"The mother had brought in a note from her son’s elementary school teacher: Dear doctor, I think this child needs to be tested for attention deficit disorder.
“She’s worried about how he can’t sit still in school and do his work,” the mother said. “He’s always getting into trouble.”
But then she brightened. “But he can’t have attention deficit, I know that.”
Why? Her son could sit for hours concentrating on video games, it turned out, so she was certain there was nothing wrong with his attention span."
The author goes on to explain:
In fact, a child’s ability to stay focused on a screen, though not anywhere else, is actually characteristic of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. There are complex behavioral and neurological connections linking screens and attention, and many experts believe that these children do spend more time playing video games and watching television than their peers.
The kind of concentration that children bring to video games and television is not the kind they need to thrive in school or elsewhere in real life, according to Dr. Christopher Lucas, associate professor of child psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. “It’s not sustained attention in the absence of rewards,” he said. “It’s sustained attention with frequent intermittent rewards.”
Indeed, at least one study has found that when children with A.D.H.D. were treated with methylphenidate (Ritalin), which increases dopamine activity in the brain, they played video games less.
This exactly characterizes Noah-when he is medicated-he wants to spend time with us away from his TV. I think this article really explains and educates those who aren't familiar with the slight characteristics that paint the face of ADHD.Enjoy the article!
