How to Assess ADD

If you have a child who is hyperactive, dreamy or both, he may have attention deficit disorder (ADD). While the best way to diagnose him is to take him to a mental health professional, you can watch for some key signs. If he exhibits many of these signs to a high degree, you should take him to a doctor. Do not, however, assume that your child has ADD just because his teacher tells you he might. Teachers are education professionals, not mental health professionals, and it is important that this diagnosis be a medical and family matter.

Instructions

• 1

  Look for a lack of attention in your child. He doesn't have to be bouncing around the house but rather just needs to show a reduced ability to focus. Say, for example, you send him inside to get you a screwdriver, and he comes back 45 minutes later with a hammer. This could just be a one-time lapse, but if this kind of thing happens consistently, he may have ADD.

• 2

  Look for hyperactivity and impulsiveness in your child. This could be instead of or in addition to a lack of attention. Hyperactive and impulsive kids often say and do inappropriate things for their own sake; if your child comes into a room of people reading and immediately knocks a book out of his brother's hand for no reason (except that it's pretty funny to him), then he may have ADD.

• 3

  Stay aware of hyperfocus. This is one of the most important attributes of ADD. Many kids have a hard time sitting still or focusing simply because they are kids. Kids with ADD, though, can often focus intently on things they are interested in. Rather than disperse her focus across a variety of things, an ADD child will not be able to focus on things she isn't interested in but will be able to devote an abnormal amount of focus to things she is interested in. So, paradoxically, one of the signs of ADD is the fact that a child can focus more than her peers.

• 4

  Look for a lack of organization. This is an excellent way to gauge ADD in older kids or adults. A cluttered desk, messy room and consistently unmade bed are all signs of ADD as people with ADD lack the ability to focus on these dull tasks.

• 5

  Look for flexibility in your child. This doesn't mean physical flexibility but rather an ability to easily change his plans and adjust how he approaches things. This is a positive symptom of ADD -- people with ADD consider many options at once, so they do not get fixed on one path.

• 6

  Look for extreme enthusiasm in your child. ADD children tend to have a lot of energy and also tend to put a lot of themselves into things. This is another positive quality of ADD.

• 7

  Look for general inattention. This can involve a lack of eye contact, fidgeting and generally not focusing on any one task for a sustained amount of time. This is the key component of ADD and manifests itself through the signs and symptoms just mentioned.