Hyperactivity, Learning Problems, and the Attention Deficit Disorders

Abstract

Everybody probably knows at least one child considered to be hyperactive, and this child is most likely to be a school-age boy. These youngsters often behave impulsively or act before thinking, a pattern that may lead both to social friction and to academic failure. They have difficulty focusing on a single activity and often shift erratically from one task to another without finishing those projects they begin. Many of these children tend not to maintain the behaviors expected of them for more than a few minutes—whether this involves sustained attention to a task or game, patient waiting for a desired event, or modulation of spontaneous verbal and motor behaviors. They seem to have remarkably high energy levels, approaching activities with striking and sometimes formidable intensity.