Do the brains of kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) mature more slowly than those of their non-ADHD counterparts?

New research suggests this is true.

Developing more slowly in ADHD youngsters — the lag can be as much as three years — are brain regions that suppress inappropriate actions and thoughts, focus attention, remember things from moment to moment, work for reward and control movement.

The sharp differences were discovered only after a new image analysis technique allowed the researchers to pinpoint the thickening and thinning of thousands of cortex sites in hundreds of children and teens, with and without the disorder.

Brain imaging is not advanced enough, however, to detect the delays characteristic of ADHD on a case-by-case basis, so it is not yet possible to use imaging to make a diagnosis.

Kids with ADHD have normal brain function; it’s just on a delayed timeframe, says Dr. Philip Shaw of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

That’s good news - and it is also perhaps reassuring that ADHD does seem to be a biological phenomenon, rather than an environmentally-created one. Although up to five percent of schoolchildren may have ADHD, most kids diagnosed with it eventually outgrow the disorder.

Posted by Sunshining.