Australasian Science: Australia's authority on science since 1938

Home

Brain Patterns Put ADHD in Focus

A spatial map of the cortical surface area portion of the multimodal brain pattern, demonstrating increases (red) and decreases (blue) associated with ADHD symptoms.

A spatial map of the cortical surface area portion of the multimodal brain pattern, demonstrating increases (red) and decreases (blue) associated with ADHD symptoms.

Helping Families Through Better Understanding

Tomas Elliott was 6 years old when he was diagnosed with ADHD. Now 13, the youngster can struggle to understand and manage his difficulties.

His father, David, says that identifying affected areas of the brain could lead to earlier detection, new therapies and give individuals a clearer understanding of the severity of their condition. Such knowledge would help schools, families and the children themselves.

“As a parent, you want to know about life outcomes,” David says. “Will they get a job? Will they finish school? Will they be happy? It would be empowering for families to have a more concrete picture of what’s happening in their child’s brain, and for the kids to understand themselves better.”

ADHD can be a very frustrating condition as parents grapple with the fact that standard positive parenting strategies are ineffective. Their children often need to be asked to do something many times before they respond. They are often restless and noisy, and are sometimes on the go all day, which can really wear parents down.

Having a child with ADHD can be extremely disruptive for everyone and put a real strain on relationships between family members, including between the parents. Siblings can feel left out as the child with ADHD demands so much attention.

It’s also tough on the child with ADHD, who tends to be as intelligent as his or her peers but is confronted by a series of stumbling blocks. These kids often struggle to demonstrate their intelligence because they find it so hard to focus on one task for any period of time. Their impulsivity can also really interfere with their social life as friends often find them unpredictable or annoying.

Despite increases in understanding and recognition of ADHD, the main treatment remains stimulant medications such as Ritalin, which have not changed for 50 years. Psychological and educational interventions are also treatment mainstays to target co-occurring problems, such as anxiety, oppositional behaviour and learning difficulties.

By Tim Silk, Emma Sciberras & Daryl Efron

Brain scans are revealing the neurobiology underlying specific symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and raising the prospect of individualised treatments.

The full text of this article can be purchased from Informit.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting 5% of school-aged children. It is typically characterised by inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity, although not all children with these behaviours will have ADHD. Similarly, not all children with ADHD show the same symptoms. We still don’t know what the underlying mechanisms are in ADHD, but it’s quite clear that it’s not isolated to one or two areas of the brain.

ADHD is a multi-faceted disorder, with a range of risk factors and related conditions adding to its complexity. Diagnostic and treatment decisions are currently made through structured questionnaires and interviews with parents, teachers and children. Specific psychological testing is also used to uncover an individual’s particular difficulties and challenges. At present there is no role for brain scans, brainwave tests or blood tests in the diagnosis of ADHD.

The fact that ADHD presents differently in children suggests there may be a combination of factors at play with specific biological foundations in the brain. In order to improve treatments or predict the likely progression of the condition, it’s important for researchers and clinicians to understand what is happening in the brain.

A Different Approach to ADHD

There have been two recent conceptual shifts in neuro­psychiatric...

The full text of this article can be purchased from Informit.
Tags: