As children grow older, the process of self-evaluation improves. Development of impulse control takes place in the prefrontal lobes of the brain together with the control of emotional expressions. This area is also responsible for analytical thinking, problem solving, estimation skills, prioritizing. It develops throughout childhood and adolescence and reaches its complete maturity sometime in twenties, behind all other parts of the brain. Many children just naturally grow out of ADD as they grow older.
Hyperactivity is secondary to poor focusing and impulse control.
Until Paul Wender, M.D. identified deficit of attention as the core problem, many believed that the condition did not extend beyond early teens. Indeed, by early teens hyperactive children learned to control external motor behavior and, although still inattentive, were not as fidgety as before. External gross motor movements got substituted with feeling of internal tension, impatience, and fine motor movements, such as finger tapping. Impulsiveness and attentional difficulties did not go away, however, until much later. Too much or too little, both cause problems Most of the regulated physiological functions are dimensional.