ADHD and Learning Disabilities

There are many psychological conditions that may affect a person’s ability to learn. These conditions may not always directly be considered to be a learning disability. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one such condition. However, it is recognised that a large proportion of people with ADHD may also have some form of one or more specific learning disabilities.

Diagnosing ADHD

ADHD encapsulates a number of symptoms, not all of which are necessarily present in every case. This can sometimes make a positive diagnosis difficult. As the term ADHD covers such a broad spectrum of possible symptoms, in 1992 the World Health Organisation created a new term entitled ‘Hyperkinetic Disorder’. This is highly specific to only the core symptoms of ADHD, and is therefore a narrower diagnosis.

One or more of the symptoms associated with ADHD are normally first observed when a child reaches early school age. In this respect it is often wrongly confused with several forms of learning disabilities. Specific statistics relating to the number of people that have ADHD are hard to determine, since diagnosis is often difficult. However, it is thought that up to 5% of people live with some form of ADHD.

People with ADHD often experience difficulty in holding concentration, and are said to be inattentive. They may also find they are impulsive and hyperactive. In some instances, certain symptoms may be more prevalent than others. For instance, people that mainly exhibit symptoms of being inattentive, but experience hyperactivity to a much lesser extent are sometimes referred to as having Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). This is also referred to as ‘ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Type’.

Similarly, people that mainly experience the hyperactive and impulsive side of ADHD are often classed as having ‘ADHD Predominantly Hyperactive Impulsive Type.’

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Treatment For ADHD

When a person is positively identified as having ADHD, they are commonly placed on some form of medication in an attempt to make the symptoms more manageable. This medication normally consists of stimulants. The rationale is that the person with ADHD will be more able to concentrate, if their central nervous system is stimulated. Medications that are commonly used include, Ritalin, Adderall and Dexadrine.

However, there is growing concern that the side effects of these medications may be so detrimental that they outweigh the positive effects of dealing with ADHD. In many instances, patients on these stimulants will have problems with reduced appetite and disturbed sleeping patterns. This is in many ways similar to the problems experienced by heavy coffee drinkers.

Sometimes the side effects are so apparent that the person with ADHD will need to use some form of sedative simply to achieve a good night’s sleep. Anti-depressants are also sometimes prescribed, and these too carry with them unwanted side effects.

For these reasons, people with ADHD and their health advisors are being urged to explore different potential methods for combating the main symptoms of ADHD.

As a person with ADHD gets older, their symptoms often become habitual to a greater degree than where children are concerned. These people are encouraged to try cognitive behavioural therapy, which in many cases is highly successful and reduces the need to rely on the common forms of medication.

The Next Step

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