Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is an Early Childhood Problem

A condition that becomes apparent in children who are in preschool and early years of schooling is referred to as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and it becomes tough for children to have control over their behavior and/or pay attention.

It is believed that there could be as many as three to five percent of children who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorders and that may amount to as many as two million children living in the United States. In a classroom consisting of 25 to 30 children one can expect at least one child to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

First People Who Understood this Problem

In 1845, Dr. Heinrich Hoffman, a physician given to writing books on medicine and psychiatry, first described attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Also given to writing poetry for children, Dr. Hoffman wrote a book of poems that were illustrated regarding children and their characteristics and called the book The Story of Fidgety Philip which described a little boy who was afflicted with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Then in 1902, Sir George Still described in a series of lectures, how groups of impulsive children who had significant behavioral problems that were a result of genetic dysfunction and not bad child rearing would have symptoms that roughly equate what are today known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have to contend with difficult though not insurmountable tasks ahead of them and in order to achieve their full potential, need help, guidance as well as understanding from parents, guidance counselors and the public system of education.

The main characteristics of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are inattention, hyperactivity as well as impulsiveness and mostly occur in the early stages of a child’s life. When a child appears impulsive and hyperactive and these signs precede inattention which may not appear for a year or so, one can safely assume that the first symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have set in and different symptoms may be seen in different settings and depend on the situation as well as how well the child can control them.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may manifest itself in different forms and children who act without thinking or are restless or sometimes daydream the time away and such a condition prevents the child from performing well in school, in social relationships with other children or whose behavior at home is inconsistent could be having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.