Kids will be kids and all of them are different. Kids get excited about different things, and get very excited about things that adults may find to be only mildly interesting, if interesting at all. So how do you know if your child has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or is simply being a normal kid?

Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD, also sometimes known as ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is difficult to diagnose accurately. In many ways it is a subjective option of the doctor since there is little scientific evidence to definitely state whether or not a child has ADD or ADHD. But at the same time, the reported cases of ADD are rising rapidly, which scientists do not understand. If the child has a broken leg, this can easily be determined and verified, and all would be in agreement that the child’s leg is broken. But with ADD and ADHD, no such concrete evidence or even scientific testing exists to make that same conclusive determination.

In the past, cases of ADD and ADHD were treated with prescription drugs to effectively slow down the afflicted child, but with the growing concern over stuffing our children full of prescription drugs for every ailment that MIGHT be present, parents are now starting to resist this approach and demanding a new approach.

Many of the new approaches, and many of which show great promise, is to train the afflicted person to pay more attention to what his brain is telling him. This applies whether the child is playing, doing homework, or just resting, but it is a behavioral change that the child needs to be old understand to understand and comprehend. In the case of ADD and ADHD, the child’s brain has not yet completely processed the last set of information presented to it, and in the meantime is already telling the child to go do something else. Hence, the typical view is that children afflicted with Attention Deficit Disorder are unable to concentrate on the task at hand, which is entirely accurate.

The one thing that shows up in ADD/ADHD affected children that differs compared to the same tests run on non-ADD/ADHD children is that the brainwaves are different. To be more exact, the ADD/ADHD children typically show excessively slow brain wave activity in the alpha and theta ranges, compared to their non-ADD/ADHD counterparts. As the child gets older and grows into his teen years, there is some scientific evidence to suggest (although not confirm) that patients who are thought to have ADD or ADHD have about 400% more traffic tickets, car accidents, and are almost four times more likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease.

Your doctor can explain to you that accurately diagnosing Attention Deficit Disorder is never simple. Rather, it requires a thorough investigation and study of the child over time, to see how the child reacts to different circumstances compared to others in the same age group. But like anything else, diagnosis of the ailment as early as possible is very important to understanding it, working with it effectively, and making compromises to accommodate the affliction.