Drugs and psychotherapy can help teens with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) manage symptoms and improve in school, a new research review suggests, but adolescents still have treatment needs that are quite distinct from younger children.

A new study from Aarhus University has now documented that there is some truth to the claim by parents of children with ADHD that their children have more difficulty falling asleep and that they sleep more poorly than other children. Studies have shown that up to seventy per cent of parents of children with ADHD report that the children have difficulty falling asleep and that they spend a long time putting them to bed."

Supplementation of parent symptom reports with clinical data may work as an alternative diagnostic strategy in some cases of suspected ADHD, according to a team of researchers from Boston University School of Medicine in Massachusetts.1 The team was seeking a strategy that would allow clinicians to make a DSM-IV–compliant diagnosis in situations in which assessment of child behavior in the school setting—generally considered a key component to proper diagnosis—cannot be obtained.

Behavioral therapies are recommended before resorting to drugs in a number of common conditions, such as ADHD in young children and chronic insomnia in adults. But practitioners have objected that there are barriers to providing behavioral therapies to large numbers of patients and that drug treatments are simply more practical. We contacted a variety of experts in ADHD and sleep disorders via email to ask: What barriers of this sort have you seen in your own practice?

With the Internet in our pockets, are we more inclined to be inattentive to other tasks? A new study indicates that the answer is yes. The researchers designed a two-week experimental study and showed that when students kept their phones on ring or vibrate, they reported more symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity than when they kept their phones on silent.

Behavior modification therapy is preferable to drugs for treating children 2 to 5 years old who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, U.S. health officials say. "Behavior therapy has been shown to help improve symptoms in young children with ADHD and can be as effective as medicine, but without the side effects," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I am not the kind of person for whom neatness comes easily. I can’t keep to a routine. Every surface of my house is piled with clothes, books, and papers (despite living with a minimalist partner). I start many things and rarely finish them. I find it impossible to focus on instructions. I imagine complex, faraway concepts, but can never seem to get the basics of reality right...And so it was that, at the age of 25, after having been in the mental health system for six years, I learned that I likely had a primarily inattentive form of ADHD.

It’s spring and senior year of high school is wrapping up. Many students are discovering where they are going to college. Planning for freshman year and what it means to live on their own with ADHD is probably the last thing a graduating senior wants to focus on right now. As a parent, though, worry about how your child with ADHD will fare in college may be already filling your mind...So in anticipation of college, how can a parent best set a child up for academic success?

Seventeen-year-old Evi Tampold made her graphic novel debut by shutting herself into a closet; that is, she drew readers into the confined space that helped her learn to control her ADHD as a child...When she heard about a comics and medicine conference themed around “spaces of care,” inspiration and confidence combined to finally thrust her into the community as a maker. Tampold opened her notebook and poured out her heart, crafting a stylish tool to confront the realities of ADHD and join the ranks of graphic novelists whose work drives conversations on under-discussed issues.