Do children grow out of ADHD

[veryconfused2]

I have been reading some interesting research which says that children with ADHD have a thinner cortex in part of their brain relative to their peers. It says in "normal" children this area is functioning at its peak by about age 7 but in ADHD children it is circa 3 to 5 years behind as it thickens slower. Hence the theory that when it catches up, ADHD starts to lessen.

So I wondered if any of you have found your child's ADHD Has got better with age?

Ds is 14 and still has ADHD (alongside ASD and LD). Some aspects have matured (less hyperactive for instance) but not as fast as society expects for his age and size. As a small one when brought into a new room, he would (if left to his own devises!) either hide or rush about touching and opening everything, climb on the furniture, tip out toy boxes,- now he has some impulse control, and understands to sit down when directed, but is likely to be picking at his hands, fiddling with the seat or jiggling - and otherwise distracting himself so that he can do as expected of him. We moved furniture around recently and he was caught laying on the back rest of the sofa like he used to! So yes it has got a little better, but not grown out of it IYSWIM.

If it gets better that has to be good! I find the hyperactivity the hardest part to deal with, in my DS he is very loud when he is hyper and makes silly noises. He is not as bad as he used to be about emptying things out of boxes. I guess any improvement will be good though! He also has autism which further complicates his condition although I have to say the autism I can deal with, it is the ADHD I find really hard

My DD1 is 22 now..and no she hasn't grown out of her ADHD.
She has changed over the years, but is now an adult on Ritalin (quite unusual I think) . She is still very hyper, non stop, talks so fast it's like gunfire, and doesn't need sleep. Her brain is amazingly fast too. She is also on the spetctrum, and dyslexic.

She is also a 4th year med student..will be a qualified doc in little over a year, so it hasn't held her back. Quite handy for a junior doctor not to need sleep!

She is a LOT easier to live with than as a child though:)

Wow medusals, that's an amazing way to channel the ADHD energy!

Even at 14 ds is in most ways (except for the teenager stuff) easier to live with than as a small one! Medication helps too. The autism is probably more obvious now he has slowed down enough for us to notice!

One of my best mates has a dual diagnosis of ASD/adhd and I'm sorry to say that although as the years have gone on the ASD is less obvious the ADHD is the same as it ever was. (Her upbeat and lively take on life is one of the reasons i love her so I don't see it in a negative context at all!). The hyperactivity can come in handy for a single Mum whose own kid doesn't sleep.

What has changed are some of her coping mechanisms - she herself considers that her "real education" didn't start till after she escaped school. That's both in terms of social skills and academics. It's only as an adult she got those precious bits of paper, at school it was assumed she was stupid and she's far from it! She has taken meds at very stressful times as an adult but tbh I haven't felt the need to ask her about them cos I see it as her personal business iyswim.

She tends to be the go to person in my circle for those jobs the rest of us would just sit and procrastinate over, given half a chance.