Chapter 9: ADHD Flashcards
What is ADHD?
Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder
People with ADHD typically exhibit behaviors that are classified into two main categories: (1) poor sustained attention and (2) hyperactivity-impulsivity.
ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder defined by impairing levels of…
Inattention: difficulty staying on task, seeming not to listen
Disorganization: losing materials at levels that are inconsistent with age or developmental level
Hyperactivity-impulsivity: overactivity, fidgeting, inability to stay seated, intruding into other people’s activities, and inability to wait.
How ADHD defined by the DSM-5?
ADHD is defined as a group of disorders characterized by early onset, a lack of persistence in activities that require cognitive involvement, and a tendency to move from one activity to another without completing any one of them, together with disorganized, non-regulated, and excessive activity.
According to the DSM-5, what is the criteria for diagnosis of ADHD?
The criteria for ADHD diagnosis among children aged 4 to 17 include the appearance of six characteristics or more of inattention and/or six characteristics or more of hyperactivity-impulsivity for more than 6 months, prediagnosis.
What are the 3 subtypes of ADHD?
- Predominantly inattentive (ADHD-I)—the main symptom is attention deficit.
- Predominantly hyperactivity-impulsive (ADHD-HI)— the main symptom is excessive motor activity, including fidgeting, restlessness, and difficulty remaining seated. In addition, hyperactivity is manifested by impulsivity such as interrupting and not waiting for a turn.
- Combined types (ADHD-C)—this includes both attention deficit and hyperactive impulsive subtypes.
What does ADHD look like in infants?
In infants, deficient self-regulation or maladaptive behavior, excess crying, an inability to calm down, sleep disorders, and a prolonged state of dissatisfaction are common.
They have difficulty sustaining attention to complete tasks and tend to jump from one task to another.
What does ADHD look like in adolescence?
During adolescence, children with ADHD often have difficulties managing their schedule and maintaining a routine; they may miss appointments and other obligations because of difficulty organizing in space and time.
At this age, they are at risk for antisocial and dangerous behaviors, as well as addiction, because they seek to be part of, and belong to, social groups that often reject them.
What are biomarkers for ADHD?
genetic/biological, cognitive, and environmental factors.
What are genetic and biological factors of ADHD?
Families in which one of the parents has ADHD have an 80% chance of having a child with ADHD.
There is evidence for disruptions in the connectivity between anatomical structures in the brain—disruptions that occur both at rest and during performance of cognitive tasks.
What are environmental factors associated with ADHD?
Environmental factors, such as excess levels of the heavy metals lead and manganese, are associated with ADHD.
How does ADHD impact executive functions?
Individuals with ADHD may have difficulty making simple choices, choosing what is most important to pay attention to in their surroundings, and deciding what they wish to do and how they will react to achieve a certain goal.
Effective organization across time requires initiation, logical ordering, continuation, and completion of the steps and action sequences needed to perform tasks (i.e., the individual initiates, continues, sequences, and terminates). Effective organization of space and objects pertains to the skills needed to search for, locate, gather, and organize tools and materials needed for completion of tasks, as well as navigational skills.
Executive functions are often more evident when they are impaired or absent than when intact, in the following situations:
When multitasking is required
When goals need to be formulated to accomplish a task
When tasks have a particular sequence of activities that must be performed for their successful completion
When competing stimuli must be ignored to maintain goal-directed activities
When there is a conflict between what one needs to do and what one would prefer to do
How does ADHD impact sensory motor abilities?
There is a tendency for over responsiveness, meaning that individuals with ADHD may be particularly sensitive to sensory stimuli, which can impact occupational performance.
Children with ADHD may also have motor deficits, which play an important role in the performance of ADLs and the development of academic skills.
How does ADHD impact family interactions?
Children’s functional abilities may influence the whole family’s daily routines. Studies have indicated that the family routine is influenced by the presence of a child with ADHD and have described the daily atmosphere at home as including conflict and being chaotic and fatiguing.
The presence of a child with ADHD is associated, to varying degrees, with disturbances in family and marital functioning, disrupted parent-child relation- ships, reduced parenting self-efficacy, and increased levels of parental stress and parental psychopathology, particularly when ADHD is comorbid with conduct problems.
How does ADHD impact academic functions?
Other common academic issues include low rates of on-task behavior, task completion, and positive exchanges with teachers.
Because of the inability to fulfill the requirements of the academic environment, secondary emotional consequences occur.
