Children with vision problems not correctable with glasses or contact lenses may be twice as likely to have a diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), suggests a study in the May issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry.

Almost all the children [Dr. Evdokia Anagnostou] sees also have additional disorders, like attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and intellectual disability...She and her colleagues are now taking a new tack. In a trailblazing project called the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders (POND) Network, sponsored by the provincially funded Ontario Brain Institute, they’re studying multiple disorders together, with the hope that such an approach will lead to a better understanding of their biology.

Sweden-based Qbtech has received an FDA 510(k) clearance for an online tool, called QbCheck, that offers clinical decision-making support for diagnosing and treating children with ADHD. According to the company, the normal route for diagnosing ADHD is complicated, involves, administrative costs, and carries risk for bias. Qbtech’s process aims to make ADHD easier to identify, rule out, and monitor...QbCheck is similar to QbTest, except it’s all online and makes use the space bar instead of a button, and the computer’s web camera instead of a standalone camera.

Young and single men are at risk of being addicted to video games. The addiction indicates an escape from ADHD and psychiatric disorder...Schou Andreassen has carried out a study with more than 20 000 participants who answered questions related to videogame addiction. The study is published in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, of the American Psychological Association.

For more than a decade, a black box warning from the Food and Drug Administration has accompanied the ADHD drug atomoxetine cautioning users of an increased risk of suicidal thoughts. But University of Florida College of Pharmacy researchers found no evidence that children taking atomoxetine were at an increased risk of suicide or suicide attempts...The findings...were published in the journal Pediatrics today.

Teens who take prescribed stimulant medications such as Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta and methylphenidate within a medical context early in life are at lower risk for developing substance use problems in adolescence, according to a new University of Michigan study. When these medications are used early for nonmedical purposes, such as taking someone else's prescription, the teens are more likely to develop substance use problems in adolescence.

The use of certain antidepressants during pregnancy can result in offspring depression by early adolescence. Using national register data from Finland, researchers found that children exposed to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during gestation had more chance of being diagnosed with depression after age 12, reaching a cumulative incidence of 8.2% by age 15. For children exposed to maternal psychiatric illness but no antidepressants, the incidence was 1.9%. Rates of anxiety, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnoses did not differ significantly between the two groups.

My son was three when I took him to see a mental health professional for the first time. Ari was little, but challenging in so many ways. He refused to walk outside when it rained. He’d scream whenever water splashed on his clothes. He would never fingerpaint in nursery school; he didn’t like to get his hands dirty. By the time he developed an obsessive habit of tucking in chairs at the kitchen table, I knew it was time to do something.