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Adhd Development Delay - Psychology, Special Needs, Health - Posted: 22nd May, 2008 - 9:11am
Posts: 11 - Views: 1469
Adhd And Development Delay
I just read this news and I found it quite interesting. Sometimes your kid may be misdiagnosed with other condition because of a development delay when in fact he may well have ADHD. Many doctors believed that ADHD children are just "normal" kids with a hyperactivity issue but recent studies show that children with ADHD can develop more slowly (as much as three years).
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| WASHINGTON (AP) -- Crucial parts of brains of children with attention deficit disorder develop more slowly than other youngsters' brains, a phenomenon that earlier brain-imaging research missed, a new study says. Developing more slowly in ADHD youngsters -- the lag can be as much as three years -- are brain regions that suppress inappropriate actions and thoughts, focus attention, remember things from moment to moment, work for reward and control movement. That was the finding of researchers, led by Dr. Philip Shaw of the National Institute of Mental Health, who reported the most detailed study yet on this problem in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Finding a normal pattern of cortex maturation, albeit delayed, in children with ADHD should be reassuring to families and could help to explain why many youth eventually seem to grow out of the disorder," Shaw said in a statement. But not all children do outgrow the disorder, and co-author Dr. Judith Rapoport, also of the NIMH Child Psychiatry Branch, said the researchers are working to determine the differences between those that have a good outcome and those who do not. Between 3 percent and 5 percent of school-age children are thought to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Dr. Louis J. Kraus, chief of child psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, said "what is really important about this study is it shows us there is clearly something biologically driven for children with ADHD." Kraus, who was not part of the research team, said that with this finding no one can argue that children are making it up. "We don't know what the meaning is yet, whether it would change any type of treatment, but it is showing that there is something biologically different." It is important that parents don't immediately jump out and want to get some type of MRI of their child's brain, or functional study to support a diagnosis," Kraus added in a telephone interview. Shaw agreed: "Brain imaging is still not ready for use as a diagnostic tool in ADHD. Although the delay in cortex development was marked, it could only be detected when a very large number of children with the disorder were included. It is not yet possible to detect such delay from the brain scans of just one individual. The diagnosis of ADHD remains clinical, based on taking a history from the child, the family and teachers." The research team used scans to measure the cortex thickness at 40,000 points in the brains of 223 children with ADHD and 223 others who were developing in a typical way. The scans were repeated two, three or four times at three-year intervals. In both groups the sensory processing and motor control areas at the back and top of the brain peaked in thickness earlier in childhood, while the frontal cortex areas responsible for higher-order executive control functions peaked later, during the teen years, they said. Delayed in the ADHD children was development of the higher-order functions and areas which coordinate those with the motor areas. The only part of the brain that matured faster in the ADHD children was the motor cortex, a finding that the researchers said might account for the restlessness and fidgety symptoms common among those with the disorder. |
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Adhd And Development Delay Health & Special Psychology
The article states this is a recent study that was done in a large group and there is no way (yet) to test it in an individual basis neither they know as yet how some kids "outgrow" it eventually and others do not. We will have to keep an eye on the latest development of this study.
Post Date: 13th Nov, 2007 - 4:25pm / Post ID: #
Delay Development Adhd
My sons gross and fine motor skills are significantly behind. He is six and can't properly hold and use scissors and still has issues with holding and using his writing utensil. He is also still very clumsy, often tripping over his own feet. Is this normal with your son, or something different? Its hard to tell since he has Aspergers as well, but his physical development seems behind when it comes to his muscles. Oh yes, and the boy never stops moving! Either bopping his head, or bouncing up and down, or waving his hands, or anything else that cannot be tied down! 
Edited: konquererz on 13th Nov, 2007 - 4:26pm
Delay Development Adhd
I noticed our son is a bit like that - constantly moving a body part, however when he needs to he can zero in on something and control it, so this means he can use a scissors properly. If you put him in a situation where he has to sit down or wait for something then he goes berserk making funny sounds or what seems to be involuntary movements. Sometimes I will ask him why he makes 'that' sound or move his body 'that' way and he will say "I don't know daddy".
Post Date: 14th Nov, 2007 - 5:38pm / Post ID: #
Adhd And Development Delay
My son does that too. But his lack of fine motor and gross motor development leans him in the direction of aspergers, and the ADHD seems to aggravate that problem. The noises and movements are typical, but my son can't tell me why he does them either.
Post Date: 21st May, 2008 - 8:53am / Post ID: #
Adhd Development Delay
Firstly I"d like to let you all know that there are support groups for ADHD/ADD and I found them most useful when I had to battle the school for my son. This is a good site to start. https://www.adales.com/results.html?joak5=A...Support%20Group
My greatest support came from this site: https://www.add.org/
This site has the latest medical information and with it I was able to get my son's IEP (Individual Education Program) changed to better suit his needs.
