ADHD brings up hundreds of unanswered questions, the biggest being; is it genetic, environmental, or both? Another important question for me, is how is ADHD related to intelligence if at all? By now you might have guessed that I myself am diagnosed with ADHD. One of the main reasons I decided to take Developmental Pyschology, was my desire to answer some of my questoins regarding ADHD. With tons upon tons of home videos, I have decided to devote my research paper to observing myself as a toddler. .
My father and mother video taped, on average, 30 minute segments of family time starting when I was born till the age of six. I viewed three 2 and a half hour tapes. The first tape is from Nov27, 1982, until 1984, from my birth to the age of 2. The second tape is from 1984-1986, from the ages 2 to 4. The final tape is from 1987. The three tapes provide a convienient way of separating the different age of observation in this paper. In explaining my observations, I will use the name David for my father, Fawn for my mother, and Lev for my baby brother, born in March of 1985. .
These upcoming observations will clearly have a certain level of bias, being that I am observing myself. I have tried to be as objective as possible in my observation, and have kept it as impersonal as I can. Because of the rarity of possibilities to study oneself, I feel that the benefits gained from this experiment outweigh the bias involved. Getting that out of the way, on to the thesis. .
Until now, my research on ADHD had lead me to believe that it was someone genetic disposed, and somewhat environmentally disposed. Like it explains in Environmental Factors and ADHD, from the journal ADHD of the Christian Kind, "ADHD is a neurological difference, but if we can eliminate negative behaviors through environmental choices(made mostly by parents), then children can learn to embrace their differences." This implies that given the right kind of direction, a child with ADHD can turn into an extremely successful individual.