ADD ADHD

ADHD Information Processing

A picture of ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder...

Picture the incoming information to be processed and learned as a large volume of water, and picture the brain's ability to process this information as a large pipe, like a storm drain pipe. If the brain does not have enough neural connections, or lacks the neural density, to process the incoming information, then it will be like a pipe that is too small to handle a large volume of water. It will take in some, but the rest will be stopped and won't go down the pipe rapidly. Learning may take place, but the time that it takes to process information will be slowed significantly.

The impact of this with an ADHD child is best seen when the child is given a timed test, even with material that the child understands pretty well. The "timed" aspect of the test requires that the child have a larger storm drain pipe, as it were, to quickly process the problems on the test and recall the answer. Since the pipe is smaller, the results of the timed test will probably be very poor. However, take away the timed element on the same test, and allow the water to drain a the slower rate, and the child will probably do well on the test.  

So the ADHD child, and adult, needs a greater degree of neural density, and a larger number of neural connections to process information. And as I mentioned before, this information includes information from the outside world, including the touch of the clothes on his skin, the buzz of the lights overhead, the sound of the kids playing outside, and the new information that the teacher is talking about at the front of the classroom. It also includes the information from inside the head, the thoughts and feelings for the ADHD person. All of that must be sorted out and filtered, so that only the important information is paid attention to, and the unimportant information is ignored. Without proper filtering by the Reticular Activating System, the individual will be distracted by "noise," both from out side of him as well as from inside of him.  

As we mentioned earlier, the ADHD might effect one, two, or several areas of the brain, resulting in several different "styles" or "profiles" of children (and adults) with ADHD. These different profiles effect performance in these four areas: First, problems with Attention. Second, problems with a lack of Impulse Control. Third, problems with Over-activity or motor restlessness, and fourth, a problem which is not yet an "official" problem found in the diagnostic manuals, but ought to be: being easily Bored.

What is ADHD? Next page.