ADHD symptoms are due to a chemical and structural mismatch in very specific areas of the brain (frontal lobes and its closest connections with the ganglia of the base, cerebellum and cingulum), so the rest of the brain areas and cognitive functions work properly.
The frontal lobe is in charge of self-control, it is the area of the brain that allows us to plan and organize an action, initiate it (and maintain the effort), control if we are doing it well and rectify when we are not, avoiding distractions by irrelevant stimuli, in order to finish the action. It also allows us to be flexible and adapt when circumstances change.
All this is encompassed within the executive functions. Some of them are:
- Ability to sequence actions and solve problems.
- Ability to think of various solutions to a problem
- Ability to keep information active in the brain
- Ability to inhibit behaviors in certain situations
- Ability to focus, divide and maintain attention
- Ability to monitor behavior
- Ability to continue a task regardless of adversities
The basal ganglia are responsible for “filtering and coordinating information coming from other areas of the brain”, and are essential for impulse control. While the cingulum has a sector involved in the regulation of attention and in the elimination of distractions, and another sector that regulates mood (this is the reason why many children with ADHD have many difficulties in the affective regulation, the management of emotions and frustrations).
In children with ADHD the circuits and groups of neurons in the frontal lobe, basal ganglia and cingulum are smaller, less active and have lower levels of dopamine and norepinephrine.
How to help our children and adolescents with ADHD?
As a general rule, the first step to help a person overcome a difficulty is to be very clear about where the problem is, create a strategy and act accordingly. With ADHD it is a little bit the same. The first step in helping a child or adolescent with ADHD is to diagnose it correctly and as early as possible, and from there create a “therapeutic plan” that allows him or her to move forward, be happy and develop to his or her full potential.
For patients with ADHD, the first step in helping them is to diagnose the problem correctly as early as possible and create a therapy plan that allows them to move forward, be happy and develop their potential.
It is very important that both the patient and his family and the people around him have information about the disorder; since they have to understand that the child is not ill-mannered, lazy or problematic, but that he has problems behaving like the rest. For this reason, the coordinated work between parents, teachers and the team of psychology, pedagogy and the rest of the specialists is fundamental in the evolution of the child or adolescent with ADHD.