ADHD: Our Advancing Knowledge and Implications for the
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Transcript ADHD: Our Advancing Knowledge and Implications for the
Aaron Tabacco, RN, BSN, LEND Faculty
Child Development and Rehabilitation Center
Oregon Health and Science University
Portland, Oregon
© 2009
Speaker Background
Registered Nurse, BSN
PhD Student at OHSU
The Role of Fathers in Families with Children with ADHD
Faculty Member
LEND @ OHSU/CDRC
University of Portland
Family Nurse Case Manager – ADHD research study
Family Care Coordination Team - CDRC
Co-editor, Pediatric Home Care 3rd edition, a nursing
text
Researcher, author, and frequent public speaker on
ADHD
Parent of three sons with ADHD
Prevalence
US studies report 3 – 7% of all children are affected
by ADHD. Has remained stable over 20 year period.
International community has reported similar
prevalence. Netherlands - low with 2%, India highest – 30%
In almost all cultures that report, the ratio of boys to
girls is remarkably similar, from 2 to 1 to 3 to 1
A Brief History of ADHD
‘Fidgety Phil’ – Germany
Brain-Injured Child Syndrome
Volitional Inhibition- George Still
Min. Brain Damage- Post enceph
Min. Brain Dysfunction
mid 1848
(late 1800’s)
(1902)
(1922)
(1930’s)
Stimulant therapies start with success
Hyperkinetic Reaction
(1950’s)
Hyperactive Child Syndrome
(1960’s)
ADD
(1980)
ADHD, with and without hyperactivity
(1987)
Current Nomenclature:
Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD)
Predominantly inattentive
Inattention is predominant symptom. Activity
and impulsivity similar to other children,
“Daydreaming”, forgetting, misplacing,
disorganized, “not listening”
Predominantly hyper-impulsive
Inattentive symptoms may not be clinically
significant or under-recognized. Inattentive
symptoms may appear later
DSM-IV, 1994
Current Nomenclature cont…
Combined type
Most common type
“mild” cases include those that meet criteria in
one type and just miss meeting enough criteria in
the other
DSM-IV, 1994
DSM IV Symptoms of
Hyperactivity/Impulsivity
Fidgets or squirms
Can’t stay seated when appropriate
Runs about or climbs inappropriately
Difficulty playing or engaging in leisure
activities (bounces from toy to toy)
“On the go” or “Driven by a motor”
Talks excessively
Blurts out answers
Difficulty waiting turn
Interrupts others
DSM IV Symptoms of Inattention
Fails to give close attention or makes
careless mistakes
Difficulty sustaining attention
Doesn’t seem to listen
Doesn’t follow through
Poor organization
Avoids, dislikes, or reluctant to engage in
tasks requiring sustained attention
Loses things
Easily distracted
Forgetful
Other causes of attention and
hyperactivity problems – NOT ADHD
• Sleep disorders
• Depression
• Bipolar disorder
• Learning disability
• Sensory problems
• Previous brain injury
or trauma
• Giftedness
• Language disorder
• Pervasive
developmental
disorder (autism)
Mental retardation
Migraines
Seizures
Anxiety
Oppositional or
conduct disorders
Post traumatic stress
disorder
Substance abuse
Adjustment disorders
Abuse
ADHD and “Friends”
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (40%)
Language Disorder (30-35%)
Anxiety and Depression (20-25%)
Specific Learning Disability (15-25%)
Mood disorders (15-20%)
Conduct Disorder (20%)
Substance use disorder (15%)
Tics (15%)
ADHD and Lifespan Risks
Risk Behaviors - UNTREATED
200% to 300% more risk of substance abuse,
car accidents/infractions, pregnancy
35% drop out of high school
Up to 70% underachieve in SES
250% more risk of incarceration
Hypothesized decreased life-expectancy
Across the Lifespan
80% of children given a
diagnosis of ADHD in early
school years will continue to
have symptoms in
adolescence
Between 50% and 65%
school age children
diagnosed will have
symptoms into adulthood
and throughout their entire
lives
This is a wide range
because different studies
have defined ADHD in
adults differently,
highlighting the need for
better adult criteria
Common Features – A
Developmental Disorder
70% identified by caregivers by age 4
Behaviors deviant from age-based standards
Developmental deficit of self-control
Range from 10% to 50%
Average 30% (e.g., a 10 year old behaves like a 7
year old)
Development does continue, but at a
greatly reduced rate compared with
unaffected peers
The Big Picture
Genetics make up
the largest
percentage of
ADHD causes = up
to 97% (80% avg.)
