Photos courtesy of Marburn Academy
When attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is brought up in conversation, the dialogue tends to center on the challenges it poses for the educational process.
But for parents of children with ADHD and similar disorders, the challenges start with diagnosing the condition.
Popular culture tends to gloss over the true difficulty of determining whether a child has ADHD – not to mention the fact that it tends to use “ADHD” as slang for a litany of different issues.
Children with ADHD and its cousin, ADD, may become much quieter, stop doing their schoolwork or experience depression and behavior changes due to an increase in workload or difficult transitions. The hyperactivity component of ADHD may manifest as difficulty organizing tasks, fidgeting, impulsive behavior and difficulty sitting still or staying seated.
Observations of these sorts of behaviors may signal a need for outside evaluation by a pediatrician or child psychiatrist.
“ADHD and ADD are significantly different in the signs,” says Judy MacNamee, founder of northwest Columbus-based ADHD Coach Connect. “With ADHD, the behavior jumps out with the hyperactivity. This behavior is easier to identify. ADD is trickier.”
Children can be diagnosed from 4-17 years old, but it takes more than the opinion of one doctor to get a diagnosis, says Jamie Williamson, head of school at Marburn Academy. Marburn is a private school dedicated to educating children with ADHD, dyslexia and similar syndromes.
The child needs to be tested, medical and developmental history needs to be examined, parents need to make observations, teachers should be involved and certain criteria need to be met to get a complete picture of where the child falls in the spectrum. And even then, it can be difficult to differentiate ADHD from conditions such as depression or Asperger syndrome, especially for parents, says Williamson.
“In this day in age, the most important thing for parents to realize is that there is no manual in how to raise your ADHD child,” MacNamee says. “It is more likely that they can’t be raised the same way. It’s not an excuse, but you should be open to different ways of raising your child.”
Gabrielle Benton is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
ADHD Myths and Facts
MYTH: Kids will outgrow ADHD when they become adults.
FACT: Two-thirds of children with ADHD continue to grapple with the condition throughout adulthood.
