Word: adhd
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Matthew, now 10, was evaluated for autism and attention deficit hyper-activity disorder, but the labels didn't fit. "We filled out those ADHD questionnaires a million times, and he always came out negative," Theresa recalls. "When we found this place, I cried. It was the first time someone said they could help...
...unused neural connections go the way of football fans' empty beer cups. Thanks to nifty imaging techniques, the point at which the cortex reaches peak thickness is now recognized as an early milestone in brain maturation. But in a surprising new study, kids with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)--which affects 3% to 5% of school-age children--hit peak thickness in some regions an average of three years later than other kids. And the developmental lags are most pronounced in the part of the cortex that supports attention and planning...
...findings, published online this month in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may help explain why many children diagnosed with ADHD eventually grow out of it, as their brains slowly become more similar to those of their peers. The study will continue to track hundreds of adolescents to see if any of the ADHD kids ever fully catch up. More research is also needed to determine why half the kids with the disorder still have it as adults...
...meantime, scientists caution that the news that children with ADHD appear to follow normal brain-development patterns, albeit a few years behind their peers, should not be taken as an O.K. to throw away their Ritalin. To the contrary, one of the study's co-authors, Dr. Judith Rapoport of the National Institute of Mental Health, says another study the team just submitted for publication (but which has yet to be peer-reviewed) suggests that in a few key areas of the brain that relate to attention and focus, kids with ADHD hew more closely to typical development trajectories only...
...ability to pay better attention is one of those things that people can consciously and physically improve in themselves, says Dr. Lidia Zylowska, who heads a program for ADHD patients at the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center. Zylowska's early research in meditation - one technique within the larger practice of mindful awareness - suggests that it can improve older ADHD patients' ability to stay focused. The practice may also work for kids. "We always think that our brain makes our mind, but it may work the other way," says Zylowska. "You can have an impact on your biology...