Attention Deficit Disorder Symptoms

There is a disorder marked by an inability of a person to focus on task and control outbursts of emotion.

It is known as Attention Deficit Disorder and it affects many people both young and old.

It can cause a child to perform poorly in school or cause an adult to loose a job because of too many unfinished tasks.

But what are the Attention Deficit Disorder symptoms?

What are the signals that give attention to a problem of this nature in a person?

One Attention Deficit Disorder symptom is the inability of a person to focus on and complete a task.

A trigger to this Attention Deficit Disorder symptom could be that the task to achieve is overwhelming and the child or adult just does a little of it and gives up.

To help the person stay on task and overcome this Attention Deficit Disorder symptom is to break down the overall task in to smaller subtasks and provide positive encouragement and reinforcement if it is accomplished properly.

Another strategy against this Attention Deficit Disorder symptom is to stay away from long-winded explanations and give brief and simple instructions.

Another Attention Deficit Disorder symptom is the inability for a person to organize.

This goes back to the inability to focus and stay with a task until complete too.

This Attention Deficit Disorder symptom gets especially bothersome in adulthood as important papers and valuables are lost or misplaced because of the disorganization.

Behavioral therapy is the way to deal with this Attention Deficit Disorder symptom by helping the child get organized.

Don’t leave the organization task up to him or her.

Put toys and important items in the same place everyday so that the child will get used to the routine.

For an adult it is much more difficult to overcome this attention deficit disorder symptom and it will require breaking the organization job down into very small tasks that will have to carried out daily.

An Attention Deficit Disorder symptom often seen in a child is the inability for him or her to stay seated and listen in school or some other place where undivided attention is required.

One of the ways to deal with this symptom is to make sure that the child knows that this behavior is unacceptable.

Establish a system to reward the child for the proper behavior.

If there is a setback and the child reverts back to the Attention Deficit Disorder symptom then you will need to be patient and avoid yelling.

Calmly tell the child that the behavior is inappropriate and withhold the reward.

It is thought that any Attention Deficit Disorder symptom can be treated effectively with a combination of medicine and behavior therapy.

However behavior therapy is used first as no one wants to put a child on drugs right away.

But when the behavior therapy is not working by itself then treatment will involve adding medicines.

These medicines are usually in combination with a continued behavior modification plan.

Some of the medications are:

• Stimulants – thought to help brain neurotransmitter activity. An Attention Deficit Disorder symptom is decreased neurotransmitter activity in the frontal part of the brain where attentiveness and emotions are controlled.
• Non-stimulants – These are much like stimulants but without as many side effects.
• Anti-depressants – These should be used with caution because they can actually increase suicide tendencies in the person taking them. Consult your doctor.

So there are many methods to treat any Attention Deficit Disorder symptom but make sure your doctor or therapist shares all information with you.