ADHD Behavior Attention Focus Concentration
ADHD Behavioral Patterns
The following patterns have been found in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) children and adults. The patterns are identified through a combination of professional research and twenty-seven years of clinical experience with ADHD.
Difficulty Understanding Sequence
Life moves in a series of sequences, one event connected to another and to another as our activities continue. ADHD children/adults have difficulty with understanding sequences, creating a variety of problems. For example, if you have an appointment in your hometown, you anticipate the amount of time needed to prepare, drive to the office, park the car, and register - perhaps 60 minutes. For ADHD Johnny, the short attention span makes understanding sequences very difficult. Getting ready for school is a nightmare as ADHD children don't understand that time is involved in every activity. They somehow figure you can get out of bed at 7:45 am, shower, eat breakfast, brush their teeth, gather their books, and get dressed -all before the bus arrives at 8:00 am.
The inability to understand sequences is the cause for the amazing ability of ADHD children/adults to always get caught when doing something wrong. ADHD children/adults are unable to be "sneaky" due to this trait. As a parent, you can watch the ADHD child grab a cola from the refrigerator and sit in the next room to watch television. You walk in, notice the cola is spilled, and question them about the spill - to which they reply "I didn't do it!" ADHD children can't figure out how you know the sequence of events that allows adults to figure out who did what. They can't project sequence forward or backward.
This inability to understand sequence and time creates many problems for the ADHD teenager. Told to be home at 7:00 pm, the ADHD teenager leaves at 6:00 pm to visit a friend. They walk to the local video store where they meet a friend with a new game. They follow the friend home to check out the game. A contest follows and the friend's mother provides soda and snacks so the ADHD teenager doesn't get hungry. Eventually, the friend's family bluntly tells the ADHD teenager to go home - it's 10:00 pm! Upon returning home, the ADHD teenager is at a loss to explain why he's three hours late, didn't call, and was rude to stay too long at the friend's home. Despite grounding, the same behavior is repeated within a few days.
"I don't know"
When confronted with a misbehavior and asked "Why did you do that?", the number one response from an ADHD child is "I don't know!" This response is a combination of two behaviors in ADHD children, the lack of sequence understanding and the presence of tangential behavior. In geometry, a tangent is the single point at which two separate objects touch. Due to a short attention span, ADHD children jump from one activity to another, the two activities often linked together by a glance. If asked to clean the top of their desk, they wipe a bit, examine the lamp, read a comic, staple a few things, pull tape from the dispenser, and reprogram the phone - one behavior leading to another as they look around the desk. Asked why the desk isn't cleaned off or why the phone is now reprogrammed to call only video stores - "I don't know" is the reply. ADHD children can't remember the sequence of events that ended with a reprogrammed phone. It's not unusual to send an ADHD student to the garage for a hammer, finding him/her 45 minutes later in the process of disassembling the lawn mower. Asked why - "I don't know!"
Hyperfocus and Outbursts
ADHD Children have very low levels of attention, focus, and concentration. Normal concentration/attention allows us to listen to conversation or watch a television program with extra attention to spare - to monitor the environment, listen for the oven buzzer or others in the house. ADHD Children may only have half the concentration of non-ADHD individuals. For this reason, if they intensely focus on a television program or play a computer game, they have no extra attention with which to monitor their environment. When playing a game, they don't hear calls for lunch because all 50% of their attention is on the game.
Both research and clinical experience tells us that ADHD Children can exhibit a type of "hyperfocus" - intense concentration and single-minded focus when the activity is very interesting. This situation is most often found when ADHD Children play computer games. ADHD Children may have an amazing ability to hyperfocus on a computer game, one of the few things that moves fast enough to maintain their attention, unlike homework or routine chores.
The hyperfocus found in ADHD Children is not a normal type of concentration or focus. Remembering the neurochemical aspects of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), hyperfocus requires the child to use the maximum attention and sustained concentration available. For parents and teachers, imagine trying to thread a needle, in low light, while sitting in a row boat in the ocean - the waves tossing and rolling all the time. The amount of concentration required to thread that needle makes us anxious, tense, and irritable - as if somebody were asking us questions while we were trying to thread that needle. This is way ADHD Johnny is so fidgety while trying to listen to your conversation or correction.
In ADHD Children, hyperfocus allows them to participate in computer games or watch high-action movies - but at a cost. The amount of energy being used makes them very irritable. If a parent interrupts the computer game or movie with a question, a call for lunch, or a request - the ADHD Children is likely to explode in a burst of verbal or physical aggression. His or her concentration has been broken and that neurochemical activity spills out into the room, or is directed at the interrupting source. It's not uncommon for ADHD Children, upon losing a computer game, to throw controllers or objects, stomp, scream, or behave in a way that tells us they are very upset. As a parent or teacher, we are shocked at their overreaction to such a minor situation. To see it from the viewpoint of an ADHD Children - imaging trying to thread that needle for 30 minutes - then accidentally dropping the needle overboard. We'd have a few choice words or a bit of behavior problem as well.
Dealing with hyperfocus requires patience and a minimal reaction to their overreaction. Interrupting ADHD Children who are hyperfocusing will always bring an inappropriate reaction, typically a verbal outburst. Parents are advised to not focus on their overreaction but remain on the topic. For example, interrupting ADHD Johnny's videogame to ask for help in the kitchen is likely to prompt a loud reaction such as "Why do I have to help! Sally never does anything! It's always me!" and so on for about five minutes. After the outburst, the parent might address the comments superficially but stick to the request as in "If you think I treat you unfairly, we can get together in an hour after lunch and discuss it. But right now, I need you to help me set the table."
