Term Paper Categories
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A BETTER IDEA OF ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER
| Term Paper Title |
A BETTER IDEA OF ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER |
| # of Words |
1507 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) |
6.03 |
A BETTER IDEA OF ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER
Many people have a hard time focusing and often find that their minds tend to wander when they face a task that seems impossible or boring. This is a sign that one might have Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Attention Deficit Disorder, often called ADD, is a disorder that deals with problems in the central nervous system (Hallowell 270). This disorder is a problem in as many as 3.5 million kids in the United States (Weathers 19). People who have ADD and ADHD are often known for their hyperactivity, rude behavior, and the fact that it is difficult to stay on task. ADD is a disorder that is difficult to diagnose, has many ways to be helped, and still allows children to lead fairly normal lives with the proper help.
Attention Deficit Disorder is hard to diagnose because no one is certain of what actually causes the disorder. Lawrence Weathers thinks that the behavior of an ADD or ADHD child might occur because of stress due to school, parents, or friends before the child is emotionally equipped to handle the situation. He calls ADD a neurological disorder that affects the motivational system (42, 20). Another theory of what causes ADD is the low amount of glucose metabolism in the brain. ADD affects two important parts of the brain that are connected with the ability to pay attention and the ability to regulate motor activity (Phelan 46). Many people believe that bad parenting, physical brain damage, diet, and allergies cause ADD. Thomas Phelan argues that these things indeed do not cause ADD. People also believe that ADD can be hereditary. Better than one third of the parents of an ADD child had ADD when they were children (Phelan 43-44; 47).
Patients usually have to take several tests in order to be properly diagnosed with ADD. These tests include intelligence, achievement, and fine motor tests (Morrison 11). Another idea is for the patients to talk to a professional about their history in order to determine whether or not they might have ADD (Hallowell 195). According to the American Psychiatric Association a person that has ADD or ADHD needs to have eight or more of a certain criteria or symptoms. The criteria for the two disorders are the same except for the fact the ADHD has hyperactivity. Some examples of the main symptoms for ADD or ADHD patients would be fidgeting, squirming, talking impulsively, not paying attention to a task for long, misplacing things easily, and interpreting things wrongly (Hartmann 7-8).
Once a patient has been properly diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, he or she has several choices of treatment. One way to treat the disorder is to take medication. Medication can help seventy five percent or more children thought to have ADD or ADHD (Phelan 109). Before taking medication, the patient needs to understand that medication is not a cure for the disorder (Garber 92). Medication does not allow the patients to do anything that they were not already capable of doing. An example of this is that children who take medication show an increase in production and performance. In the long-term aspect they do not show any improvement on achievement tests (Garber 108-109). Before the patient decides that the medication does not work, he or she should be sure to give the medicine time and gradually work up to the correct dose that suits him or her (Hallowell 239).
One type of medication is called a stimulant. Stimulant medication is used in order to get ADD or ADHD children to direct their attention to a certain task for a long period of time. The benefits of using stimulants are that the patient has more concentration, makes better grades, is not as hyper or restless, does not make as much noise, and is not as aggressive. Stimulants also help the patient to control impulses, behave better, and have more visual-motor coordination (Morrison 21). Even though stimulants have many positive effects, they also have many negative side effects. The side effects of stimulants are that the patient experiences loss of appetite, insomni...Read entire document
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