I"ve recently discovered https://HealthCentral.com which has a wealth of the latest information on symptomology, treatment and other websites where more specific help can be found.
One of the problems I had to face with my son is that besides his ADHD he also has perception impairment. ANY other diagnosis that may create a problem with school is going to make the ADHD worse. Mike struggled for years with his perception problem until one of his special Ed. Teachers finally realized how to solve the problem. Once Mike was no longer struggling with his perception difficulty, his attention and attitude in class improved tremendously. Konquererz, you mentioned that your son was diagnosed with Aspergers as well as ADHD. My heart goes out to you because I know that's got to be a very delicate balancing job for your family.
One of the most significant articles I"ve read on living with ADHD explained that there is a low degree of "brain malfunction" involved in this condition. Certain parts of the brain do not develop to the level of "normal" people. The part of the brain that controls emotional maturity and impulse control also happens to control the ability to write well. If your child's handwriting is terrible into age 8 or 9 then look for signs that the child is also "emotionally" only about 5 or 6. With these two things running concurrent, you have an indication that your child has ADHD. This particular article became my main weapon in my son's IEP because they were trying to teach him to write better for years when they should have been teaching him to type. I finally got his committee to believe they would never improve his handwriting and put typing on his required training list. Unfortunately for me, his teaching team decided it was a "reward" for getting his math work done and he never did learn to type in school. Even in New Jersey it is often hard to keep the staff on track with a child's IEP. I didn't learn about this failure until the year was over.
Something else I"d like you all to be aware is that ADHD doesn't always go away once a child is through puberty. Many children with this diagnosis discover ways to cope with the condition and go on to lead normal lives as adults but about 30% continue to have symptoms into their adult life. I read an article about a brilliant financier who couldn't read so he had his secretary paraphrase the important points in the articles he needed to do his job. That's a coping mechanism. This gentleman was one of the many who learned to cope with their diagnosis. My son, unfortunately, is not one of them. He's now 30 and does not have a high school education, can't hold a job for very long, get's "cornered" and will buckle (except when it comes to fighting, he WON"T get into a fist fight with anyone) and needs a lot of emotional support even now. His condition may have been caused or adversely affected by the fact that his father was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, or he may have inherited the tendency for the condition from my side of the family. We"ll never know. He still has ADHD and he still needs help coping with everyday life. The single most important thing you can do for your child with ADHD is learn how to cope with the condition, use positive reinforcement, NEVER criticize the child, only the activity that is or isn't done. ADHD children are more sensitive to criticism than others and they WILL internalize it and may develop low self esteem if they aren't encouraged to be different and learn to love themselves.
JB wrote
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| I noticed our son is a bit like that - constantly moving a body part, however when he needs to he can zero in on something and control it, so this means he can use a scissors properly. If you put him in a situation where he has to sit down or wait for something then he goes berserk making funny sounds or what seems to be involuntary movements. Sometimes I will ask him why he makes 'that' sound or move his body 'that' way and he will say "I don't know daddy". |
According to the medical research, the involuntary movements and sounds are his brain trying to get enough endomorphins going. In ADHD the brain does not produce enough so it needs to find a way to get them going. Movement and speech are two ways the brain compensates for it's chemical lack.
A technique I learned with Mike. Bring one of those toys with the stylus and a film over a waxy page where they can draw and then lift the film and the picture disappears whenever you have to go somewhere that your son will have to wait. Play tic-tac-toe with him or let him draw what he wants, it will help keep the fidgets to a minimum. We also would use the time to "teach" Mike to make change. I'd keep a handful of different coins in my pocket or wallet and we'd quietly decipher the difference between the denominations of the coins. I started doing this with Mike when he was just 4 years old. It helped later when he was learning math, too. We always had a jar with about $20.00 worth of different coins so he could "see" his math problems. Later when he was supposed to be learning more complicated math, I told him that I wanted him to try his best to grasp what the teacher wanted him to learn but that in practice all he ever needed to know about math was how to make change and keep measurements. It took a lot of stress out of the process for him since math was his worst subject.
Edited: ArrwynCliona on 21st May, 2008 - 9:02amAdhd Development Delay Psychology Special & Health
I didn't realize that there were so many things that you had to look out for, I appreciate you sharing that ArrwynCliona!
I have to agree that the education authoritys views on the IEP's varies from area to area, and I personally don't feel that my childrens IEP's are always relevant or carried out fully...they sometimes try to fob you off, or half the time the recommendations are for common sense things that you routinely do at home anyway!
It's a good idea that there are support groups for adhd, I'm guessing there are going to be more and more as adhd gets more widely recognized.
TOPIC: Adhd And Development Delay