Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.
Do you remember a bully or outcast in your grade school years that always required extra attention from the teacher or couldn't sit still long enough for a short story to be read? Do you remember the child who always interrupted when someone was talking? Do you remember how your teacher handled it? For years, children have been accused of being hyperactive and sometimes annoying or out of control in the classroom. Often times, teachers have a huge task of settling the problem child and dealing with the culprits; consequently, they have trouble completing their primary job of teaching. Extreme measures may be taken that are not necessary. Other children may be slighted or do not receive the extra help that they need. This is due to ignorance and lack of knowledge on the part of the teacher. Hyperactivity and inattention are often associated with the misfits of the group when in actuality are defined as, "extra active" according to Dr. Martin Baren (1995) in his booklet, Hyperactivity and Attention Disorders in Children. The official name of the disorder that children who are hyperactive may not be "misfit", but a serious clinical condition called Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD (Baren, 1995). To better describe the disorder, some background information, the causes and myths of causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment must be discussed.
In 1968, the American Psychiatric Association published a claim in their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that was described as a "hyperkinetic reaction of childhood", to introduce the idea of children with excessive hyperactivity. This claim was said to be only in children and did not continue into adulthood. In 1980, in the third edition of the same manual, the official term of Attention Deficit Disorder was used. Although all of the terms used mean basically the same thing, certain words have been added to cover a variety of symptoms and to classify the disorder more appropriately.