ADHD is used to describe people who exhibit long-term difficulties that may include inattention hyperactivity and impulsivity.

Children / young people with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviours. Children / young people may act without thinking about what the result / outcome / consequence may be or be overly active. For a child or young person to get a diagnosis of ADHD, they would need to show difficulties in all areas above in a variety of settings for a sustained period.

General tendencies / traits

When exploring general tendencies, it is important to note the tendencies / traits need to be occurring in a variety of different settings; impact on children / young person's ability to learn and may contribute to poor social connections. The following are traits / tendencies that professionals will need to observe:

• Unable to sit still.
• Make careless mistakes in schoolwork or with other activities.
• Trouble organising tasks and activities.
• Often leaves seat in situations when remaining seated is expected.
• Excessive movement - always on the go.
• Difficulty focusing on tasks or when playing.
• Often does not seem to listen when spoken to directly.
• Often does not follow through on instructions and fails to finish schoolwork.
• Is often easily distracted.
• Is often forgetful in daily activities.
• Acting without thinking.
• No sense of danger.

Next steps

If you are concerned that your child / young person may have ADHD and it is impacting their learning, speak to the class teacher or Additional Learning Needs Coordinator (ALNCo) and they will be able to work with you and work out what happens next. If your child is under 5 years old, you need to speak to your Health Visitor.

Diagnosis

When looking at ADHD if you decide to explore a diagnosis by the Health Authority, this process can take approximately 24 months once the referral has been accepted.