Does Your Child Have A.D.H.D.?

by Eric Feezell

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder—commonly called A.D.H.D.—affects an ever-growing amount of today’s children and can be severely debilitating. If you are concerned that your child may have A.D.H.D., the following survey, adapted from the Vanderbilt Assessment Scale and brought to you by Hartford Pharmaceuticals, may help in determining whether your child demonstrates any number of symptoms and to what degree.

Please rate the statements in the following two categories as never, occasionally, often, or very often. Examples of certain A.D.H.D. behaviors and symptoms—all clinical accounts from professionally documented cases—have been provided for your assistance. Please use these as bases for comparison to gauge your own child.

Your child’s score, computed at the survey’s end, will indicate whether you should seek professional advice.

Inattentive Behaviors

1. Pays little or no attention to details and makes careless mistakes.

Example:
Not noticing that his mother had placed a soup pot full of boiling water at the foot of his bed just before he woke up for school, Timmy stepped in the pot and received third-degree burns on both of his feet.

2. Finds it difficult to grasp concepts (simple or otherwise).

Example:
Hannah, aged six, is unable to understand the complexities of autism spectrum disorders and therefore has trouble properly caring for her older, severely autistic brother when their mother is “napping heavily” or has “business consultants” visiting their home.

These aren't easy questions, people, but they have to be answered if we are to help the children.