When Denise Difede's daughter Alexandra entered Grade 4, she started to struggle badly in school. “This was a wonderfully bright little girl who had been reading books in senior kindergarten by herself. Then she began dreaming in class and not paying attention. She was getting frustrated and started banging her head on the wall,&" says Denise, who had also found it difficult to sit and listen through an entire class as a young girl.
Her family doctor referred them to a child psychiatrist in Toronto, who diagnosed Alexandra with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and treated her with Ritalin. “The response we saw within 48 hours was phenomenal,&" says Denise. “You could see the light going on. She was able to sit still and participate in the learning. By the end of the school year it was like a miracle. She was able to catch up on schoolwork that she had missed, and she developed friends and gained confidence in herself.&"
After her two younger sons were diagnosed with ADHD in 2004, Denise began to suspect that she might have the disorder, too. “I had seen so much of me in Alexandra as a girl. In school I knew what I was learning, but my marks didn't reflect my level of knowledge.&"
Difficulty focusing
In June 2006, Denise attended an ADHD conference in Toronto. When Ross Greene, a clinical psychologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the author of The Explosive Child (HarperCollins, 2005), talked about a treatment plan for kids, her attention wandered even though he was an animated speaker. She resolved to listen harder when another international expert, Kathleen Nadeau, a clinical psychologist at Chesapeake ADHD Center of Maryland in Washington, D.C., spoke about ADHD patterns in girls and women.
“She is a wonderful speaker,&" says Denise. “I forced myself to keep my attention on her. I didn't realize until then how difficult it was for me to focus.&" Denise's attention had wandered at other times, but she thought that was fairly normal. She noticed her lack of focus this time because despite her great interest in the talks, she couldn't focus well.
A common disorder
As Denise listened to Nadeau describe the symptoms of ADHD in women, she says, “I felt she was talking about me. It was like a slap in the face. That's when I decided to get tested.&" At age 44, Denise was diagnosed with ADHD. She began treatment with Adderall XR, a stimulant medication, and worked with an ADHD specialist.
ADHD is considered a common disorder in Canada. Historically, experts believed that ADHD was a childhood disorder, and that it mainly affected boys. They were wrong on both counts. Long-term studies have shown that about two-thirds of children with ADHD continue to have symptoms that affect their relationships, work and health as adults. As well, research indicates that while boys are more frequently diagnosed with ADHD than girls, it is as prevalent among women as men. “The ratio for children is four boys to one girl, but for adults it's one to one,&" says Dr. Lily Hechtman, a psychiatrist and director of ADHD research at McGill University Health Centre in Montreal and the Montreal Children's Hospital.
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