Is ADHD over-diagnosed?

ADHD is like having a toy that you really love, but it’s hard to keep your focus on one thing for long.

Imagine you’re playing with your favorite robot. You start building a big tower, but then a friend runs over and says, “Hey, let’s play tag!” Suddenly, you’re running around the room instead of stacking blocks. That’s ADHD, it’s like having a brain that loves to switch between things quickly.

Now, some kids have this superpower (or maybe just a really busy brain), but not all of them need help from grown-ups. If a kid is always switching focus and it's making school hard for them, they might get diagnosed with ADHD. But if they’re just having fun and switching between games sometimes, they might not need that label.

Sometimes people think ADHD is over-diagnosed, like there are too many kids getting labeled with it when maybe they don’t really need it. It’s kind of like saying every kid who loves playing with toys has a “robot brain”, but not all of them do!

So, whether ADHD is over-diagnosed depends on how we help kids and what makes their life easier.