Toxins such as
tobacco, alcohol,
and lead make up 2
to 10% of cases
Brain Injuries 1 – 10%
Genetics
Toxin
Exposure
Brain
Injuries /
Other
The Unsatisfying ‘Old World’
ADHD understood exclusively by 3 core
symptoms
Inattention
Impulsivity
Hyperactivity
Does not predict behavior or explain, only
describes
Inconsistent from child to child
Inadequate description of disorder
Inattention? With 3 hours of nonstop video
games?
ADHD Knowledge:
A Recent Convergence 2000 – 2007
Neuropsychology
Genetics
Biochemistry
Medicine
Pharmacology
Radiology
Nursing
Etiology – Why is this happening?
Genetics
IS NOT a chromosome-level flaw
IS a gene-level expression (4 genes consistently
implicated)
Highly heritable
About a dozen genes are implicated
Hundreds of studies
4 genes are of greatest interest / consistently
appearing in ADHD
e.g. D4RD, Dopamine Transporter Gene
Physiology – What is happening?
3 genes involve dopamine in the prefrontal
cortex
1 specific problem with re-uptake
2 specific problems with dopamine
receptors
1 gene regulates norepinephrine in the
prefrontal cortex
Metabolism of norepinephrine to dopamine
Result: deficient frontal lobe neurotransmission
/ integration of limbic, motor, and other
systems
Development: How is it happening
Longitudinal, high tech brain imaging study
comparing cortical maturation in children with
ADHD vs healthy controls (n= 223)
Brain development pattern was identical to control,
but delayed on average by 3 years
Prefrontal cortex focus of difference
Primary Motor Cortex matured earlier by mean of 7
months
Authors propose that the early motor cortex
maturation, paired with delayed higher-ordered
motor control may explain the “excessive and
poorly controlled motor activity cardinal to the
syndrome”.
Shaw, P. et al (2007). ADHD is characterized by a delay in
cortical maturation. PNAS. Vol. 4, No. 49
Russell Barkley, 2005:
ADHD and the Nature of Self Control
The first well-developed theory of ADHD
Aims to explain ADHD from the global knowledge
of multiple disciplines
Describes with more clarity and consistency what
ADHD really appears to be
Allows for behavior prediction and testable
hypotheses
A vastly different approach than previous
thinking
Very new to the clinical world…only a handful of
clinicians are presently aware, let alone the
larger society
The Frontal Lobe: “Executive
Functions”
Frontal
Lobe
Perception
of Time
Inhibit
Responses
Working
Memory
Internalize
Speech
Self
Regulation
Perception of Time
The perception of time passing is gained
by calibrating feelings of time with actual
time along a developmental trajectory
Children with ADHD do not ‘feel’ the
passage of time as others
3 min = 3 hours: all cues must be external
and concrete
Can only feel now = ‘blindness to time’
Inhibiting Responses
Frontal lobe is the essential
‘human’ determinant
Evolutionary adaptation to
suppress fight or flight
Allows us to utilize working
memory and experience to
guide present and future
behavior
Developmental function of
frontal lobe
Proficiency essential for
success in most human
environments
Working Memory
The brain as a computer
Frontal lobe houses ‘RAM’
Long-term memory centers house all
experiences
Impaired connections between working
and long term memory
‘Dial up connection vs High Speed’
Limited access to past experience in the
moment, especially if in ‘stimulus crisis’
Limited capacity of working memory
Less information at one time
Internalizing Speech
Work of Vygotski, Bronowski, Baddeley
Speech develops externally and become
internal over time
By age 4, most children begin the process
of internalizing speech
By 5th grade most have mastered the task
ADHD causes two problems
Symptom of hyper-verbalism
Maturation of external speech to internal, self
regulation
Self-Regulation
The joint action of:
Perceiving time
Inhibiting distractions
Remembering past experience and future
goals
Internalized speech to guide self and behavior
Regulating responses of the limbic system
By virtue of disrupted frontal lobe
neurotransmission, executive functions are
impaired along a spectrum
The Book Report
“This report is due in 1 week” – Teacher
(Perception of Time)
“Come spend the weekend at my house and
we’ll have a sleep over!”