ADHD Behavioral Patterns
The following patterns have been found in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) children and adults. The patterns are identified through a combination of professional research and twenty-seven years of clinical experience with ADHD.
Difficulty Understanding Sequence
Life moves in a series of sequences, one event connected to another and to another as our activities continue. ADHD children/adults have difficulty with understanding sequences, creating a variety of problems. For example, if you have an appointment in your hometown, you anticipate the amount of time needed to prepare, drive to the office, park the car, and register - perhaps 60 minutes. For ADHD Johnny, the short attention span makes understanding sequences very difficult. Getting ready for school is a nightmare as ADHD children don't understand that time is involved in every activity. They somehow figure you can get out of bed at 7:45 am, shower, eat breakfast, brush their teeth, gather their books, and get dressed -all before the bus arrives at 8:00 am.
The inability to understand sequences is the cause for the amazing ability of ADHD children/adults to always get caught when doing something wrong. ADHD children/adults are unable to be "sneaky" due to this trait. As a parent, you can watch the ADHD child grab a cola from the refrigerator and sit in the next room to watch television. You walk in, notice the cola is spilled, and question them about the spill - to which they reply "I didn't do it!" ADHD children can't figure out how you know the sequence of events that allows adults to figure out who did what. They can't project sequence forward or backward.
This inability to understand sequence and time creates many problems for the ADHD teenager. Told to be home at 7:00 pm, the ADHD teenager leaves at 6:00 pm to visit a friend. They walk to the local video store where they meet a friend with a new game. They follow the friend home to check out the game. A contest follows and the friend's mother provides soda and snacks so the ADHD teenager doesn't get hungry. Eventually, the friend's family bluntly tells the ADHD teenager to go home - it's 10:00 pm! Upon returning home, the ADHD teenager is at a loss to explain why he's three hours late, didn't call, and was rude to stay too long at the friend's home. Despite grounding, the same behavior is repeated within a few days.
"I don't know"
When confronted with a misbehavior and asked "Why did you do that?", the number one response from an ADHD child is "I don't know!" This response is a combination of two behaviors in ADHD children, the lack of sequence understanding and the presence of tangential behavior. In geometry, a tangent is the single point at which two separate objects touch. Due to a short attention span, ADHD children jump from one activity to another, the two activities often linked together by a glance. If asked to clean the top of their desk, they wipe a bit, examine the lamp, read a comic, staple a few things, pull tape from the dispenser, and reprogram the phone - one behavior leading to another as they look around the desk. Asked why the desk isn't cleaned off or why the phone is now reprogrammed to call only video stores - "I don't know" is the reply. ADHD children can't remember the sequence of events that ended with a reprogrammed phone. It's not unusual to send an ADHD student to the garage for a hammer, finding him/her 45 minutes later in the process of disassembling the lawn mower. Asked why - "I don't know!"
Hyperfocus and Outbursts
ADHD Children have very low levels of attention, focus, and concentration. Normal concentration/attention allows us to listen to conversation or watch a television program with extra attention to spare - to monitor the environment, listen for the oven buzzer or others in the house. ADHD Children may only have half the concentration of non-ADHD individuals. For this reason, if they intensely focus on a television program or play a computer game, they have no extra attention with which to monitor their environment. When playing a game, they don't hear calls for lunch because all 50% of their attention is on the game.
Both research and clinical experience tells us that ADHD Children can exhibit a type of "hyperfocus" - intense concentration and single-minded focus when the activity is very interesting. This situation is most often found when ADHD Children play computer games. ADHD Children may have an amazing ability to hyperfocus on a computer game, one of the few things that moves fast enough to maintain their attention, unlike homework or routine chores.
The hyperfocus found in ADHD Children is not a normal type of concentration or focus. Remembering the neurochemical aspects of Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), hyperfocus requires the child to use the maximum attention and sustained concentration available. For parents and teachers, imagine trying to thread a needle, in low light, while sitting in a row boat in the ocean - the waves tossing and rolling all the time. The amount of concentration required to thread that needle makes us anxious, tense, and irritable - as if somebody were asking us questions while we were trying to thread that needle. This is way ADHD Johnny is so fidgety while trying to listen to your conversation or correction.
In ADHD Children, hyperfocus allows them to participate in computer games or watch high-action movies - but at a cost. The amount of energy being used makes them very irritable. If a parent interrupts the computer game or movie with a question, a call for lunch, or a request - the ADHD Children is likely to explode in a burst of verbal or physical aggression. His or her concentration has been broken and that neurochemical activity spills out into the room, or is directed at the interrupting source. It's not uncommon for ADHD Children, upon losing a computer game, to throw controllers or objects, stomp, scream, or behave in a way that tells us they are very upset. As a parent or teacher, we are shocked at their overreaction to such a minor situation. To see it from the viewpoint of an ADHD Children - imaging trying to thread that needle for 30 minutes - then accidentally dropping the needle overboard. We'd have a few choice words or a bit of behavior problem as well.
Dealing with hyperfocus requires patience and a minimal reaction to their overreaction. Interrupting ADHD Children who are hyperfocusing will always bring an inappropriate reaction, typically a verbal outburst. Parents are advised to not focus on their overreaction but remain on the topic. For example, interrupting ADHD Johnny's videogame to ask for help in the kitchen is likely to prompt a loud reaction such as "Why do I have to help! Sally never does anything! It's always me!" and so on for about five minutes. After the outburst, the parent might address the comments superficially but stick to the request as in "If you think I treat you unfairly, we can get together in an hour after lunch and discuss it. But right now, I need you to help me set the table."
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