My child has ADD, not AD/HD! Do you have any information on ADD?

ADD, AD/HD, hyperkinesis? It gets confusing, doesn't it?

This condition has been known for more than a hundred years, but it hasn't always been called the same thing. In the past, different labels have been used for what we now call attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).

Why the change? The American Psychiatric Association publishes the official guidelines for naming and diagnosing mental disorders. This book (called the DSM, or "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders") is regularly updated as scientists learn more and more. Research in the 1970s and 1980s began to show there are different types of attention deficit. Although they have major differences, the types are more alike than different. Doctors began to see that the different types are all part of the same major condition. In 1994, the DSM changed the name from ADD (attention deficit disorder) to AD/HD because of the advances in research. There are three types of this one condition called AD/HD. They are: inattentive, hyperactive/impulsive, and combined.

Some doctors and mental health professionals still use the term ADD. If this is your or your child's diagnosis, it most likely means you or your child have the inattentive type of AD/HD. This is not the child who is "bouncing off the walls" or "simply can't sit still." Rather, it's the individual who seems to be always daydreaming, is forgetful, is easily distracted, is disorganized, and just can't seem to pay attention.

The information on this Web site applies to all types of "attention deficit disorders." For more details on the formal symptoms of all three subtypes, please see Symptoms and Diagnostic Criteria.