What Causes ADHD?
Learn the causes of ADHD in this child psychology video from Howcast with Dr. Kimberly Williams.
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Transcript
So while we don’t completely know what causes ADHD, what we do know is that it has a strong genetic component. Typically when a child is diagnosed with ADHD, there’s someone in the immediate or extended family who also has similar signs or symptoms. ADHD really is a neurological glitch related to frontal lobe process or the executive function. Executive functioning, I like to call the CEO of the brain, to plan, organize manage our time and focus concentrate and regulate our emotions. When children are diagnosed with ADHD we do know that they are having some challenges of executive dysfunction. What this means is their frontal lobe mechanism are allowing the child to inconsistently allowing the child to maintain attention, focus and to concentrate. This is a very similar pattern of many children. We also know that the executive function processes are not fully developed until an individual 18 years old. So sometimes in adulthood the symptoms of ADHD do become less pronounced. While there’s no clear understanding of what causes ADHD, these are some of the key components to understanding this disorder.
