ADHD

How's that for keeping things random??

Just when you thought I'd be returning to the blog to post one of the bagillion (ok, slight exaggeration) recipes or projects I've been working on, I post on the wonderful world of psychology.

Told you this blog was a smattering of this and that.  :o)

I may, or may not, have attention difficulties...

Ok, so I myself have been feeling rather ADHD'ish of late.  I, the child who could sit in a tree and read uninterrupted for hours or work on a project without stopping forever,  have become notoriously fantastic at starting projects and flitting about to a new one.  Seriously, the number of started projects is horrendous...  The number of finished projects, well they are much smaller in number.  :o)  It's like my brain in its frequent state of multitasking over the last 10 years has gone all ping-pongy.  Although I'm sure I would rate fairly high for distractability on the Conners-3 (attention rating scale), I don't think I have Adult ADHD.  I think I've just really changed my behavior (and brain, perhaps?) to be a bit bouncy in task completion and wandering thoughts.  :o)

So, the point of this post.  ADHD.

With the whole back to school, I'm brushing up on my research on various frequently seen disorders in the school setting.  I've been mostly reading about reading, Autism, and dun dun dee duh! Attention!

Personally, I think that there are a lot of ADHD diagnoses out there that really aren't ADHD, but maybe behavior associated with something else, whether it be environmental or co-morbidity with another disorder.  So, I found this neato toledo study on ADHD and thought I'd share.  :o)  Maybe it's just my nerdy self, but I think it is oh so interesting!

So, research by Shaw and associates at the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) theorize, and show data demonstrating, that the ADHD brain is DELAYED not abnormal.  Cool, huh?  They found that certain areas of the brain (generally speaking the outer cortex that plays a role in executive functions*) develop slower.  They were finding that there was a 3-5 year developmental lag between the brains of kiddos with ADHD and their typically developing peers.  Bonus for the ADHD kids?  Their motor cortex was shown to have matured faster. 

So, why do we have adults with ADHD?  Not sure yet, but it appears that while most kiddos grew out of it in their study, others did not.  Surely there are lots of factors that might influence this.  Oh, and just to be fair in this interesting study, I should mention a methodological issue: some kids were on stimulant medication during this study.  Oh boy, there is something that will be interesting to see in the future...  The effects of stimulant medication on brain chemistry in the long run.  Oh brain, you cool and complicated thing you!

*Executive functions - basically think of it as being the orchestra conductor planning and making sure that the whole orchestra is working together, at the right time, playing the right thing, etc., so that you end up with a symphony, and not a 6th grade band rehearsal**

**I can say this because 1) I was in 6th grade band, I know how it is.  2) Every Wednesday last year, I had the "joy" of listening to the 6th graders practice for what seemed forever.  I applaud their efforts and the calm demeanor of the band teacher who surely teaches the same songs to 5 different classes, year after year...

Let's break things up with some pictures, shall we?

Sometimes Rudder is uber focused

Focus usually occurs when there is a ball...

or a bird involved. [He's a bird dog! Or tries to be. :o) ]

"Who me?  Have focus issues?  Nah I...

...Oh hey!  Did you hear that?  Shoot, where'd I leave my stick?  Dinner?  Did someone say "hungry"???"

Here's the link to the article.  I was pretty ecstatic about the brain imaging (and MOVIE of the brain imaging!!!) at the bottom.  Maybe that's just a me thing though.  :o)

Ok, back to reading about the brain.  Brain and reading though... SO interesting!  Maybe I'll surprise you all with a random dispelling myths of dyslexia post sometime.  Ya know, to keep things nice and miscellaneous on this blog.  :o)