"Impulsivity" and ADHD

IMPULSIVITY

Impulsivity is found in two areas:

• Behavioral Impulsivity - the things that you do
• Cognitive Impulsivity - the way that you think and make choices



Behavioral Impulsivity

ADHD individuals with behavioral impulsivity don't stop and think first before they act.

No matter how many times you tell this kid, "stop and think first," the next time the situation comes up, he may well do the same impulsive thing again.

Children with ADHD often aren't learning from their past mistakes. Their learning threshold is very high, and if you don't excite them, or motivate them enough to get them above that learning threshold, they don't learn, and they make the same the same mistake again and again.

ADHD children with behavioral impulsivity often:

• act without thinking first,
• cut in line,
• can't wait their turn in line or in a game,
• blurt out answers in class,
• speak when they're supposed to be quiet,
• may show aggressive behaviors,
• are often a little too loud,
• sometimes fight,
• often have poor social skills, which of course is the death socially for teenagers with ADHD,
• impulsively say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

They can get one date, but they can't get the second date because they might impulsively blurt out something and then say, "Why did I say that?" The other teens are asking, "Who is this guy?" and often begin to avoid him.

Also, sometimes these kids fail to learn those subtle social cues that everybody else has learned, and so they're socially awkward and often don't know why.



Cognitive Impulsivity

Cognitive impulsivity means that they guess a lot.

Guessing is their problem solving method of choice. Cognitively impulsive ADHD kids will make a multiple number of guesses in a short period of time.

On a matching task, or if you give them multiple choices orally, you'll see them guess for the right answer very quickly, "it's this one, no, its this one, no, wait, its this one," until finally you step in and, when he guesses right, you'll say, "That's it!"

Of course this just reinforces his guessing.

These cognitively impulsive ADHD kids have very limited problem solving strategies.

They don't stop and look and the problem and then say, "Well, I could do it this way first, then do that, then I'll be done." They don't approach problem solving that way. They usually just guess and let trial and error take its course.

Being Fast is NOT a Problem

Now remember, being fast is not a problem. Some have pointed out that “being fast and accurate is good." It's fast and inaccurate that is a problem.