Putting Wrong ADHD Diagnosis on Younger Kids
What is ADHD? The ADHD is the short term from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. It is primarily characterized by the co-existence of attention problems and hyperactivity. It is the most commonly studied behavior that has its symptoms started since the early age of seven or before.It is known as affecting about almost 5 % of children worldwide and diagnosed in about 2 % to 16 % of school aged children. While people are diagnosed with this disorder during childhood they will as well have this disorder during their adulthood. It is a disease that is more likely to happen in boys than in girls.
According to the North Carolina State University researching, it was found that children that were born after the kindergarten eligibility cutoff date were 25% less likely to be diagnosed with this disease than children that were born just after the cutoff date.
As an example, let’s take the schools where the cutoff date is 1st September. The children that are born on August 31st make the cutoff and are the youngest in their class, while children that are born on the 2nd of September will wait an additional year to enter school and they will be the oldest in their class. According to some researches younger children are just less mature and that is the reason behind the fact that there is a difference between the school children that are younger and those that are few days older. Therefore, “We believe that younger children may be mistakenly diagnosed as having ADHD, when in fact they are simply less mature,” study researcher Melinda Morrill said in a statement.
It is important that children are accurately diagnosed as they will not take some medicines for something that they actually do not have. This because, they may have side effects such as insomnia, stomachache, headache, dizziness and decreased appetite. As far as these side effects are short term ones, there may be long term side effects, but little is known of the gravity of long term side effects.
According to the new study, children that are born just before the kindergarten cutoff are 50 % more prone to actually be diagnosed with ADHD, then those that are born just after. Anyhow, there are some things that are not properly taken into account, as studies show that there are children that have it but are not diagnosed and those that do not and are actually diagnosed as they do have it. This is what their researches show, that depending on their birth date, the children are either diagnosed, or not. This is nevertheless not a usual thing to do.11
