The maturation process is slower for young adults with ADHD and it's not linear, says Kathleen Nadeau, Ph. D., Director of Chesapeake Psychological Services of Maryland and co-author of Understanding Girls With ADHD. There's a lot of up and down, back and forth.
Brain Structure
Parts of the ADHD brain mature at a slower pace (approximately one to three years) and never reach the maturity of a person who does not have ADHD.
That's because kids with ADHD are less mature than their peers. That's what ADHD is: an immaturity of the brain's infrastructure. That immaturity impacts a child's executive functions , including attention and self-control. If a child is much younger than others in his grade, he may appear even more immature.
At what age are symptoms of ADHD the worst? The symptoms of hyperactivity are typically most severe at age 7 to 8, gradually declining thereafter. Peak severity of impulsive behaviour is usually at age 7 or 8. There is no specific age of peak severity for inattentive behaviour.
Shankman: Simply put, ADHD is the brain's inability to produce as much dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline as “regular” people's brains produce. Because of that, our brains have become “faster.” When managed right, that becomes a superpower.
Executive functions have other roles which affect how someone thinks. In people with ADHD, these executive dysfunctions impact thinking in numerous ways. People with ADHD don't really think faster than people without it, but it can sometimes seem like they do.
Individuals with ADHD often experience social difficulties, social rejection, and interpersonal relationship problems as a result of their inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity. Such negative interpersonal outcomes cause emotional pain and suffering.
These may include hyperfocus, resilience, creativity, conversational skills, spontaneity, and abundant energy. Many people view these benefits as “superpowers” because those with ADHD can hone them to their advantage. People with ADHD have a unique perspective that others may find interesting and valuable.
"In children with ADHD, the brain matures in a normal pattern but is delayed by three years in some regions, when compared to children without the disorder," said the study's lead investigator, Dr. Philip Shaw, a child psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health.
A popular misconception is that all children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are naturally smarter and have a higher IQ than children without ADHD. However, there is no correlation between this condition and intelligence.
Rapid Fire Speech and Excessive Talking
One of the trademarks of ADHD is rapid fire thought and excessive speech. These signs of ADHD exist under the hyperactive-impulsive sub-type of ADHD. This symptom may cause problems within a person's professional and personal relationships.
While all kinds of people can fall in love, the experience of people with ADHD falling in love can be more intense for them. This is because the person with ADHD can hyperfocus on the person they are in love with.
Slow processing speed is sometimes a symptom of ADHD — but not always. People living with ADHD may feel like their brains are going faster, yet they do things more slowly.
The brain networks of people with ADHD may take more time to develop and be less effective at relaying certain messages, behaviors, or information. These brain networks may function differently in areas such as focus, movement, and reward.
A: ADHD brains need more sleep, but find it doubly difficult to achieve restfulness. It is one of those ADHD double whammies: ADHD makes it harder to get enough sleep, and being sleep deprived makes it harder to manage your ADHD (or anything else).
People with ADHD tend to talk — a lot. We talk because we're excited or nervous, or because we just want to be a part of the conversation. Sometimes we talk simply to fill the silence because silence is hard for us.
For starters, not everyone with the hyperactive side of ADHD is loud and talkative. While talking non-stop is part of ADHD for some people, there are many other ways hyperactivity can express itself.
Excessive talking is a common symptom for kids with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), who often have trouble inhibiting and controlling their responses. 1 They may blurt out whatever first comes to mind, whether appropriate or not, without thinking through how their words may be received.
High IQ may “mask” the diagnosis of ADHD by compensating for deficits in executive functions in treatment-naïve adults with ADHD.
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with large magnitude impairments in working memory, whereas short-term memory deficits, when detected, tend to be less pronounced.
But in terms of their executive functioning and emotional maturity, they could be three years behind their chronological age, which is common with children who have ADHD. In families living with ADHD, parents tend to base their interactions and expectations on their child's expressive language and cognitive abilities.
ADHD Is Associated With Short-Term Memory Problems
Although they do not have problems with long-term memories, people with ADHD may have impaired short-term — or working — memory, research shows. As a result, they may have difficulty remembering assignments or completing tasks that require focus or concentration.