues with school work are all about attitude: They may truly be having more difficulty concentrating when performing less stimulating, less intrinsically motivating tasks, and a tendency to fall back into activities that are engaging may reflect a very real underlying difficulty with attention and focus. A proper evaluation can help make the distinction.
How can I tell if I have ADHD?
Self-diagnosis is not a wise idea! While it is easy to find lists of symptoms, self-tests, and discussion by experts and non-experts alike, online and elsewhere, diagnosing ADHD is not as simple as it may seem. For one thing, many of its symptoms also occur in other disorders. For example, poor concentration can happen as a result of ADHD, but can also be due to depression, certain medications, substance use, anxiety, head injuries, various medical conditions, and loss of sleep, to name just a few other possible causes. Next, most "tests" that are available online or in popular publications are not reliable indicators of whether a person has or does not have ADHD. Good tests are always standardized and carefully prepared, to ensure reliability and validity, and must be administered by a professional qualified to properly interpret the results. Finally, discussions posted on social media, in blogs, or on topical websites can be very interesting, but depending on the source, the information presented may or may not be accurate, and may or may not be applicable to any particular individual. The bottom line is: Always see an appropriately qualified health or mental health professional, for questions about the diagnosis of ADHD or other learning-related challenges.
ADD or ADHD? What's the difference?
The terminology can be confusing... Basically, the official diagnostic guide used in the USA (the DSM-5) calls both the inattentive only and hyperactive/impulsive patterns of behavior and functioning "ADHD," or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. So yes, you can be diagnosed with ADHD and not be hyperactive or impulsive. However, the situation is really more complicated than even the terminology makes it seem, as the official diagnosis of ADHD does not require proof that a child or adult actually HAS deficits in any of the various attention skills that can be measured with neuropsychological tests. Instead, the diagnosis relies on observable behavior in real-life situations, such as in school or on the job. The trouble is, the behaviors that are used to diagnose ADHD can occur for many other reasons. For example, a child can have trouble sitting still and staying focused while in school because of ADHD, but could also be feeling anxious because the work is too hard due to an unsuspected learning disability, be depressed due to difficult family issues, or be suffering from an unsuspected medical difficulty that is impairing concentration. It's very important to consider all possible causes, and not just assume that it's ADHD that's causing the problem. Additionally, performances on actual tests of attention can help a child or adult toward effective compensation for any problems that are evident, whether or not ADHD is present, because performance on such tests facilitates understanding of the problems and selection of appropriate interventions.