Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms

Hyperactivity disorder is a condition that normally strikes children before the age of 7 and shows signs of getting progressively worse through to the age of 9. A child can be treated for hyperactivity disorder, but much of the treatment revolves around helping him to understand his condition and control it. There is no proven cure for hyperactivity disorder as of yet.

In order to be clinically diagnosed with hyperactivity disorder, a child must display two or more symptoms in two or more separate places, and on several separate occasions. If the child shows these symptoms in multiple places on multiple occasions, then medical evaluation is deemed necessary.

Identification

• Hyperactivity disorder in children is more commonly referred to as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. It is a disorder that can pose challenges for the parents when the child is young and growing up, and it can go on to cause problems for the child as he enters adulthood. ADHD can cause restlessness, an inability to pay attention, and an inability to focus on one activity for very long. This can result in poor grades in school and an inability to maintain long-term friendships, which can have damaging effects on the child's self-esteem later in life.

At School

• A child suffering from ADHD will show symptoms in various places and in various settings. In school, the child will find it difficult to focus on lectures given in class and will often forget to take notes or study for important tests. His homework can suffer from careless mistakes born from an inability to focus, and his teachers may also complain that the child is disruptive during class.

Focus

• A child with ADHD may seem to daydream a great deal, even when he is being spoken to directly. He may fail to acknowledge that someone is in the room with him and will not respond when asked direct questions. He may seem very impatient when there is no activity going on, and he may also have difficulty following directions.

Social Interaction

• ADHD can make a child unpopular with other children in school because he may have a tendency to fidget when in his chair and may often attempt to engage them in conversation when it is inappropriate. He needs to be in constant motion, and he may also have a tendency to continue talking even after he has been asked to remain quiet several times. Children with ADHD also have an impulse to touch everything around them, and that could include people they have yet to meet.

Waiting

• Children with ADHD also have a very difficult time waiting for their turn at an activity and standing patiently in line. They have a tendency to say things out loud that may be inappropriate, and they also have a habit of putting themselves into conversations or activities in which they were not invited.