Ads from Google:


Google ad
End of ad
Google Adsense ad
End of ads.

ADHD in Children, Child or Teens ADHD, Age of Onset

Abstract: The official definition of ADHD says that the symptoms must start before 7 years of age, but some ADHD only starts with puberty or when the child grows older and more demands are put on them. Especially the inattentive mode of ADHD in girls is sometimes not recognized until in their teens.

Web4Health logo
psychologist Independent medical expert answers on psychiatry and psychology

ADHD in Children, Child or Teens ADHD, Age of Onset

Intelligent natural language question-answering in the area of psychology and psychiatry. Ask a simple question  Local help Info


Go the top of the page Top Forum iconDiscuss this Forum iconGet expert advice Printer Print
Question(s): 
Written by: Martin Winkler
First version: 22 Jul 2008.
Latest revision: 24 Jul 2008.

What is the age of onset for ADHD? Is Child ADHD or Teens ADHD most common?

Answer:

The diagnostic criteria of ADHD according to the international classification systems (ICD 10 or DSM IV) define the maximum age of onset of some symptoms of ADHD before the age of seven. These symptoms have to be severe and create impairments of academic or social functioning. If a child has only minor problems (compared to any other child of his age and developmental stage) the age-of-onset criterion would not be met.

ADHD is a genetically transmitted disorder. Some mothers will be able to describe symptoms of ADHD of their kids during pregnancy or in early years. But usually these symptoms cannot be distinguished from the normal development of toddlers. Usually at the time of kindergarten or the early years of school children with ADHD will present typical symptoms of ADHD because they get more problems to adapt to social rules with other children or teachers and might also have problems with their low attention span or distractibility and low impulse control.

However, children (especially girls) with the inattentive-type of ADHD might be able to compensate these problems for a longer period. So there are also some children who do not have severe impairments in school and make excellent tests. Becoming older and having higher (or different) demands of self-organisation and executive functions they might get typical problems. Some young women present typical symptoms of ADHD with hormonal changes at the age of 13 or 14. There is no general agreement among experts how to classify this type of ADHD-like symptoms if no severe ADHD-symptoms were described before the age of 7. However most doctors would recommend a trial of ADHD-treatment for these patients if they met the other diagnostic criteria of ADHD and other possible causes can be excluded.

Intelligent natural language question-answering in the area of psychology and psychiatry. Ask a simple question:
Local help Info
Google ad
End of ad
Disclaimer: The documents contained in this web site are presented for information purposes only. The material is in no way intended to replace professional medical care or attention by a qualified psychiatrist or psychotherapist. It can not and should not be used as a basis for diagnosis or choice of treatment. If you find anything wrong, please notify us at .
Go to top of page To top of page
Web4Health in other languages: Finnish German Greek Italian Polish Russian Swedish

adhd-age-onset Copyright 2003-2017 Web4Health
Copyright 2003-2017 Web4Health.
Web4Health was selected as finalist for the 2008 Stockholm Challenge Award
Translate Web4Health
We seek voluntary translators who are interested in translating Web4Health to new languages. We can provide the servers, and pay you 50 % of the income from ads on pages, which you have translated. We are especially interested in translators from German To English, From German, Swedish or English to French, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Finnish, Polish, Farsi, Russian.
web4health.info/en/tr/

Advertise here
Reach 300 000 visitors reading one million pages for a cost of 600 US $/month.
/en/ad/