Researchers are unclear exactly what happens within the brain of an ADD child. Medical science is sure that ADD is caused by abnormalities in neurological function. Chemicals known as neurotransmitters are improperly balanced in an ADD child. The average person can automatically communicate thoughts from the left side to the right side of the brain. This inner communication does not occur in an ADD child. Thus, these children have problems with attention, impulse control and activity level.
Although many ADD children tend to develop secondary emotional problems, ADD is not primarily an emotional disorder. However, emotional and behavioral problems can frequently be seen in ADD children due to the problems these students tend to have within their school, home and community.
The ADD, ADHD child is very often caught in a negative loop. They often fail in school, are rejected by peers, and are the center of a family’s turmoil. All of these lead to developmental delays and psychiatric complications caused from low self-esteem and frustration. With this downward cycle occurring, ADD can lead to poor social adjustment, behavioral problems, school failure, dropout and delinquency, and drug abuse.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed., rev.) (DSM-IV-R). Washington, DC: APA.
“Merely watching someone else’s continuous movements will not allow me to mimic them–I have to have the steps broken down sequentially, much like how I must have explicit directions on how to get to a new place rather than trying to follow a continuous map.”
– Dr. Lars Perner (asst. professor clinical Marketing at Univ. of Southern California)
