Over the last twenty years there has been a dramatic rise in the number of children with Attention Deficit  Hyperactivity Disorder. Along with the rise in ADHD there  has been a rise in the number of myths related to this  common issue. To dispel some of these myths I interviewed  Mark Konecky, a clinical psychologist from Gloucester who  specializes in treating adults, children, and families.  Here is what he had to say about ADHD today.

1. What has changed in regards to ADHD in the last 10-15  years?
   Since I began my clinical practice, the general public  as well as teachers have become much more sensitive  to children with attention problems and problems  controlling their impulses. I’m much more likely to  have parents come to me asking about whether their  child has ADHD or not than when I began practicing  and parents needed more education on this diagnosis.  I also think there are better and more sensitive  medications available now. The new medications help  more clients (adults and children) and seem relatively  safe, even for children.
2. What myths about ADHD would you want to dispel for  parents? Having ADHD does not mean that a person cannot  pay attention. It means they have trouble paying  attention in a sustained way to tasks and activities  that are not intrinsically exciting to them. Many  times, academic subjects, especially as they are  presented in American schools, are not intrinsically  interesting to children. People with ADHD are just as  intelligent as people who do not have ADHD. People  with a diagnosis of ADHD can do just as well as people  without this diagnosis. All children have to work  hard to pay attention in school. ADHD children must  work extra hard. People with ADHD have a hard time  directing their attention, especially when in settings  with lots of extraneous stimuli, like a classroom. If  we had the money as a society to provide one-to-one  education to all children with ADHD, we would need far  fewer medication interventions, because children with  ADHD can pay attention if they are highly motivated  and given constant coaching. Children with ADHD  can master academic subjects and succeed in school.  However, they usually need teaching and learning  modifications and almost always need medication to  perform to their full academic potential.
3. Does therapy help? Psychological therapy does help people with ADHD.  We can provide strategies for coping with attention  problems, and we work with people to improve their  self-esteem, which is often damaged from years of not  doing as well as they themselves know they can do. We  can design behavioral interventions aimed at helping  people with ADHD alter their environment to improve  their ability to attend to details and decrease their  impulsiveness. ADHD is a very treatable problem,  and, many times, children require less medication  and sometimes might even stop their medication, once  they’ve internalized systematic coping strategies for  ADHD.
4. What accounts for the rise of ADHD cases in the US? This is a hard question. We never know what comes  first, the chicken or the egg. Are we better at  diagnosing ADHD and therefore finding more true cases  of it, or is there actually more ADHD out there. If  I had to choose, I’d say both are true, that is,  there is more ADHD, and we’re better at picking up  on it. Why is there more ADHD? Unquestionably for  me, our culture’s frenetic, fragmented pace, our  over stimulation, our reliance on electronics relates  to the increase in ADHD cases. ADHD symptoms are  actually adaptive in the larger culture. If you’re  stimulated rather than overwhelmed by fast paced,  multi-sensory input information, as people with ADHD  often are, then you’re in better shape to manage the  vast amount of information that flies at the average  person every day.
5. How can parents make their homes more ADHD “friendly”,  that is, how can parents alter their home environments in  therapeutic ways for children with ADHD? Parents mush change many aspects of the home  environment to help children with ADHD. When families  come to treatment with me, or other mental health  professionals, we’ll do a great deal of work around  altering environmental conditions to help children  cope with their attention and impulse problems. Our  goal is to help children learn many ways of coping  with their problem so that either their problem sets  are neutralized because they are so manageable or  their problem is completely resolved – the child has  “grown out” of their symptoms. One of the main ways  that parents can make their homes more therapeutic  is for parents to help children limit the amount of  electronic stimulation they receive.
6. What should parents do if they think their child as  ADHD? It is essential to have an accurate diagnosis before  beginning any treatment. Parents should contact their  pediatrician who can refer their child for appropriate  evaluation by a mental health professional. Or they may  contact a mental health professional directly. Many  times, symptoms that people think are signs of ADHD are  actually indications of other problems. Mental health  professionals like psychologists, social workers, licensed  mental health counselors, and psychiatrists are trained to  make these kinds of diagnostic distinctions when working  with pediatricians, school personnel, and parents.