Can a Child Outgrow ADHD?
This article comes from a question from three of my subscribers. It was asked three different ways:
1. What is the prognosis of ADHD?
2. Can one outgrow ADHD?
3. When will my son outgrow ADHD or at least outgrow the need for medication?
These are very important questions especially for people dealing with kids and teens with ADHD.
Research shows that when individuals with ADHD are followed from childhood into adolescence and then into adult life about 30% or so of adults will have outgrown their ADHD. That means they will no longer meet a formal diagnosis of ADHD.
That means that about 70 percent of kids and teens who have ADHD will still have the full diagnosis as adults. Research also suggests that the people who don’t have the full diagnosis still have some of the ADHD criteria present and may in fact still have some impairment from their ’subthreshold’ ADHD. ‘Subthreshold’ means that their symptoms are not severe enough to merit the full diagnosis, but they are close to the threshold of meeting the diagnosis.
The second part of the question is: ‘can he at least outgrow the need for medication?’
This is a very important question.
Does a person with ADHD going into adult life necessarily need medication for many years?
The answer depends on many factors. It depends on the individual’s strengths and weaknesses; it depends on whether they have been able to find support in their family, in their education, in their career, and it depends on their personal strengths and weaknesses and their ability to adapt.
I like to think that if someone has an ADHD ‘friendly’ job and an ADHD ‘friendly’ spouse or friends etc., that he or she may do quite well without medication. Somebody with an ADHD unfriendly job may end up being very unhappy and being at risk of a lot of complications that can come with difficult ADHD if it’s not treated.
What is an ADHD friendly job? One which allows one’s strengths to come out. One which does not penalize the individual for his/her weaknesses. For example, often someone with ADD/ADHD may do well with a creative, high stimulation type of job; and he or she may do poorly with a low stimulation job like data entry.
To summarize, some people do need medication going into adult life with ADHD, and some people may not. It depends on their ability to find a situation that works well for them with the support that they need to function effectively. ADHD can bring out some tremendous characteristics in individuals- creativity - looking at the same thing that everybody else looks at - seeing it in a completely different way and thus yielding very different results. That can be a tremendous strength of ADHD and can be a very valued skill in a workplace.
However being disorganized, being late for things, missing meetings and not paying attention enough can be very difficult in a work place.
In summary, each adult with ADD/ADHD will have to assess whether he or she is functioning well enough to manage without medication.
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Written by Dr. Kenny Handelman - The ADHD Doctor
To find get a FREE special report on ADD/ADHD Medication, visit: Medication Mastery
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