A colleague of mine at work has a grandson diagnosed with child attention deficit disorder. When I talked to her about it, I wondered how you could tell whether it was ADD or 'just difficult or slow'. It is particularly difficult to tell with boys up to the age of about 16. Where do you draw the line? My own grandmother was a primary school Head teacher for many years and she used to say that boys did not develop intellectually as quickly as girls.

My interest aroused, I decided to look into it further. It appears that there are three stages in normal development. The first stage is seen in babies when they become focused on one thing for a period of time to the exclusion of everything else. A child whose development remains at this stage for too long might have a tendency towards autism.

Stage two is seen in toddlers when they are always getting interested in everything but never concentrating on any one thing for long. If this stage of development goes on for too long then the child might have attention deficit disorder.

A stage three, a child develops the ability to focus their concentration for longer periods and to shift their attention when they want to. This is considered to be a mature pattern of attention and concentration and it is the level needed to be successful in the classroom.

However, according to my colleague, Anne, ADD is not just about being incapable of concentrating on anything for very long. The point is that people with Attention Deficit Disorder can't choose when to pay attention, what to pay attention to or when to stop. Anne told me that this became very clear when undertaking a normal task like crossing the road. Her grandson has been taught many times how to cross the road safely. Nevertheless, without warning, if he has to wait for any time or watch the traffic for a space, all the training will go out the window. He knows he has to cross the road and will just go!

The strange thing is that, together with this inability to choose when to pay attention and when not to concentrate comes an ability to intensely focus on a particular activity and forget to take a break. This could be repeatedly assembling the same jigsaw or watching the same movie to the exclusion of anything else. If this is not recognised and worked on early, some people say that it can lead to overeating, substance abuse, and compulsive behaviour later on.

A variation on ADD is ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. People with this are often described as unable to relax or are constantly 'on the go', to the extent that even when sitting down, they might constantly be 'fiddling' or squirming in the chair. For parents this can be a nightmare as the child requires very little sleep and there is no break from all the restless activity.

If you are wondering whether a child with ADD will eventually grow out of it then I'm afraid the answer is no. ADD and ADHD are manifestations of physical problems within the brain so it isn't likely to change with age. The disorder can be passed on genetically but bad discipline or poor parenting can't cause it.

Attention Deficit Disorder and Treatment:

If caught early enough, children suffering from ADD can benefit from therapy and medication. Diagnosing the level of the disorder is very difficult however which makes it hard to determine how much help the individual requires. The disorder has a wide spectrum, which means that mild cases may go unnoticed. Experts seem to favour a treatment regime consisting of both medication and psychotherapy. The affected parts of the brain can benefit from psycho stimulants like Dexadrine and Ritalin while psychotherapy can help the child to control their impulses, pay attention and behave properly in many situations.

Diet can also be very important in ADD treatment. Some children have bad reactions to certain foods like wheat, chocolate, fruit, dairy products and additives. Additives can be particularly problematic in this respect and a potential link between them and ADD and ADHD has now been discovered.

There has also been some research into fatty acids as it has been found that people with ADD appear to be lacking in Omega 3 and Omega 6. It is thought that these fatty acids are crucial for proper growth in mental function and brain development. The Omega 3 family of fatty acids are found in fish such as salmon and mackerel, as well as flax oil. Omega 6 is found in corn, sunflower, canola and safflower oil, margarine and vegetable oil. Even though none of the evidence is conclusive, parents may wish to try a change in diet to see if it helps.

There is a positive side to ADD. While I was researching I found a lot of opinion that some of the most famous people in history exhibited symptoms of ADD. These famous people include Mozart, Pasteur, Einstein and Beethoven. It seems that some of the characteristic symptoms of ADD can sometimes lead to outstanding performance so look after your ADD child because they might be famous one day.