Manage ADHD with Cognitive Training

Managing ADHD by cognitive training is a new and promising approach, one that avoids the intake of drugs and improves academic results.

While Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) may be associated with laziness, poor motivation, low intelligence, or poor upbringing, ADHD is a genuine medical disorder, and it can be caused by genetic, environmental factors and substances.

The exact cause of ADHD is still unknown. However, the link to genetics is strong. For example, twin studies indicate that the disorder is often inherited from one’s parents with genetics determining about 75% of cases.

Environmental factors play another important role in the onset of ADHD. Because the disorder is more common in children of anxious or stressed mothers, some argue that ADHD is an adaptation that helps children face a stressful or dangerous environment with.

Toxic substances are also known to trigger ADHD. Alcohol intake during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorder which includes symptoms similar to ADHD. Exposure to tobacco smoke during pregnancy can cause problems with central nervous system development and can increase the risk of ADHD. Children exposed to lead, even low levels, or polychlorinated biphenyls may develop problems which resemble ADHD, however, the evidence is not conclusive.

Contrary to what you might know from the media, a child’s diet does not trigger ADHD. Much of the research done over the past two decades was unable to support the claim that diet played a significant role in causing ADHD. Dietary sugar and the artificial sweetener aspartame appear to have little to no effect, with the only exception being children less than six years of age.

While experts still are in search of the cause of ADHD, they all agree ADHD changes the brain structure. Certain parts of the brain become smaller or less active than they are in children who don’t have ADHD. Another common pathological sign are impaired brain pathways connecting the brain’s prefrontal cortex. Patients with ADHD develop an imbalance of neurotransmitters – these are the brain chemicals needed for generating thoughts.

The management of ADHD typically involves counseling or medications either alone or in combination. Unfortunately, while treatment may improve the long term outcomes, it does not get rid of the negative outcomes. Javier Arguello, Director at COGx, has an entirely different view about managing ADHD. He notes while the Unites States has less than 5% of the world’s population; it consumes 85% of the world’s stimulants. That would mean that America’s children are disproportionate inattentive compared to the rest of the world. Because this appears to be highly unlikely Mr. Arguello argues Americans take stimulants too often when they should not.

In his second argument, Mr. Arguello looks at the sales of simulates. Surprisingly, stimulants have increased in sales by over 100% in the time frame from 2007 ($4 billion) to 2012 ($9 billion). These numbers might indicate we are oversold on stimulants.

Inattentiveness is often a symptom of a weak cognitive skill. What this means is when the brain is mentally tasked beyond is capacity to process that information the brain releases glucose. As a result the brain becomes quickly exhausted. In an attempt to protect it we become disengaged and inattentive, which are exactly the symptoms of ADHD.

ADHD is typically diagnosed through a questionnaire. It should be obvious that this method of diagnosing ADHD is highly subjective. But the student may not suffer from genuine ADHD medical disorder yet but simply scores low on short term memory retention has a slow mental processing speed.

Mr. Arguello says: “While drugs are necessary for a few, they do not fix a broken learning system. We are giving pills instead of skills”. Every student is different, every student learns different. Instead, a better approach is to assess the cognitive skills of each individual and then tailor the teachings. In other words, Mr. Arguello would prescribe cognitive training and improving memory retention instead stimulants.

For parent it is not easy to decide what to do when a loved one shows signs of ADHD. We at TutorZ recommend hiring a qualified ADHD tutor to improve his or her learning environment by individualizing education aiming to manage ADHD with cognitive training.