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Behavioural Disorders
Interactive
ADD
Not being able to pay close attention to or finish tasks or follow instructions completely, and being forgetful can symptoms of attention deficit disorder (ADD). A child with around six of the recognised symptoms for six months or more may have ADD.
Attention deficit disorder (ADD) refers to a range of problem behaviours associated with poor attention span. These may include impulsiveness, restlessness and inattentiveness and often prevent children from learning and socialising well.
Symptoms
Failure to finish tasks or sustain attention in play activities.
Seeming not to listen to what is said to him or her.
Failure to follow through instructions or to finish homework or chores (not because of confrontational behaviour or failure to understand instructions).
Disorganised about tasks and activities.
Avoiding tasks like homework that require sustained mental effort.
Losing things necessary for certain tasks or activities, such as pencils, books or toys.
Being easily distracted.
Forgetfulness in the course of daily activities.
Most normal children will show some of these symptoms occasionally, but if a child has at least six of these symptoms for at least six months to an extent that is unusual for their age and level of intelligence they may have ADD.
What else could it be?
Grand mal or petit mal epileptic seizures can cause a child to become drowsy, impairing their attention. Epilepsy can also cause unusual behaviour and lead to abnormal perceptions.
Hearing problems such as deafness or glue ear can make it hard for a child to follow instructions and make them appear inattentive.
Reading problems, making it hard to complete tasks or follow instructions.
Obsessive compulsive disorder leads to people following strange rituals that preoccupy their thoughts and distract their attention.
Tourette's syndrome involves repetitive, involuntary jerking movements of the body and sudden outbursts of noise or swearing.
Autism and Asperger's syndrome often lead to difficulties in understanding and using language.
Prolonged periods of insufficient sleep, causing poor concentration.
Many children may be very active or be easily distracted or have difficulty concentrating. If these behaviours are relatively mild, they should not be considered a disorder.
Treatment
See ADHD
