Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and the required preparation from the various sectors

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders because of raising awareness and introduce its symptoms and diagnosis. Awareness is intensified annually in the month of October. It is unfortunate that a large number of people with ADHD are not aware of their condition and continuously suffer silently with its symptoms. Symptoms appear in the early years of life but are often discovered after the first school stages that reveal poor concentration and distraction in children. Suffering with this disorder continues until advanced ages, in some cases its severity and impact diminish with age as a result of increased awareness of its symptoms and knowledge of its control.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder appears in one of its three types, the first type is Attention Deficit (ADD), and the second type shows hyperactive-impulsive, the last type is a combination of both types and exhibits both symptoms of distraction and hyperactive-impulsive. The main cause of this disorder is still unknown, but studies indicate that 75% of this condition is due to genetic reasons, while other reasons are nutritional reasons, such as eating foods containing some types of artificial colors and foods banned in a number of countries, and environmental reasons such as exposure to some types of pesticides, lead, or nicotine.

An article in the Saudi National Guard Hospital Medical Journal stated that 7% of the world's children are affected by this disorder, 60% of whom continue to suffer from youth, as symptoms start in the early ages and continue to grow up later, but with different symptoms and problems. The article also states that the percentage of children infected within Saudi Arabia is 15.50%. The proportion of people who will continue to suffer till young age may be more than half, which requires optimal preparation.[1]

This article does not aim to discuss ADHD from a medical point of view, but rather aims to highlight the need to increase community awareness and in different sectors as well, because the treatment plan is an integrated chain cooperation of parties to reduce the suffering of affected individuals, and get them more into society, to be more similar to their counterparts, and this will make them feel comfortable and psychologically reassured, which is the goal of treatment.

After the diagnosis, the affected child is subject to a treatment plan consisting of four elements, medical treatment, including medications, psychological supervision, with behavioral counseling, understanding at home and the surrounding environment of symptoms and how to deal with them, in addition to the educational institution's understanding of the nature of the disorder and how to help it to finish his educational attainment in the correct way according to his condition.

This puts us in front of a question, which is whether society and educational institutions are sufficiently qualified to deal with people with this disorder? This is due to the need for the affected individuals to receive positive and moral support from home and school to help them achieve success on the social and scientific level, and it is one of the important elements that contribute to building and refining their personalities, also this will determine their future fate, otherwise they will be at risk of academic failure and the consequent withdrawal from school or work and dealing with their problems in the wrong way.

Among the solutions followed in schools is for the affected child to sit in the first row, and complete his tests in a separate class, to reduce the distracting factors around him, and to give him extra time to complete his tests due to his frequent dispersion. As for the labor market institutions, it is preferable to give the affected person the advantage of flexible attendance to work, and to give him priority in choosing the night shift because the affected person also suffer from anxiety and sleep disturbances and face difficulty in meeting morning appointments. In addition to this, it is preferable to give them a separate office due to the ease with which they are distracted by the presence of influences around them which will delay their completion of the work. The tasks they are required to complete should be written down and not verbally said because they may forget about it or question what was asked of them which will expose them to more anxiety.

The first step to raise awareness is to make introductory lectures. One of the proposed solutions is for the Ministry of Education to make recorded lectures and ask parents and workers in the sector to watch them. The same proposal can be implemented by the Ministry of Human Resources, by educating workers in the labor sectors to know the correct way to deal with affected employees, and not consider them indifferent to the dates of attendance or the completion of tasks on time.

In addition to the fact that the Ministry of Health, in coordination with the Ministry of Education, should make a plan to diagnose the affected students, as the diagnosis depends on answering a number of questions and then diagnosing and supervising the treatment by a medical specialist, followed by the possibility of sending medicines by medical mail, and this can be fully achieved through remote cooperation between the specialist and the affected student, as the use of technology facilitates communication with the most remote areas.

Also, as part of the social responsibility, allocating appropriate subscription prices in sports clubs for the affected people, as sport is an outlet for them to get rid of anxiety, to use their excess kinetic energy in the right ways, and help them to be more creative. In the future, the sectors in general should rely on and implement recommendations made by centers specialized in this disorder.

In conclusion, despite the legal classification of ADHD in a number of countries as a type of disability, this does not mean that people with this disorder are less creative than their non-affected counterparts or suffer from low IQ, on the contrary, a large percentage of them are characterized by high intelligence, focus, and innovation in the fields of science, art, commerce, sports and others, but they need special preparation that suits their circumstances, for example, Isaac Newton, Richard Branson, Michael Jordan, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Michael Phillips, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Agatha Christie, and John Kennedy, which means that controlling the Symptoms of this disorder are possible if the required support and assistance is achieved from all sides, and this is what must be achieved by joint work.