Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

(Baltimore, MD) - New research published in the November 4, 2008 issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, found that ADHD affects the motor skills of boys more than girls. By examining age-related improvement of motor skills in children with and without ADHD, researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md. found that girls with ADHD and their typically developing peers were more likely to be able to control their movements compared to boys with ADHD.

(Baltimore, MD) - The substantial number of today's adolescents struggling with weak literacy skills presents an urgent national concern, yet very little is known about reading disabilities beyond the early elementary grades. To address this critical gap in knowledge, the Kennedy Krieger Institute has been awarded a $9 million grant from the National Institute of Health (N.I.H.) to establish a Learning Disabilities Research Center. The new center is among only four centers awarded in the country.

(Baltimore, MD) - A study published today in Human Brain Mapping reveals an association between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and a decrease in cortical volume, surface area and folding throughout the brain. Researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Md. found that children with ADHD showed decreased total brain volume and decreased volume throughout the cortex of the brain, the outer "grey matter" regions comprised of cells (neurons) of the brain.

Baltimore- In the United States, an estimated five out of 100 school children have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which many experts believe is a neurobiological disorder that inhibits children - usually boys - from being able to control their behavior. A study at Kennedy Krieger Institute is now probing how ADHD uniquely affects girls - and experts hypothesize that it is probably much more common in girls than people think.

Baltimore - Scientists at Kennedy Krieger Institute have confirmed that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have smaller frontal lobes of the brain, a region that another Kennedy Krieger study has shown controls a key behavior, called "response inhibition," which generally is lacking in individuals with ADHD.