Some children with ADD are impulsive. They act first and think later. They may say things that are offensive, but not realize it until it is pointed out to them. A youngster may even hit his classmates frequently and then apologize profusely. They are unable to anticipate the meaning of their behavior and merely act out.
Impulsive children ask questions that have nothing to do with the conversation at hand.
Such impulsive children and adolescents appear to be accident-prone because they do not attend to the consequences of their actions. The behavior of the child who truly has ADD will be manifested in both school and home. About two-thirds of students with learning disabilities, while not as severe or pervasive as ADD, still display behaviors associated with attention problems. For example, many students with learning disabilities have a difficult time determining important from unimportant material. They will study for hours, only to do poorly on an exam because they studied the wrong things.