What you should know about girls and ADHD
Dr. Cerulli and I recently completed an interview with a parenting magazine on the differences between girls and boys and why girls often go unrecognized when they are struggling with ADHD.
For example, compared to boys who are more likely to struggle with symptoms of hyperactivity or restlessness, girls are more likely to have symptoms of inattention which often go recognized until later in childhood. Girls tend to sit quietly in the back of the classroom, often daydreaming or looking out the window and don’t fit into the publics general image of ADHD.
It is helpful to recognize some of the following symptoms often experienced by girls:
Disorganization often most noticable at her desk/locker at school where often little structure is provided.
Distractibility, both by internal and external stimuli
Girls with ADHD often appear sluggish, spacey, or drowsy.
Girls are also more likely to talk excessively while boys act before thinking.
Others discussing this topic:
The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho - November 04, 2006
Nov. 4–TWIN FALLS –She was growing apart from her daughter, but she didn’t know why. About two years ago, Meile Harris was spending more time trying to keep her daughter focused, and less time doing the things they used to do together.It seemed like it would take hours for her daughter, Taylor, to complete a homework assignment. There were no visible signs that Taylor, who is now 13 and an eighth-grader at Hansen Junior High, having problems at school. Her teachers said she was rarely disruptive during class and she always seemed attentive. And the Harris’ home was like a page out of Good Housekeeping. Her parents made it a habit of doing homework with their children, and when the kids were not busy with school activities the family would spend time together. But something wasn’t right.“It was when I really felt like we were growing apart that I thought something needed to be done,” Harris said. “That was when we started testing to see if she had signs of ADD.”
Attention Deficit Disorder, along with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, is one of the most common neurobehavioral disorders among school-age children in the United States. But many girls are not being treated for it simply because they rarely show the signs commonly associated with the disorder.
“I think there are some children being medicated simply because it just makes them easier to deal with,” said Dr. Richard Worst, a child psychologist with Magic Valley Regional Medical Center. “But what we are finding is that the most common case of underdiagnosing is typically with girls.”
Worst said girls rarely show signs of hyperactivity, which is commonly found in boys who have the disorder, so parents and teachers have difficulties identifying the disorder in girls.
Growing disorder
Children who do not receive treatment for the disorder often struggle in school and other social situations. It is estimated that 3 to 7 percent of school-age children have been diagnosed with the disorder. That means that a classroom of 25 to 30 children would have at least one student with ADD.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6.3 percent of children in Idaho are diagnosed with the disorder. But the disorder is also one of the most poorly defined. Parents and teachers rarely know what symptoms to look for, and some believe the disorder is nothing more than an excuse for an energetic child or an unruly student.
But the effects on a child who does not receive treatment for the disorder can be devastating.
In 2000, the CDC created an agenda to address the disorder because it found that ADD was not only contributing to poor class performance, but also drop-out rates, crime and unemployment.
“The majority of people with ADHD are not criminals,” Worst said. “But if they’re not treated, they do have an increased risk of becoming substance abusers or participating in criminal behavior as an adult.”
Worst said it’s not that girls with the disorder are less intelligent –it’s just that they cannot prevent their thoughts from wandering.
Attention to academics
But problems in girls usually are not apparent until their academic performance begins to suffer.
“I think I just felt like I couldn’t do the work that other kids in my class were doing,” Taylor said. “I would to listen to my teacher, but I would start thinking about other things, and when they called on me in class I wouldn’t really know what to say, so I was kind of embarrassed.”
Schools accommodate students with the disorder, but in districts such as Twin Falls, the overcrowding makes it difficult to do what is needed.
If a student is diagnosed with the disorder, the schools provide assistance such as longer time on tests, tutoring and a seat toward the front of the classroom. But as schools place more students into smaller classrooms for longer periods of time, even hearing the teacher can be a challenge.
“We were concerned about Taylor because she was going to go to the junior high, and there are more students in the classes,” Harris said. “We were fortunate that she went to Hansen, because the classes are still smaller there, but we knew it would be a challenge.”
Taylor’s mom said she thought the disorder was something the family could resolve, and she admits that she was reluctant to use medication to help Taylor.
Reluctance for Ritalin
As the number of children diagnosed with ADD began to climb in the 1990s, so did the number of prescriptions for drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall and Methylin. But most parents still hesitate to medicate their child because they hear stories about children abusing the drugs.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration classifies the drugs as Schedule II controlled substances –the same classification as cocaine or methamphetamine. However, doctors have lobbied to remove the drug from the list because the drugs “are as addictive as Tylenol.”
However, pharmaceutical companies recently released drugs, such as Strattera, that are not stimulants and are not classified as controlled substances.
Worst said studies indicate that children with ADD who use the drugs are actually less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol.
“It is interesting that we treat people with a controlled substance in order to prevent them from being substance abusers,” he said. “But even as these children grow older, more than one-third of them will usually stop taking the medication because they don’t need it any longer.”
Harris said she has been working with Taylor to teach her how to be proactive about working with ADD. Taylor currently takes Strattera during the school year, but her mom hopes she will no longer need it once she learns how to live with the disorder.
As for Taylor, she rarely talks about her disorder with other students, but she said she takes the initiative to discreetly make her environment more focus friendly.
“There was a kid in one of my classes that said he had ADD and a lot of people kind of joked about it,” she said. “So I don’t really tell anybody except a couple of my friends, but I do things like move to another part of the class where I can focus better.”
Less than two years after Taylor’s grades began to fall, she has managed to not only bring them back up, but she also is enrolled in the advanced math class. She has also become somewhat of a bookworm.
“She used to have a hard time reading, and it really concerned us,” Harris said. “I think what I love the most about this change is hearing her say that she actually enjoys reading.”
Times-News writer Joshua Palmer covers education. He can be reached at (208) 420-0526 or jpalmer@magicvalley.com.
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho,
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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