Why Are We Still Failing Kids With Inattentive ADHD?
By Cynthia Hammer, MSW, Executive Director, Inattentive ADHD Coalition, www.iadhd.org.
We still rely on research done years ago on white, hyperactive boys. There are few studies and fewer insights on girls and women. Likewise, children with inattentive ADHD (formerly called ADD) continue to fly under the radar. Why?
I left the world of ADHD, where I had been the founder and director of the now-defunct non-profit organization ADD Resources, more than 15 years ago.
Then, during the pandemic, I began writing a memoir about living with ADD and dove into updating my knowledge. What I learned dismayed me.
Why? Recent articles offer the same old explanation from decades ago: Children with inattentive ADHD are underdiagnosed because they are not disruptive in the classroom. In 15 years, we have not progressed. We still provide the same unacceptable explanation for failing to help these children. Some clinicians have sounded the alarm, but their clarion calls have not penetrated the public or teachers understanding that ADHD presents in two distinct ways—with and without hyperactivity.
To prevent children from falling through the cracks, the public, parents, and teachers must realize that both ADHD presentations require urgent diagnosis and treatment.
I have a few suggestions that might help:
Elevate Inattentive ADHD: Whenever someone writes or talks about ADHD, they should first discuss the inattentive symptoms. They should highlight how this form of ADHD is underdiagnosed and how this needs to change because undiagnosed ADHD negatively impacts young lives. They should describe how parents and teachers might recognize inattentive ADHD symptoms. When I asked Dr. Hallowell inattentive ADHD could be identified in children, he readily said, "Yes. You need to question them about how they spent their time in school, how their day went, what they learned."
Children with Inattentive ADHD are typically not aggressive; they are not bullies, and they usually aren't disrespectful of authority or overly stubborn. In describing ADHD behaviors, speakers and writers should delineate hyperactive symptoms from inattentive symptoms. When the behaviors are combined or confounded, parents or teachers of a child with inattentive ADHD may say, "That doesn't describe my child or student."
We need to stress that inattentive ADHD exists in boys and girls. I know because I have a son with inattentive ADHD.
We need research that separates hyperactive-impulsive or combination ADHD from inattentive ADHD.Most research lumps all forms of ADHD together, though they are not the same.
Knowledge and understanding of the differences are improving, but more progress is needed.
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