There are three main components of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in kids. In this video, HealthMaker Roy Boorady, MD, child & adolescent psychiatrist, breaks down the three branches-- inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity.
So the three main components of ADHD would be inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity, and under each of those would be various sort of specific symptoms you ask for in terms of being able to focus, destructibility, being able to sustain attention, being to get started and to stick to things, the hyper activity is that inner sense of restlessness, I can't sit still, I need to move, the hyper activity I think is the kind of classic image of people who have ADHD of somebody who is running around the classroom and sort of can't sit still, but the hyperactivity could also be sort of doing things or saying things without thinking.
So those would be the sort of the three main components that we would ask about both the parents, but also the school or the teachers.
Roy Boorady, MD, is a leading child psychiatrist at Child Mind Institute. Prior to this he was the clinical director of the NYU Child Study Center's Psychopharmacology Service. Boorady is an advocate for individualized treatment plans.
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