Source: Veritas Prep
For years, people who have recognized that many children are inherently active have assumed that those who were particularly hyper would simply outgrow such a phase. Today some skeptics still believe that those diagnosed with ADD are simply people who lack willpower and discipline. Yet, given the progress that has been made in understanding the ADD mind, it is increasingly clear that ADD is a very real chemical impairment of the brain that persists in adulthood for 30-50% of those diagnosed as children.
For many years, what is now called ADD was perceived as childhood behavior characterized by impulsivity and an inability to sit still. In the 1970's, researchers first recognized that hyperactive children also had tremendous difficulty maintaining the attention required to complete tasks or listen to their teachers. This realization that inattention rather than hyperactivity was the principal problem led to the first major paradigm shift in understanding ADD syndrome.
Recently, there has been another major change in our understanding of ADD. Researchers have now recognized that ADD symptoms overlap with impairments in executive functions, the brain circuits that prioritize, integrate, and regulate other cognitive functions. Impairment in these functions stems from the brain's inability to inhibit impulses. The brain of a person with ADD may have difficulty forestalling the impulse to speak out of turn, the inclination to intentionally irritate a sibling (despite knowledge that such action will lead to punishment), the distraction of paperclips on a desk, or the desire to play outside before math homework has been completed.
Persons with ADD who use stimulant medications often experience improvements in executive brain functions and impulse inhibition. There is now considerable evidence that executive functions depend on neurotransmitter chemicals such as dopamine. Stimulant medications like Ritalin affect these chemicals at neural synapse sites that control crucially important executive functions. Stimulants are not without risks and side effects, and stimulants do not cure ADD. But they do alleviate symptoms while the dose of medication is active.
Much remains to be learned about how the brain's complicated neural networks operate to sustain attention. Yet it seems clear that impairment of executive functions, those brain processes that organize and activate what we generally think of as attention, are the result of the disruption of neurotransmitter pathways in the brain. Given the often dramatic alleviation of ADD symptoms under the control of stimulant medications, it is difficult to give credence to the notion that ADD impairments are simply due to a lack of willpower.
With which of the following is the author most likely to agree ?
(A) Children with ADD are likely to do well in school once they are put on stimulant medications.
(B) People with ADD are often better able to inhibit impulses while on stimulant medication.
(C) ADD is a childhood disorder that does not affect adults.
(D) It would be premature to conclude that ADD is the result of a neurotransmitter pathway disruption.
(E) Children with ADD are more impulsive when taking Ritalin.
Experts: only Veritas Prep experts, please!
For years, people who have recognized that many children are inherently active have assumed that those who were particularly hyper would simply outgrow such a phase. Today some skeptics still believe that those diagnosed with ADD are simply people who lack willpower and discipline. Yet, given the progress that has been made in understanding the ADD mind, it is increasingly clear that ADD is a very real chemical impairment of the brain that persists in adulthood for 30-50% of those diagnosed as children.
For many years, what is now called ADD was perceived as childhood behavior characterized by impulsivity and an inability to sit still. In the 1970's, researchers first recognized that hyperactive children also had tremendous difficulty maintaining the attention required to complete tasks or listen to their teachers. This realization that inattention rather than hyperactivity was the principal problem led to the first major paradigm shift in understanding ADD syndrome.
Recently, there has been another major change in our understanding of ADD. Researchers have now recognized that ADD symptoms overlap with impairments in executive functions, the brain circuits that prioritize, integrate, and regulate other cognitive functions. Impairment in these functions stems from the brain's inability to inhibit impulses. The brain of a person with ADD may have difficulty forestalling the impulse to speak out of turn, the inclination to intentionally irritate a sibling (despite knowledge that such action will lead to punishment), the distraction of paperclips on a desk, or the desire to play outside before math homework has been completed.
Persons with ADD who use stimulant medications often experience improvements in executive brain functions and impulse inhibition. There is now considerable evidence that executive functions depend on neurotransmitter chemicals such as dopamine. Stimulant medications like Ritalin affect these chemicals at neural synapse sites that control crucially important executive functions. Stimulants are not without risks and side effects, and stimulants do not cure ADD. But they do alleviate symptoms while the dose of medication is active.
Much remains to be learned about how the brain's complicated neural networks operate to sustain attention. Yet it seems clear that impairment of executive functions, those brain processes that organize and activate what we generally think of as attention, are the result of the disruption of neurotransmitter pathways in the brain. Given the often dramatic alleviation of ADD symptoms under the control of stimulant medications, it is difficult to give credence to the notion that ADD impairments are simply due to a lack of willpower.
With which of the following is the author most likely to agree ?
(A) Children with ADD are likely to do well in school once they are put on stimulant medications.
(B) People with ADD are often better able to inhibit impulses while on stimulant medication.
(C) ADD is a childhood disorder that does not affect adults.
(D) It would be premature to conclude that ADD is the result of a neurotransmitter pathway disruption.
(E) Children with ADD are more impulsive when taking Ritalin.
Experts: only Veritas Prep experts, please!
