| Most of the ADHD kids that are seen in a private | | | | are any changes in that environment. If anything has |
| practice setting are hyperactive kids simply because | | | | changed, then that part of the brain asks the question, |
| they get into the most trouble. Their parents are usually | | | | "Is this new thing in the environment good or bad? Is it |
| pulling their hair out and saying, "We've got to get this | | | | something good to eat, or is it going to eat me? How |
| child some help." The sad truth is that if a parent is | | | | should I feel about this new thing? Should I like it, or be |
| going to spend money to get treatment for his kid, that | | | | afraid or it?" In many ADHD kids who are hyperactive |
| kid's usually got to get into trouble first. So that's why | | | | this part of the brain is overly sensitive, and the kids |
| hyperactive kids are seen the most in treatment. | | | | are seen as being easily startled or scared, |
| Remember, though, not all of the kids with Attention | | | | overreacting to things, touching everything around |
| Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are hyperactive. Perhaps | | | | them, and being very edgy. |
| as many as two out of three are, but perhaps as few | | | | They never seem to be able to just relax. Some of |
| as only 50%. So, that means that as many as 35% to | | | | these kids also have a very quick temper, a short |
| 50% of kids with ADHD are not hyperactive. | | | | fuse. They are sometimes explosive. They often lose |
| So, what is hyperactivity? If you have a child who is | | | | friends because of their intensity and temper, and they |
| hyperactive, you need no explanation. He's the one | | | | often seem to run over people like a tornado. |
| running across the ceiling. But for the rest of you, this is | | | | But as we have said, a lot of ADHD kids are not |
| what hyperactivity in children and teens looks like. | | | | hyperactive. And the kids who are not hyperactive |
| These are kids that act as if they are driven by a | | | | tend to be girls, and they tend to sit in the back of the |
| motor. They "go." You wind them up in the morning | | | | classroom and just quietly get C's and D's when |
| and they "go" until they're finally exhausted, and then | | | | everyone knows they should be getting A's and B's. |
| they go to sleep, maybe. Some of these sleep pretty | | | | These kids with ADHD without hyperactivity are the |
| well during the night, and some of them hardly need | | | | one's being labeled as "lazy" and at the parent |
| sleep at all. Three hours of sleep and they're up and | | | | conferences the parents are told, "He or she could do |
| ready to go. | | | | better if they'd just try harder." |
| One definition of hyperactivity is "high levels of | | | | You can learn more about the different types of |
| non-goal directed motor activity." A child with high | | | | ADHD. There are at least five different types of |
| levels of motor activity that is always directed at a | | | | ADHD, and there are specific treatment strategies that |
| goal may not be clinically hyperactive. He may be a | | | | should be used for each type. Impulsive children need |
| future professional athlete or rocket scientist. It's the kid | | | | a different strategy than children who are not |
| who bounces from one activity to another, in a manner | | | | impulsive, and hyperactive children need a different |
| inappropriate for their age, which is our concern. | | | | strategy than children who are not hyperactive. So be |
| Hyperactivity is often thought of as the child being | | | | sure to visit the ADHD Information Library's section on |
| "over aroused." There is a part of your brain that is | | | | the Different Types of ADHD. |
| constantly scanning the environment to see if there | | | | |