Center for Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Inc.

ADHD or attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is one of the most common behavioral problems in children.  The Centers for Disease Control estimates that as many as 9.5% of children and adolescents have been diagnosed with ADHD at some point in their lives.

Symptoms of ADHD include problems with attention and / or hyperactivity and impulivity.  

Some children just have problems with attention whereas others may have both problems with attention and hyperactivity/impulsivity.  A few children with ADHD may just have hyperactivity/impullsivity.

Inattentive symptoms include often making careless mistakes, having trouble focusing, not listening, being messy and disorganized, avoiding schoolwork that requires mental effort, being forgetful, losing things, not following through on instructions and being easily distracted.

Hyperactive / impulsive symptoms include often fidgeting, trouble staying seated, talking excessively, running or climbing when it is not appropriate, having trouble playing quietly, acting as if driven by a motor, having trouble waiting turns, blurting out and interrupting.

If your child has some of these symptoms and is having difficulty in school, with friends or at home, he or she may have ADHD.