What is ADHD and its symptoms in Children? #Health awareness

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder more commonly refereed to as ADHD shortened, ADHD affects 2-5% of school-aged children and young people. It is one of the most common behavioural disorders amongst children with the majority of these being boys. The disorder is usually diagnosed between the ages of three and seven.

Symptoms of ADHD

The symptoms of ADHD are divided into two categories;

• Inattentiveness
• hyperactivity and impulsiveness

A person with ADHD usually has symptoms characteristic of one of the three subtypes of the condition.


The subtypes are: 

• ADHD mainly inattentive
• ADHD mainly hyperactive-impulsive
• ADHD combined

If a child has symptoms of all three behavioural problems – inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness – they may have ADHD combined, which is the most common subtype of ADHD.

Alternatively, if a child has symptoms of inattentiveness but not hyperactivity or impulsiveness, they may have ADHD mainly inattentive. This form of ADHD is also known as attention deficit disorder (ADD).

The symptoms of ADHD in children are very well defined. here are the main symptoms of each behavioural problem

Inattentiveness;

The main symptoms of inattentiveness are:

• a short attention span
• being easily distracted
• making careless mistakes, for example in schoolwork
• appearing forgetful or losing things
• being unable to stick at tasks that are tedious or time consuming
• being unable to listen to or carry out instructions
• being unable to concentrate
• constantly changing activity or task
• having difficulty organising tasks
• Hyperactivity

 

The main symptoms of hyperactivity are: 

 

• being unable to sit still, especially in calm or quiet surroundings
• constantly fidgeting
• being unable to settle to tasks
• excessive physical movement 
• excessive talking 
• Impulsiveness

 

The main symptoms of impulsiveness are: 

 

• being unable to wait for a turn
• acting without thinking
• interrupting conversations
• little or no sense of danger

If a child has ADHD, their symptoms usually become noticeable before the age of seven, with a diagnosis usually made between the ages of three and seven. ADHD can cause problems in a child's life, and can often lead to underachievement at school, poor social interaction with other children and adults and problems with discipline.

You may wonder why I am writing about this topic?

After a lengthily chat with Liam's teacher they have decided to refer him to the GP about his behaviour. I have always know his behaviour is very erratic he has very little concentration and dips from one task to another, he also doesn't like a lot of changes in his life, big changes affect him somewhat, even days out or a change in routine, seems to upset him.

I have to prepare him in advance for anything that we are going to do, even if it is just the weekend coming round he gets really upset if I don't remind him that he is not at school or that the next day is Saturday. I will be documenting our journey with the subject and going into more depth with ADHD its diagnosis.

Right now as I read down the list Liam ticks nearly all the boxes for ADHD but I am an Adult trained nurse not a child trained nurse nor am I a paediatrician so I guess only time will tell where our journey into this subject is going to take us.