"Children with Attention Deficit Disorder wear their parents out disrupt play-groups, and nursery classes, and exhaust their teachers at school. They are hyperactive and impulsive, they lack concentration and can be clumsy and anxious. There are many different medical labels used for the problem, including hyperactivity. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Hyperkinetic Syndrome, but they all apply to roughly the same symptoms, and this book covers all of them.

Patricia Gilbert is a specialist in children's health problems, and offers parents a guide through the jargon and the technical terms to understand what their child is going through, and what they can do to help. She explains what causes Attention Deficit Disorder, how to tell if your child has a problem beyond normal childhood exuberance, how it can be treated and what specialist help can be called on, and offers supportive advice for the whole family-how to prevent other children from missing out, and keep yourself sane in the whirlwind of exhaustion and chaos a child with ADD can produce."

Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction

• Attention deficit disorder - a general survey
• Signs and symptoms
• What causes attention deficit disorder?
• Other reasons for difficult behaviour
• Coping with attention deficit disorder
• How to cope at home
• How to cope at school
• Medication
• Adults with attention deficit disorder

Useful addresses
Further reading
Glossary
Index

Much has been said, and written, over recent years about hyperactive children, and more recently about attention deficit disorder (also called, by some doctors, attention deficit hyperactive disorder— or AD/ HD for short). There is a certain amount of confusion as to what exactly this condition constitutes — and there have been many ways of treating and helping sufferers — and their families.

This book attempts to clarify some of the conflicting descriptions, ideas and treatments of this distressing condition for the benefit of parents and teachers involved with children who suffer from it. A mass of literature on the subject is currently available from all parts of the world — though subsequent work may, of course, overtake some of the conclusions reached. Nevertheless the basic facts regarding the condition will still apply. This text is not meant to be exhaustive, and is not a substitute for advice from, and treatment by, the child's own medical and psychological advisors.

It is hoped that the sufferers themselves — the children — will benefit from a more open discussion of the problems associated with attention deficit disorder and from more consistent handling of their problems. This will enable them to make full use of all available educational facilities in order to attain their full developmental potential.

The child affected by attention deficit disorder is referred to indiscriminately as 'he' or 'she' throughout the book. Although the condition is far more common in boys, this does not exclude a diagnosis of the condition in girls — a possibility which must be recognized in a girl behaving in ways which are typical of the condition.

About the author
Dr Patricia Gilbert trained at St George's Hospital Medical School, London, and worked in both hospitals and general practice, until specializing in child health. Her work was then mainly in the Community Child Health Service, and she was principal clinical medical officer for South Warwickshire. She was also clinical tutor and visiting senior lecturer in child health at Warwick University for a number of years. She has recently been elected a Fellow of the newly formed Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. Writing is now her full-time occupation: a recent publication is a textbook for nursery nurses.