Chapter 9: Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders & APD

• Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD)


  a broad syndrome relating to children who demonstrate three primary problems:

  1. Inattention – difficulty either in selecting what to attend to or in keeping attention focused for as long as necessary to perform an age-appropriate task
  2. Impulsivity – difficulty properly controlling or regulating behavior
  3. Hyperactivity – excesses of physical movement, especially excesses that have a purposeless, poorly directed, or driven quality
• DSM-5


  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition
• Executive Dysfunction


  A disruption of executive functions that regulate, control, and manage cognitive processes, behaviors, and emotions
• Comorbidity


  the presence of two or more conditions, disorders, or disabilities
• Auditory Processing


  the perceptual processing of auditory information in the central nervous system and the neurobiological activity that underlies that processing. What the brain does with the information we hear, including understanding what was heard, remembering it, maintaining the sequence of information, combining visual information with the auditory, and effectively using the information
• Auditory Processing Disorder (APD)/Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD)


  a deficit in the perceptual processing of auditory stimuli and the neurobiological activity underlying that processing that is seen as difficulty using auditory information to communicate and learn
• Psychophysiologic (psychosomatic)


  a disorder with physical signs and symptoms that have a psychological origin, often with a common ailment such as tension headaches or gastrointestinal disorders that are attributed to psychological stress
• Auditory figure-ground


  the perception of relevant sounds from extraneous background sounds and noise; the ability to hear the voice of one speaker over background noise
• Ambient Noise


  background sounds that are present in an environment or location, such as wind, water, birds, etc.