Final Paper
Child development
Alexandra Soucy
ADHD IN CHIlDREN AND TEENS
When my son was little he had a problem paying attention and he seemed to get distracted very easily. But I thought it was normal for children that age. But later I found out that he had ADHD. So what is ADHD? ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It is thought to be a brain disorder that makes it difficult to pay attention and to sit still. In fact, "studies have shown that people with ADHD have less of the neurotransmitter dopamine in their brains than do other people. This chemical messenger when present,is thought to cause the brain to be more aware and more focused" (www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds). Moreover, ADHD seems to be more common in boys then in girls. About 5 percent of school-age children have been diagnosed with it; and over one percent of teenagers and adults have ADHD.I
English: Percent of Youth 4-17 ever diagnosed with...
English: Medicine "Strattera" (eg. used to treat A...
English: Graph showing the number of articles writ...am sure that there are many other kids around the world who have not been diagnosed and are probably wondering what's wrong with them. Usually, children that have ADHD are very smart but they have trouble paying attention for very long. They are full of energy but have trouble staying put. They can be very impulsive in saying or doing whatever comes to mind, and they find distractions hard to resist. For instance, there were times when it was hard for my son to keep his mind on tasks that he needed to complete like school work. Moreover, when my son was first diagnosed with it, I was told by one of his doctors that he would probably outgrow it during high school years or when he becomes an adult. Indeed, one of the reasons for doctors to believe that children outgrow ADHD is because their hyperactivity...