HYPERACTIVITY

also called attention deficit disorder a behavioral syndrome of children, so called because the typical symptoms are inattention and distractibility, restlessness, inability to sit still, and difficulty concentrating on one thing for any period of time. The hyperactive child is impulsive, easily upset or excited, and may be more irritable and aggressive than other children. Hyperactivity can cause serious problems for children of school age, since they find it difficult to sit still at their desks and concentrate on lessons, and they may misbehave and be disruptive. The hyperactive child is not retarded, however, and his learning difficulties should not be confused with a deficient intelligence. The cause of hyperactivity is not known and may be a combination of both inherited and environmental factors. The condition was once called minimal brain dysfunction (MBD), but this label was replaced by the term hyperactivity because hyperactive children do not have the perceptual, emotional, and neurological disabilities that children with MBD have. Hyperactivity is three times more common in boys than in girls and occurs in roughly 5 to 10 percent of all schoolchildren. Stimulant drugs such as methylphenidate (trade name Ritalin) have been found to slow down hyperactive children, in contrast to these drugs' usual effect on other people. Besides drug maintenance, which produces dramatic improvements in the child's ability to concentrate, a family can learn ways of coping with the child in a positive and helpful fashion. The short attention span and other negative symptoms of hyperactive children usually improve with age, although a tendency to be easily distracted may remain into adulthood.