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Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is the most common mental disorders of childhood and affects 3 to 6 percent of the child population (about 3.5 million kids) in the United States. Approximately 15 million people in the United States have Attention Deficit Disorder, but there are many aspects of this disorder that many people are not even aware of.

Attention Deficit Disorder is a neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system, as well as the motivational system. ADD affects two important parts of the brain that are connected with the ability to pay attention and the ability to regulate motor activity. ADD is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. There is a deficiency in the brains' ability to produce and use certain chemicals called transmitter substances (neurotransmitters). It is said to be hereditary, in fact more than one third of the parents of an ADD child had ADD when they were children and as many as 75% of children diagnosed with ADD have a least one relative who has it (be it a parent, sibling, or uncle).

The behavioral aspects of ADD are very similar and intertwine between three main categories, in which many symptoms and characteristics fall into. These categories are inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Inattention means failure to pay attention and the characteristics involved with this category are all symptoms of an inattentive person. Hyperactivity means the state or condition of being excessively or pathologically active. All the subcategories of hyperactivity have to do with the inability to keep still and the actions a person with ADD might do because of their restless traits. Impulsivity means actuated by or prone to act on impulse. The subcategories of impulsivity are actions that are a result to acting on impulse.

Attention Deficit Disorder is not a learning disability, although many people consider it one. The definition of a...