He told us about ritalin, and that has helped him greatly. We've seen several therapists, hired tutors and finally enrolled him in a school that specializes in kids like him. None of us knew. Mental-health professionals see adoptees at a much higher rate than they would expect, according to Brodzinsky. All we knew was that she was a teenager, unmarried, and had dropped out of high school.
ADD can be difficult to identify.
A diagnosis is usually made on the basis of a list of criteria which parents and teachers recognize in the child. However, Sorosky and Brodzinsky point to certain factors that might have alerted the Cohens and other adoptive parents. The person with a history of learning problems, social judgment problems, poor impulse control, immaturity. Birth parents may pass on a genetic predisposition for these problems to their babies. The nature of the pregnancy also increases the chances of problems, he adds.