ADHD affects about four percent of children globally and is diagnosed in about eight percent of school-aged children. ADHD is a chronic disorder with forty percent of those individuals diagnosed in childhood continuing to have symptoms into adulthood. It is estimated that five percent of American adults live with ADHD. ADHD is diagnosed 3 times more frequently in boys than in girls. ADHD management usually involves some combination of medications, behavior modifications, lifestyle changes and counseling. Its symptoms can be difficult to differentiate from other disorders, increasing the likelihood that the diagnosis of ADHD will be missed.

ADD and ADHD disorders may have symptoms that can begin in childhood. This can cause issues at home, school, work or in relationships. Most children display these traits at one time or another, to be diagnosed the symptoms should be inappropriate for the child’s age. Adults can have the disorder also. Many times, they also had the disorder as a child. As an adult, the symptoms may also vary; restlessness, problems with interpersonal relationships and employment can result.

Some symptoms include:

• Difficulty paying attention to details and tendency to make careless mistakes in school or other activities; producing work that is often messy and careless
• Easily distracted by irrelevant stimuli and frequently interrupting ongoing tasks to attend to trivial noises or events that are usually ignored by others
• Inability to sustain attention on tasks or activities
• Difficulty finishing schoolwork or paperwork or performing tasks that require concentration
• Frequent shifts from one uncompleted activity to another
• Procrastination
• Disorganized work habits
• Forgetfulness in daily activities (for example, missing appointments, forgetting to bring lunch)
• Failure to complete tasks such as homework or chores
• Frequent shifts in conversation, not listening to others, not keeping one’s mind on conversations, and not following details or rules of activities in social situations