Deep in Guyland: College Age Guys with ADHD Speak on Facebook

Michael Kimmel’s book Guyland has been touted as a must read look into the secret lives of guys, the next step to understanding the troubled generation of college age guys. After reading the book I found I had insight into many things in my life that I had never really stopped to analyze. It also left me with unanswered questions, which were spawned mostly from one sentence in the book. “No wonder Guys… are six times more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than girls.”(Kimmel pg.54). As a college age guy with ADHD, I can say with certainty that it has shaped the last several years of my life, and thinking of the amount of other guys I know with ADHD I wonder how a social phenomenon like this could be passed over with such a simple, dismissive statement. I decided that it was imperative to look further into this and enter into a sort of sociological discussion with Kimmel and see what I would find. It was important for me to think of ADHD phenomenally. A great debate rages over the biological legitimacy of ADHD and ADD. This is simply not what this paper purposes to seek out. The fact that so many people believe avidly that this is a real condition and that so many people who have no been diagnosed are affected by it, make ADHD a social fact. This is not to dispute either sides claims, it is merely to say this is a social phenomenon that needs to be looked at. The fact that Kimmel did not look at it is why this study has been undertaken

Individual classification of ADHD patients by integrating multiscale neuroimaging markers and advanced pattern recognition techniques

Accurate classification or prediction of the brain state across individual subject, i.e., healthy, or with brain disorders, is generally a more difficult task than merely finding group differences. The former must be approached with highly informative and sensitive biomarkers as well as effective pattern classification/feature selection approaches. In this paper, we propose a systematic methodology to discriminate attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients from healthy controls on the individual level. Multiple neuroimaging markers that are proved to be sensitive features are identified, which include multiscale characteristics extracted from blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals, such as regional homogeneity (ReHo) and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations. Functional connectivity derived from Pearson, partial, and spatial correlation is also utilized to reflect the abnormal patterns of functional integration, or, dysconnectivity syndromes in the brain. These neuroimaging markers are calculated on either voxel or regional level. Advanced feature selection approach is then designed, including a brain-wise association study (BWAS). Using identified features and proper feature integration, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier can achieve a cross-validated classification accuracy of 76.15% across individuals from a large dataset consisting of 141 healthy controls and 98 ADHD patients, with the sensitivity being 63.27% and the specificity being 85.11%. Our results show that the most discriminative features for classification are primarily associated with the frontal and cerebellar regions. The proposed methodology is expected to improve clinical diagnosis and evaluation of treatment for ADHD patient, and to have wider applications in diagnosis of general neuropsychiatric disorders

Altered intrinsic organisation of brain networks implicated in attentional processes in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a resting state study of attention, default mode and salience network connectivity

Deficits in task-related attentional engagement in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been hypothesized to be due to altered interrelationships between attention, default mode and salience networks. We examined the intrinsic connectivity during rest within and between these networks. Six minutes resting state scans were obtained. Using a network-based approach, connectivity within and between the dorsal and ventral attention, the default mode and the salience networks was compared between the ADHD and control group. The ADHD group displayed hyperconnectivity between the two attention networks and within the default mode and ventral attention network. The salience network was hypoconnected to the dorsal attention network. There were trends towards hyperconnectivity within the dorsal attention network and between the salience and ventral attention network in ADHD. Connectivity within and between other networks was unrelated to ADHD. Our findings highlight the altered connectivity within and between attention networks, and between them and the salience network in ADHD. One hypothesis to be tested in future studies is that individuals with ADHD are affected by an imbalance between ventral and dorsal attention systems with the former playing a dominant role during task engagement making individuals with ADHD highly susceptible to distraction by salient task-irrelevant stimuli

Positive practice positive outcomes: a handbook for professionals in the criminal justice system working with offenders with learning disabilities (2011 ed.)

Updated version of the handbook by the same name published by CSIP in 2007. "This handbook is intended as an introduction to working with offenders with learning disabilities. This group includes police suspects and defendants in court. It covers the essential information to help staff identify and understand this group of people. It also covers relevant legislation that outlines the duties and obligations of criminal justice staff, and also health and social care staff, with regards to offenders with learning disabilities." - page 4

‘From Badness to Sickness’ and Back Again: The Use of Medication in the U.S. School and Foster Care Systems

This article explores the over- and under-prescription of psychotropic medication to youth of color both in public schools and the foster care system. Under the umbrella of the schools-to-prison pipeline, there is a wide array of literature addressing the under-use of medication for treatment of children of color in the public school system when treating learning or behavioral disabilities. There is also, however, a great deal of literature in a totally different realm surrounding the under-use of medication in treating mental health disorders in the foster care system. This article aims to put these two pieces of discourse in conversation with each other. In examining the use of medication in both of these institutions and the disproportionate rate of black and brown children in the foster care system, I analyze how race, class, and gender play a role in the prescription—or lack thereof—of medication for children of color. These contradicting approaches to treatment and medication illustrate the assumptions that are attached to children of color, and how these institutions ultimately were not made for children of color to survive or thrive. To better serve the needs of children in our country, these two institutions must be considered as co-actors in the system of perpetual social control exerted of youth of color

Working Effectively with People with Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder

This brochure on People with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is one of a series on human resources practices and workplace accommodations for persons with disabilities edited by Susanne M. Bruyère, Ph.D., CRC, SPHR, Director, Program on Employment and Disability, School of Industrial and Labor Relations – Extension Division, Cornell University. Cornell University was funded in the early 1990’s by the U.S. Department of Education National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research as a National Materials Development Project on the employment provisions (Title I) of the ADA (Grant #H133D10155). These updates, and the development of new brochures, have been funded by Cornell’s Program on Employment and Disability, the Pacific Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center, and other supporters