文档介绍：Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder
II
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
National Institute
of Mental Health
NIH Publication No. 03-0000
Printed 2003
ttention Deficit Hyper-
activity Disorder (ADHD)
is a condition that
A es apparent in
some children in the
preschool and early
school years. It is hard for these children to
control their behavior and/or pay attention. It
is estimated that between 3 and 5 percent of
children have attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD), or approximately 2 million
children in the United States. This means that
in a classroom of 25 to 30 children, it is likely
that at least one will have ADHD.
ADHD was first described by Dr. Heinrich
Hoffman in 1845. A physician who wrote books
on medicine and psychiatry, Dr. Hoffman was
also a poet who became interested in writing for
children when he couldn’t find suitable
materials to read to his 3-year-old son. The
result was a book of poems, complete with
illustrations, about children and their
characteristics. “The Story of Fidgety Philip”
was an accurate description of a little boy who
had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Yet
it was not until 1902 that Sir e F. Still published a
series of lectures to the Royal College of Physicians in
England in which he described a group of impulsive children
with significant behavioral problems, caused by a ic
dysfunction and not by poor child rearing—children who
today would be easily recognized as having Since
then, several thousand scientific papers on the disorder have
been published, providing information on its nature, course,
causes, impairments, and treatments.
A child with ADHD faces a difficult but not
insurmountable task ahead. In order to achieve his or her
full potential, he or she should receive help, guidance, and
understanding from parents, guidance counselors, and the
public education system. This brochure