Question:
My son has just been diagnosed with ADHD, he has displayed the same symptoms as his dad did when he was young so his dad did the ADHD test on this site and it came out very high, could my other children be affected as well?
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Answer:
It is true that ADHD appears to be inherited. Typical of many disorders that are inherited, not all the offspring inherit the gene. I will not get into a discourse in genes and how they work but suffice it to say that when one parent has a disorder that is inherited but the other parent does not, there is a chance that one child of that parent will inherit the disorder and none of the others. On the other hand, a second child may also get the gene for the disorder or the one child can remain the only one to inherit it. If both parents inherit the disorder then there is a greater chance that more children will inherit the disorder.
It gets very complicated and it makes no sense to get into all the complications here. I would suggest that you watch your children’s behavior for any symptoms that may appear to be ADHD in nature.
There is lots of help available for children with ADHD and the younger they receive help the better they do later on. Such help includes having them trained by a specialist in ADHD in how to focus attention and that means: How to listen, how to take notes in school, how to study, how to behave with other children, how to behave with teachers, how to keep organized, etc.
In some cases where there is extreme out of control behavior that is hyperactive in nature and is not responding to training alone, medication along with the therapy, may be necessary.
My hope is that your husband is getting help for his ADHD. We now know that ADHD is common in adulthood and can be treated in adulthood. Again, the younger they are when treated the better the results for those people with ADHD.
Best of Luck
