With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a child’s prefrontal cortex, which regulates thinking and motor activity, is disrupted. This was told socialbites.ca by Professor Leonid Chutko, head of the Center for Behavioral Neurology, head of the laboratory for correction of mental development and adaptation of the Human Brain Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
With exaggeration, we can say that the frontal, anterior regions of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, work somewhat “slowly” compared to their healthy peers. There is functional immaturity of the brain. So the prefrontal cortex regulates thinking and motor activity depending on one’s plans and tasks,” he explained.
Most often, the cause of the disorder is heredity, Chutko added: if you study the parents of children with ADHD, then in half the cases the symptoms can be found in the fathers, and in 29% of the cases – in the mothers. However, perinatal factors can also influence whether the disorder manifests itself and to what extent. Pregnancy and birth pathologies increase the risks; ADHD is more common in premature babies.
For more information on how often ADHD persists into adulthood and whether the syndrome may develop into adulthood, see ADHD. material “socialbites.ca”.