Sandra Stein

Does your child have trouble sitting still or paying attention? Is he or she impulsive and disruptive? Have you ever found yourself wondering whether this is normal behavior for a child their age or whether it might be a sign of ADHD? If so, this article on the symptoms of ADHD in children may contain the answers to your questions and help you understand the difference. What is ADHD? ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder that typically appears in early childhood and affects a child’s behavior, causing difficulties in their day-to-day life. Symptoms are categorized in one of three ways – predominantly inattentive, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive, or a combination of the two. Taken individually, symptoms such as a short attention span or hyperactivity do not necessarily mean your child has ADHD. Nearly all children at one time or another do things that children with ADHD do, such as not pay attention, fidget, get distracted, have trouble waiting their turn, act impulsively, or run when told to walk. But if they are also able to sit still, be focused, and control themselves at least part of the time, it is probably not an indicator of ADHD. Children with ADHD are not able to do that. For them, it’s not a sometimes thing. Symptoms of ADHD in children According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) there are eighteen behaviors that can indicate that a child might have ADHD. Nine of these fall under the category of inattention, and the other nine under hyperactive-impulsive. To be diagnosed with ADHD, children under 17 years of age must exhibit six or more symptoms in either category (five or more if they are 17 or older), have had them for at least six months, and several of [...]