Parenting a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is no easy task. ADHD is a common behavioral disorder that affects an estimated four percent to eight percent of school-age children. Every child is different, therefore ADD / ADHD manifest itself differently in every child just as the dosage of medication or the medication will differ from child to child. So many kids have other conditions as well, which only makes it that much harder on them as well as on their parents and the ones who love them. Society does not make this any easier with all the folks out there who know nothing about ADD / ADHD, yet they sound off all the time about how many kids have ADHD and how bad it is.

Behavioral characteristics of attention deficit disorder include difficulty listening and following directions, being easily distracted, difficulty focusing and sustaining attention difficulty concentrating and difficulty working independently. Children with ADHD act without thinking, are hyperactive, and have trouble focusing. They may understand what's expected of them but have trouble following through because they can't sit still, pay attention, or attend to details. The difference with ADHD is that symptoms are present over a longer period of time and occur in different settings. They impair a child’s ability to function socially, academically and at home.

Basically, ADHD has biological origins that aren’t clearly understood yet. Studies have shown that many children with ADHD have a close relative who also has the disorder. About half of all children with ADHD also have specific learning disability, the most common of which is with reading and handwriting.

For children aged three to eighteen to receive disability benefits based on this disorder must possess marked inattention, marked impulsiveness and marked hyperactivity. In addition, they must have marked impairment in age appropriate cognitive function, in age appropriate social functioning and in age appropriate personal functioning. For each of these marked impairments, there must exist supporting documentation.

Part of the problem with winning disability approvals based on this impairment has to with the subjected nature of how the Social Security Administration evaluates ADHD. The social security disability system is not really concerned with a claimant’s diagnosed condition but rather the effect that the condition has on a claimant’s ability to engage in certain specific activities. For adults, this means the ability to work while earning at least a certain basic amount and for children, this means being able to adequately perform age appropriate activities such as adequate functioning in school.

Thus, to win an ADHD disability claim, it is not enough to be simply given an ADHD diagnosis. There must be a measurable functional deficit in the context of work or school performance.