ADHD Diagnosis Essay Research Paper Attentiondeficit hyperactivity

ADHD Diagnosis Essay, Research Paper

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) is much more prevalent in today.s society

compared to previous generations. More and more people are being diagnosed at an alarming

rate. To our surprise, I learned this disorder does not only affect children. There are many adults

who suffer from it also. ADHD characteristics are neuro-biologically based, and they often

change as the individual gets older. One does not out-grow ADHD even though the behaviors, or

symptoms may not be exhibited in the same manner or with the same intensity. After learning

this fact, I thought it would be very interesting to see how this disorder affects both children and

college students. Therefore, I choose one journal article which relates ADHD to children, and the

other which deals with the effects of ADHD on college students.

The first journal article I researched, .An Intervention Approach for Children with

Teacher and Parent Identified Attentional Difficulties,. explained that inattention, impulsivity,

distractibility, and restlessness are all signs of a child with an attention-deficit hyperactivity

disorder. .There are three subtypes of ADHD which have been defined by the Diagnostic and

Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as: predominantly inattentive, predominately hyperactive

impulsive, and combined. (Semrud-Clekeman, Nielsen, Clinton, Sylvester, Parle, and Connor,

1999). Usually children who exhibit these subtypes have difficulty completing assignments,

displaying high qualities of work, and maintaining good behaviors. Children with the

hyperactivity-impulsivity subtype do not display significant attentional problems, though they are

identified as young as pre-schoolers. However, symptoms of inattention don.t typically emerge

until the later ages, which must be why the predominately inattentive and combined subtypes of

ADHD have been found in older school-age children.

These children who have been identified as having ADHD, show an inability to

use effective problem solving over a period of time. When researchers looked at their brain

structures, they found that the frontal-striatal regions are involved with the child.s ability to

inhibit, focus, and shift attention.

Researchers have formed interventions involving the behavioral or cognitive

management of children with ADHD. Attention-training strategies, classroom-based

contingency systems, home-school contingencies, and peer-mediated contingencies are examples

of these interventions. In an effort to measure students with ADHD, in addition to medication

and intervention strategies, researchers conducted two types of tests.

The first test, the visual attention task, required the child to scan fourteen rows of

d.s, each d had one to three marks around it. The child was instructed to select the d.s with two

marks around them. The children were also told to move down to the next row every twenty

seconds. The score is calculated by subtracting the errors from the total amount correct. .It was

suggested that this task assesses the capacity for sustained attention as well as accurate visual

scanning and inhibition of rapid responses.(Semrud-Clekeman, Nielsen, Clinton, Sylvester,

Parle, and Connor, 1999, p. 585).

The second test, the auditory attention task, required the child to listen to random

letters and numbers. Afterwards, they were asked to remember how many letters or numbers they

heard. The child must keep in mind the letters and numbers they heard for each stimulus at the

same time. The test starts out with four stimuli and finishes with twelve. .This task has been

hypothesized to be a measure of auditory divided attention as well as sustained

attention.(Semrud-Clekeman, Nielsen, Clinton, Sylvester, Parle, and Connor, 1999, p. 585).

The results of this study confirmed that children with ADHD who had help

through the intervention programs showed an increase in their performance on visual and

auditory attention tasks, while the other children without the help of intervention programs did

not show any improvement. .These children most likely represent a continuum of attention and

activity / impulsivity problems and may describe the population of children with significant

attention problems who are infrequently referred for an assessment beyond the

pediatrician.(Semrud-Clekeman, Nielsen, Clinton, Sylvester, Parle, and Connor, 1999, p. 587). It

seems very probable that children with attention and work completion difficulties without

significant behavioral and learning problems often go unaided in classrooms today.

The second journal article I selected is titled .Psychological Functioning

Differences Among College Students With Confirmed ADHD, ADHD by Self-Report Only, and

Without ADHD.. In an attempt to understand attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder, professor

Lee A. Rosen, psychologist Cori Ann Ramirez, and doctoral student Tracy L. Richards have

researc

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