(STUDY FINDS) -- Every parent knows kids develop at vastly different paces. However, new research shows a child’s birth month may stack the deck against them when it comes to one of the most common neurological diagnoses: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that both teachers and parents may be confusing the immaturity of younger children in the same classrooms as a sign of ADHD.
In any classroom, you’ll find kids that may be noticeably older than their peers. Depending on the school’s cutoff date for certain grades, children in the same class may be several months older than other students. This could even bring them a little closer to adolescence and puberty while their younger friends are still acting more like little kids.
The comprehensive review, published in the journal European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, revealed the youngest kids in their grade are a striking 38% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than their oldest classmates. The findings suggest that adults may be incorrectly labeling immaturity as a clinical condition for hundreds of thousands of children around the world.
