Did you know there are different types of ADHD? It’s true! Unfortunately, the names of these might differ, depending on who you ask, which can be confusing. For example, is it ADHD or ADD? Are they same?
I’ve been reading the book “Healing ADD” by Dr. Daniel Amen off and on for the past couple of months and it. is. excellent. I literally cannot say this enough. It is an excellent book about ADHD/ADD. In the book, Dr. Amen describes seven types of ADD. He also uses ADD to encompass ADHD, and in this post I will use both terms interchangeably.
As I read “Healing ADD”, I found almost every member of my family, which was both enlightening and horrifying. We had no idea it was this widespread in our home. But it also explained a lot.
If you’re beginning the process of homeschooling your children with ADHD, you’ll want to take the time to sort through the different types of ADHD before you decide on a homeschooling method. Otherwise, you’ll have to go back to the drawing board multiple times. (Ask me how I know.)
The Different Types of ADHD/ADD
In “Healing ADD”, Dr. Amen describes seven types of ADD/ADHD. I’ve added a very brief description of each one.
- Classic – the stereotypical person with ADD or ADHD
- Inattentive – the daydreamer
- Overfocused – the one-track mind
- Temporal Lobe – the hothead
- Limbic – the loner
- Ring of Fire – the intense one
- Anxious – the worrier
Here’s the problem: If you have a family with multiple ADHD members (like ours), you may have to deal with several types of ADD at once. For example, my husband tends toward anxious ADD and I tend toward overfocused ADD. Needless to say, we’ve had quite a few incidences of miscommunication over the years.
We’ve seen variations in our kids’ types of ADHD as well. Tigger has classic ADD, complete with hyperactivity, but Roo displays Ring of Fire ADD. He has extremely intense emotions and he is very easily frustrated. Until I read the book, I was under the impression that Pooh did not have ADHD at all. But then I learned about limbic ADD and that is him to a T.
Adapting to Your Child’s Type of ADHD
Here’s why it’s so important to understand your child’s type of ADHD: If you intend to homeschool, you will have a miserable experience if you choose a method that does not fit with the way your child’s brain works. This is especially true if multiple members of the family have ADHD, because the likelihood that all will have the same type of ADHD is very low.
In our family, Pooh has limbic ADHD, so he is moody, irritable, and generally negative. He needs a very different homeschooling approach than Roo and Tigger. They need far more activity than he does, and, in fact, he generally prefers a solitary activity over P.E. (We’ll talk more about developing a homeschooling approach for the ADHD child later in the series.)
Have you noticed any symptoms of these different types of ADHD in your family? How have you adjusted to them? Let us know in the comments!
This post is part of the series “31 Days of ADHD Homeschooling“! Be sure to stop by tomorrow for Day 6: Creating an ADHD Friendly Routine for Kids!
My goodness, is it me or does that describe almost 90% of the personalities out there? Have you read the articles (in medical journals) regarding the ‘over-mis-diagnosis’ of children regarding ADD and ADHD? The diagnosis of this condition is now plaguing schools to a large degree. I myself was shocked at the line at my son’s school of kids lined up for their meds. It is a concerning thing for me as a parent. This diagnosis has = big money for the pharmaceutical field and other factions of the medical community. Unfortunately it preys on kids. Some do need the help – others are caught in the wave. I’ve witnessed this many times. Even with my own kids (sons specifically). My 20 year old son who was labeled by his teachers as possibly your #2 type by teachers had a way of retaining tons of information but didn’t know how to give the ‘appearance’ of paying attention. That same child is now an EMT, a star athlete in track, lacrosse and football, does stand up comedy, obtained an AA degree in BioInformatics and is now working as a patient transporter while finishing up his degree and teaching Jujitsu at his college. When his old elementary teacher who told me to my face that I needed to have him evaluated saw him when he picked up his brother from school, she was shocked and amazed. She asked me what I did to him – I told her ‘nothing’ he just grew up 😀
I do think that ADHD is over diagnosed and that’s one reason we don’t medicate here (yet). It’s important to note, though, that the personality descriptions alone do not indicate the presence of ADHD. The individuals have to display classic ADD symptoms (distractibility, disorganization, impulsiveness, etc) and then manifest them along with those personality quirks.
I also agree that kids may be able to adapt as they grow. I have ADHD, but throughout life I’ve found what works for me. Lots of varying activities, physical fitness, and goal setting all help me to start and complete my projects. Without those, I’m lost. So I keep practicing them and, so far, it’s working. 🙂
happened upon this on my pinterest homepage. All my life I was ‘bouncy’ and loved to talk randomly yet at the same time would get depressed and struggled to stay on task without a parent or teacher nudging me along. Long story short after my second child and second bout of PPD and PPOCD I saw a therapist who asked me “Has anyone ever analyzed you for ADD?” I said no, I had friends in school who were diagnosed with it though and they seemed fine so I felt, like the other poster mentioned, it is over-diagnosed. Turns out I thought my friends were perfectly normal because I too had ADD LOL! I started taking Now Foods ‘true calm’ and Now foods ‘true focus’ amino acids along with 5-HTP and really felt like they helped me. I am now 6 months pregnant and my Dr is afraid that they could have an effect on the baby so I have been off them and cannot wait to go back on!
I am homeschooling my oldest daughter right now as a Kindergartener and have found that she just HAS to be moving her body to learn, and like me she has a really hard time focusing. I am not sure what category she would fit into as I have read that many ADD people fit more than one(I could fit 1, 3, and 7 at different times). She will do anything to move, squiggle in her desk, chew her pencil(I ruined alot of mine that way!), get out of her chair and sway or bounce on an exercise ball. At first it drove me mad, but as I saw that she was still paying attention to the lesson(sometimes better than if she were sitting still) I backed off and now invite the exercise ball at times. I wish I could find a way to work through the oral fixation though that pencil is constantly in her mouth…
Hi! Thanks for visiting! She may have SPD as well. Tigger has SPD, specifically oral input issues, and she has classic ADHD (hyperactivity, inattentiveness, lack of concentration, etc). If you search for SPD on our site, you’ll find a couple of posts that may help. I’ll look into the New Foods line myself. Thanks for the recommendation!
is the seventh type added in a later edition? bc i read the book aprox 3 years ago and it only had 6 types
Hi! I’m not sure, because I’ve only read this edition. But it is marketed as the “Revised” edition, so it’s possible that the previous version didn’t contain all of the current types.
Thanks for stopping by!
Very interesting article. My child to a T. Classical type. Now he is a teenager he verbalizes what happens. He has told me he talks out loud when he’s gaming because it helps him focus on one thought otherwise his head is so full of ideas he can’t hear them. He is like a motor running -something is always moving, he has to be doing something with his hands otherwise something else will start up. He finds listening to music helps him concentrate. Appreciated the links to learning styles and Amen supplements. From the age of 18 months he would come out of his room running. I liken him to a kettle constantly on the boil with energy and if he doesn’t let off steam some who behaviors start up. He’s my 4th and it’s been an eye opener. Homeschooling definitely helps but it’s hard work to find some focus. As a teacher by profession these kids can really stand out but clearly some respond differently.