A Call To attention

A Call To attention

You’d think the likely place to hear of it is at your children’s school. But ADD can strike closer to home

What ADD is not
We all have restless moments; most of us undergo occasional mood swings; many of us feel we’re forever under
Pressure to meet deadlines, finish chores, supervises the children’s studies… Do we have ADD? No. It’s just a symptom of modern living.
So what is ADD?
Simply put, it’s a malfunction of the brain affecting executive functions: ability to organise, remember what you were asked to do, and finish tasks. If you’re also fidgety, it may be Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Symptoms include:
• failing to pay close attention to details, difficulty organising tasks
• Difficulty finishing tasks or sustaining attention for a given task� Getting easily distracted, jumping from one task to another
• Impulsive behaviour, frequent mood swings, impatience, restlessness
• fidgeting constantly or noticeably, squirming, difficulty staying seated
‘Being always ‘on the go’, acting as if ‘driven by a motor’
• Frequent job changes.

ADD has a strong genetic bias. So if your child is diagnosed and you seem to have symptoms yourself (or remember similar tendencies), it’s a good idea to speak up. Experts are more likely to look for it in the family if one member has it - there’s a 25-35 percent probability that another member also will (as opposed to 4-6 percent in the general populace),