For Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

(A.D.H.D)

 

You have probably heard people saying that you have got A.D.H.D - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. We call it A.D.H.D because it’s easier to say. You are probably wondering what it all means?  Well, it affects everyone differently and you might hear people saying that you cannot concentrate on anything for very long, you are easily distracted, impulsive, disorganised, have poor co-ordination and are overactive. But what do all these things mean?

Poor concentration - An example might be at school. The teacher asks you to write a story and you have so much to write in your mind, but it all takes such a long time and you get fed up so don’t finish the story or you write it down so quickly that you miss half the story out.

It may be that when your mum or teacher is telling you something you try to listen but are easily distracted.  For example if someone walks by the window, you might watch what they are doing and don’t listen to what you are being told. Maybe you set off going to a friend’s house, stop to talk to someone on the way and end up going to the shops instead of to your friend’s house.  

If you hear people say you are impulsive this just means that you do things without thinking first. Perhaps you know you shouldn’t go across the road, but you are playing ball with your friend and the ball goes into the road and you don’t stop and look first, like you know you should, you just rush out into the road for your ball, (and this is dangerous). Or you know at school to put your hand up to answer a question but you just find it difficult to keep quiet and often shout the answers out.

At school you probably forget where you have put things like your spelling book, pencil case etc. and at home your bedroom is always messy (this is called being disorganised).

Having poor co-ordination just means that you are probably clumsy, knock things over all the time and bump into things, and you might find things like football or tennis difficult to play.

At school and home you might find it difficult to sit still for a long time and everyone probably tells you that you are always fidgeting or fiddling, this is probably because you are overactive.

All these things may mean that you are always in trouble at school and home. You probably feel that you can never do anything right, everything you try goes wrong and you feel people think you are stupid and dislike you. We call this having a low self-esteem - you might have heard teachers, parents or doctors talk about this. We want to make you feel good about yourself.

You probably want to know why all these things happen to you? We think that A.D.H.D is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. The brain is very difficult to understand and there is no really simple way to explain it. I will try and explain it to you more if you want, if this would be helpful you can arrange to come and talk with me.

To keep things simple for now, we can look at it this way.

ü     Our brains are part of a system that uses chemicals in our bloodstream to send messages round our bodies.

ü     These messages give our bodies instructions, such as “run” or “sit still”

ü     Sometimes there are problems with the way these messages are understood, by our bodies

ü     These messages may get mixed up, our bodies may get them in the wrong order or at the wrong time

ü     We think that for people with A.D.H.D. this messenger system may not be working properly.

Unfortunately the doctors cannot fix the system but they can sometimes help it with tablets. There are different types of tablets but the one we use the most is called Methylphenidate (Ritalin).

Methylphenidate (Ritalin) is a Dopamine enhancer. (Dopamine is one of the many chemicals produced in the brain and the Doctors think that people with A.D.H.D probably don’t produce enough Dopamine). Ritalin increases the amount of Dopamine in the brain, which allows it to receive the correct messages - in the right time & order.

It is all very difficult to understand - even for adults. Ritalin won’t change the person you are but it might improve the way your brain works and it will probably make you feel much calmer. It is very important to tell your parents how taking the tablets make you feel. It is also important that you don’t use having A.D.H.D or the tablets as an excuse for not trying. You will learn more about the way your brain works as you get older and hopefully ‘learn’ ways of helping yourself,  this may mean you don’t need to take the tablets any more.