“Wait…I need to think about it for a moment…”
(Inhibit Responses)
“My book report is due in next week”
(Working Memory)
“If I go this weekend, I will not have enough
time for the book report…but I really want to
go!” –
(Internalizing Speech)
“Sorry, I can’t this weekend. How about next
weekend?”
(Self Control)
A Typical ADHD Profile
WISC-IV (Wechsler Intelligence Scale)
Verbal Comprehension
Perceptual Reasoning
Working Memory
Processing Speed
100
115
77
68
(Average)
(Average)
(Below)
(Below)
Stimulus Preferences for ADHD Brains
Stimuli generated EXTERNALLY, providing
instantaneous feedback are relatively
unimpaired and “feel good”
Imagine a child with paraplegia in a pool
[freedom]
Video games, TV, Text Messaging
Learning tasks requiring INTERNAL generation
and delayed feedback are highly impaired
due to decreased executive functions
Homework, Reading (decoding,
comprehension, synthesis, working toward
a distant future goal)
In a nutshell…
ADHD, now more than ever, can be best
classified as:
A Disability of Performance, not of Ability
Kids do “know” but literally cannot “do” within
the context of their culture and expectations.
7 x 9 = 63
vs
“Don’t push people”
30 multiplication
problems in 1 minute
30 minutes of incidentfree recess
Situational Factors Affecting Executive Function
Symptoms
Decreased Symptoms
One-to-one
Fathers (men)
Novelty
Frequent Feedback
Immediate
Consequences
Immediate Rewards
High Salience
Supervised
Earlier in the Day
Single Step Commands
External cues
Structured time
Consistency
Increased Symptoms
Group Settings
Mothers (women)
Familiarity
Infrequent Feedback
Delayed
Consequences
Delayed Rewards
Low Salience
Unsupervised
Later in the Day
Multi-step Commands
Internal cues
Unstructured time
Change/Transition
ADHD focused Interventions with at
least some scientific evidence
Medication
Behavior
Modification
Green Outdoor
Spaces
Physical Activity
Yoga
Massage
1 to 1 learning
Token reward systems
(until about 10 years
old)
Time out for behaviors
Breathing and pulse
monitoring
Intervention: The MTA Study
Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with
ADHD (MTA).
First extensive, longitudinal study of its kind.
Evaluated 579 children and continues to publish
data.
4 groups
Expert medication management
Expert behavioral modification
Combined
Community Care (of which 2/3 took medications)
Jenson, et. al. (2007). Three year follow-up of the NIMH MTA study. Journal of
the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 46(8): 989-1002.
Summary
ADHD is an organic brain difference most often
associated with genetics
The location of these differences is the frontal lobe
The difference is found in how effective dopamine
utility is in this region
The frontal lobe is home to executive functions
ADHD is a deficit of executive functions that impair
the ability of a child or adult to self-organize (selfcontrol).
Selected References / Resources
Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete,
Authoritative Guide. Russell Barkley, 2000 (revised
2005)
ADHD and the Nature of Self-Control. Russell
Barkley, 2005
The ADHD Book of Lists: A Practical Guide for
Helping Children and Teens with Attention Deficit
Disorder. By Sandra Rief, 2003
Aaron’s contact information: [email protected]