Child & Adolescent ADHD

Child & Adolescent ADHD Overview

Children with ADHD show signs of inattention, hyperactivity, and/or impulsivity in specific ways. ADHD is primarily a disorder of self-regulation. Self-regulation weaves together all the older theories of ADHD into one cohesive picture; it is also what allows humans to manage impulses, engage or disengage attention, and navigate between deliberate and automatic responses to different situations. Most children who are diagnosed with ADHD still have it as teens. During teen years, especially as the hormonal changes of adolescence are going on and the demands of school and extracurricular activities are increasing, ADHD symptoms may get worse. Often, teens with ADHD are so busy focusing on other things they forget about the task at hand. Teens with ADHD are 2-4 times more likely to have a car accident than teens without ADHD. Teens with ADHD may be impulsive, risk-taking, immature in judgment, and thrill seeking. In studies, teens with ADHD were twice as likely as other teens to have abused alcohol within the past 6 months and three times as likely to abuse drugs other than marijuana.