Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

chose Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD.

I chose ADHD because I suffered from this growing up, and though I am fine now, it made learning hard.

I had to learn how to keep myself focused without using the medication.

I was prescribed because the medication made me feel all kinds of weird and threw off my sleep, which resulted in a sleeping medication.

I was not okay with all of this, even as a young child, I knew I had to do something about it.

I made myself read books, even though it is my least favourite thing and it puts me to sleep.

The trick was to read about things I liked and wanted to know more about.

Then I read about other things, rewarding myself with something fun if I read the whole book without distractions or without having to put it down for too long.

I was able to kick all the medications to the curb by the time I was in the seventh grade, and everyone noticed how different I was without the medications, but a good difference.

ADHD is a disorder characterized by uninhibited responses, lack of sustained attention, and hyperactivity and is usually detected in early childhood.

It can be hard for a child with ADHD to focus, follow rules, and behave, making it hard to learn and develop.

It is more of a behaviour disorder but because it can affect how a child learns, it is also a developmental disorder.

The symptoms of ADHD are, failing to give close attention to details, staying on task both active and non-active, often in their own world.. like the expression in la-la land, not following instructions or directions, not doing or finishing home/schoolwork or chores, easily distracted from tasks at hand, forgetful and losing things like their books, keys, or glasses, random thoughts and actions, is fidgety, can’t sit still or be at rest, climbing on things and jumping around in inappropriate times, talking a lot sometimes out of turn, and impatient.

All of these symptoms can cause a lot of issues for those who have ADHD, failing class or the grade for that matter or being fired from work due to lack of work and tardiness.

Failing grade outs you back a year, being fired means having to find another job fast because bills do not pay themselves. It can create a lot of unstable situations.

The possible causes of ADHD are, it could be hereditary or impulsivity and hyperactivity could be a result of delayed reinforcement.

A doctor will observe, interact, and evaluate the child, if the child shows the above symptoms, they will diagnose the child with ADHD.

In my case, I played games, talked about different things I liked and disliked, watched.. or rather played, watched, ran, and talked, while trying to watch a movie.

I could not stay focused longer than 10 minutes on any one thing. In a brain scan, you can see how different they look from a healthy brain to a brain that was diagnosed with ADHD, the one with ADHD shows an under-active frontal lobe.

There are medications and therapy to treat ADHD, they say there is no cure for it, I think people learn how to live with it and try to stay focused.

The medications can be taken once a day and distribute slowly through your body all day, or several times a day.

I took it several times a day, which is also why I was put on sleeping medication, it was like the second dose didn’t wear down until well after my bedtime.

Therapy, such as talking to someone about your day, tough times, ideas on how to work on being more focused and a type of therapy that helps you learn to focus.

Adrienne

Resources

Carlson, N. R. (2013). Physiology of Behavior. (11^th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Martin, T. A., & Bush, S. S. (2008). Ethical considerations in geriatric neuropsychology. NeuroRehabilitation, 23(5), 447-454. Retrieved from the EBSCOhost database.

hung, W. (2014, March). Autism – what we know (and what we don’t know yet) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/wendy_chung_autism_what_we_know_and_what_we_don_t_know_yet

Ghiassian, S., Greenier, R., Jin, P., Brown, M. (2016). Using functional or structural magnetic resonance images and personal characteristic data to identify ADHD and Autism. PloS ONE. 11(12), 1-26. Retrieved from EBSCO host database.