Adolescents I've worked with are trying to straighten out what's going on. About 30 percent of young people with ADHD aren't diagnosed until middle school or later, says Quinn. These students are very bright, she says. Maybe your disorder becomes a problem in high school when you have only lecture classes, or in college when you have to do everything for yourself and go to class, too. By the time someone with undiagnosed ADHD gets to middle school or high school, the main complaint is classroom underachievement rather than hyperactivity or distractibility, Quinn says.
Some people shorten the name to ADD when it affects older people.
ADHD was suspected. Thorough examination, however, revealed the culprits were anxiety, depression and a sleep disorder, which are improving under a treatment plan that includes medicines and counseling. Narrowing a diagnosis to ADHD requires more than a single visit to the doctor. Substantial detective work by the doctor involves talking not only to the patient, but also to the parents and to nurses and teachers at the patient's various schools. One mother said of her son in high school, 'One day in first grade, he came home without shoes.