Okay, back to my glossary of alphabet soup terms that are often heard in connection with kids adopted from Russia. In my last post on the issue I talked about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and its associated terms. In this post I will talk about Attention Defecit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

I should mention that our Ukranian Adoption Blogger, Angela, has written about her daughter's experiences with ADHD. If you're interested in a first-hand account, you should check out her posts. And for all I know, after Little J gets his behavioral assessment done, we might be posting about it, too!

Here is the definition of AD/HD, according to the Attention Deficit Disorder Association (ADDA):

AD/HD is a diagnosis applied to children and adults who consistently display certain characteristic BEHAVIORS over a period of time. The most common core features include:

distractibility (poor sustained attention to tasks)
impulsivity (impaired impulse control and delay of gratification)
hyperactivity (excessive activity and physical restlessness)
In order to meet diagnostic criteria, these behaviors must be excessive, long-term, and pervasive. The behaviors must appear before age 7, and continue for at least 6 months. A crucial consideration is that the behaviors must create a real handicap in at least two areas of a person's life, such as school, home, work, or social settings. These criteria set ADHD apart from the "normal" distractibility and impulsive behavior of childhood, or the effects of the hectic and overstressed lifestyle prevalent in our society.

4-6% of the U.S.'s population has AD/HD and the condition generally lasts a person's lifetime. It is not just a children's disorder.

Again, from the ADDA's website, this time quoting from the DSM-IV, SYMPTOMS of AD/HD are:

often fails to give close attention to details or makes careless mistakes; often has difficulty sustaining attention to tasks; often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly; often fails to follow instructions carefully and completely; losing or forgetting important things; feeling restless, often fidgeting with hands or feet, or squirming; running or climbing excessively; often talks excessively; often blurts out answers before hearing the whole question; often has difficulty awaiting turn.

WHY do some people have AD/HD? It's not because of poor parenting or sugar. Here's what the ADDA says about that:

ADHD is NOT caused by poor parenting, family problems, poor teachers or schools, too much TV, food allergies, or excess sugar. One early theory was that attention disorders were caused by minor head injuries or damage to the brain, and thus for many years ADHD was called "minimal brain damage" or "minimal brain dysfunction." The vast majority of people with ADHD have no history of head injury or evidence of brain damage, however. Another theory, which is still heard in the media, is that refined sugar and food additives make children hyperactive and inattentive. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded that this may apply to only about 5 percent of children with ADHD, mostly either very young children or children with food allergies.

ADHD IS very likely caused by biological factors which influence neurotransmitter activity in certain parts of the brain, and which have a strong genetic basis. Studies at NIMH using a PET (positron emission tomography) scanner to observe the brain at work have shown a link between a person's ability to pay continued attention and the level of activity in the brain. Specifically researchers measured the level of glucose used by the areas of the brain that inhibit impulses and control attention. In people with AD/HD, the brain areas that control attention used less glucose, indicating that they were less active. It appears from this research that a lower level of activity in some parts of the brain may cause inattention and other AD/HD symptoms.

There is a great deal of evidence that AD/HD runs in families, which is suggestive of genetic factors. If one person in a family is diagnosed with AD/HD, there is a 25% to 35% probability that any other family member also has AD/HD, compared to a 4% to 6% probability for someone in the general population.

In my next post I'll talk about TREATMENT for AD/HD, as well as PROGNOSES and CONTROVERSIES.