Attention Seeking Confused with ADHD

Independent Educational Psychologist Dr. Nigel Mellor issued a mild warning last week that some kids who are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD may simply be seeking attention.

"The researcher said there are many behaviors which can be observed during attention seeking interactions. Behaviors commonly associated with ADHD (over activity, poor concentration and impulsivity) can appear within attention seeking behavior."

Dr. Mellor's research on the subject focused in part on 15 schools and last for three years, during which time he determined that it is possible to distinguish between attention seeking and ADHD, which allows children to be treated more specifically and more appropriately.

Teaching Attention

A special education teacher in Manhattan has developed a unique way of teaching her kids to pay attention. A pre-recorded chime is played four times during her class, and students with attention problems are asked to record - on a scale of 0 to 4 - how much they were paying attention when the chime sounded.

"The students average and compile these results from their 'Attention Monitoring Check Sheets' monthly, graph their attention spans, and set goals for the next month."

The Manhattan teacher has seen excellent results from this practice. Students become aware of the times when they're more likely to be distracted, and they have a visual representation of their improvement.

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Computer Program Improves Attention

Professor Torkel Klingberg of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology recently conducted a study that measured the working memory (WM) functions of children with ADHD. Working memory is a common problem for people with ADHD and Dr. Klingberg's study explored the connection between WM problems and other ADHD symptoms.

"In a preliminary study, Klingberg found that a training of WM tasks can enhance executive functioning including working memory, response inhibition and reasoning in children with ADHD. The [follow-up] trial included 53 children with ADHD and revealed a significant treatment effect both at intervention and follow-up."

The results of both studies seem to indicate that systematic development of working memory in children with ADHD helps reduce other symptoms both during the treatment and up to three months afterwards. Parents of the children who were involved in the study also reported a significant decrease in their children's symptoms.

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Children Who Watch Too Much TV Have Problems Paying Attention

A New Zealand longitudinal study of 1000 children found that watching more television than average was linked to inability to pay attention.

Dr. Robert Hancox and his colleagues at the University of Otago had parents and older children keep track of how much television a child watched at ages three, five, eleven, thirteen and fifteen. The average amount was two hours per day for younger children, and three hours for teenagers. Children who watched more than those amounts tended to have problems focusing and paying attention.

Dr. Hancox and others theorize that television watching may influence brain development. Another explanation might be that the fast pace of television shows makes reality boring for children. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children watch no more than two hours per day, and that children under age two years watch no television at all.

This study appears in the September 2007 issue of Pediatrics magazine.

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Manual Transmission may Help Teens with ADHD

The University of Virginia has been studying the driving habits of teenagers with ADHD. In an effort to find ways of making driving safer, they tested the performance of teenage boys when driving both manual and automatic transmission cars.

"The results show that the teens drove twice as better on a manual car than an automatic one. 'When I'm driving my manual I have to pay attention to the road more...' said Cory Cox, a teen driver."

Teens with ADHD are at risk of becoming inattentive while driving, increasing the danger to both themselves and others.

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Smoking Linked to Problems In Focusing and Paying Attention

Scientists at Yale University found a link between smoking and a teen's ability to pay attention and focus on tasks involving hearing and sight.

Teens whose mothers smoked during pregnancy performed the worst on a series of tests that evaluate the ability to understand visual and auditory cues. Teens who smoked themselves did better, but those teens who never smoked and who were not exposed to prenatal smoke scored the best.

Exposure to smoke affected male auditory development, but it affected both auditory and visual development in girls.

Dr. Leslie K. Jacobsen of Yale University School of Medicine said, "The present findings underscore the importance of developing smoking prevention programs that target women of childbearing age." About 16 percent of pregnant women are smokers.