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l deficits in the central nervous system and structural brain damage is not considered to be a primary cause of ADHD (Brown, 2005).

Food additives and sugar

In 1982, the National Institutes of Health held a scientific unanimity conference to discuss if the ADHD symptoms are caused by refined sugar and food additives or if the symptoms of ADHD are aggravated by sugar and food additives. It was found that diet limitations helped about 5 percent of ADHD children, mainly young children who had food allergies (NIMH 2008). In 1982, the National Institutes of Health held a scientific consensus conference to discuss this issue. It was found that diet restrictions helped about 5 percent of children with ADHD, mostly young children who had food allergies(3). A more recent study on the effect of sugar on children, using sugar one day and a sugar substitute on alternate days, without parents, staff, or children knowing which substance was being used, showed no significant effects of the sugar on behaviour or learning (Wolraich, et al., 1994). In another study, children, that their mothers felt they were sugar-sensitive were given aspartame also known as NutraSweet as a substitute for sugar. Half the mothers were told their children were given sugar, half that their children were given aspartame. The mothers who thought their children had received sugar rated them as more hyperactive than the other (Hoover and Milich, 1994).

3Consensus Development Panel. Defined Diets and Childhood Hyperactivity. National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Summary, Volume 4, Number 3, 1982.

EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVES

LEARNING DISABILITIES

Most ADHD children can be successful in the classroom with a little help. A lot of them have also Sensory Integration Dysfunctions (SID) as approximately as 10% to 20% of all children might have some degree of SID (DuPaul & Stoner, 1994). As a result, these learning disabilities, are not simply a failure to do one’s work at school, but typically, are defined as a significant discrepancy between one’s intelligence or general mental abilities, on the one hand, and one’s academic achievement, such as reading, math spelling, handwriting or language, on the other hand (Mathers, 2006).

ADHD children face difficulties at school due to their excessive energy, isolation, passivity, disorganisation impulsivity/ hyperactivity, weak executive performance and distraction (Kewley, 2001). For instance, when pupils with ADHD are trying to attract attention they might talk incessantly, shout, or whistle. In general, children with ADHD are more likely to present low school performance or they may even drop out of school. Disorganisation and low school performance can result in learning disabilities for children with ADHD. Children with ADHD can also be confused with oral words, sentences or letters (sound memory), may find it difficult to decode sounds (acoustic discrimination) and they may have feeble optical memory (Barkley, 2006). Barkley (1998) argues that ADHD pupils have difficulties with persistence toward a goal, working memory, impulsiveness and inhibition. According to Weyandt, (2007) these effects can be avoided with the appropriate educational