We hear a lot about hyperactivity, impulsivity and difficulty focusing when ADHD is discussed. Think of the child climbing over the chairs in the waiting room at the doctor’s office or the one darting away from parents in a parking lot. Either child will make observers tense and maybe even a bit irritated. Often, the first response from that observer is that the child must have ADHD. After all, ADHD is one of the most frequently diagnosed childhood disorders – 5 percent of children have the disorder, according to the DSM-5, with some reports as high as 11 percent.
But what is it about the disorder that causes some children to behave so impulsively? While it has long been known that ADHD is a neurological disorder, more and more research shows “abnormalities in the brains of children” with the disorder “that may serve as a biomarker for the disorder,” according to an article in Science Daily.
This information comes from a study presented to the Radiological Society of North America, which “showed abnormal functional activity in several regions of the brain involved in the processing of visual attention information” and “found that communication among the brain regions within this visual attention-processing pathway was disrupted in the children with ADHD.”
Continued research will help more people understand not only the why of ADHD but also, and perhaps more importantly, the how – how can we better work with children with ADHD? As we better understand the brain activity in children with the disorder, we will be better prepared to teach them strategies for coping with their unique brain function.