R.J.
ADHD has three forms;
ADHD-i
ADHD-h
ADHD-c
Inattentive
Hyperactive
Combined
I = hyperactivity is mental. The daydreamers, absent minded professors, writers, artists, scientists, etc.
H = the hyperactivity is physical. The athletes, dancers, military, explorers, etc.
C = combined. People with ADHD-c are both hyperactive physically and mentally.
HYPOfocus (distractibility), HYPERfoucus (intense concentration), stronger emotions (joys are over the moon, sadness is in tears) INTENSE emotions, but nowhere near as night and day as bipolar, and the ability to control them to a degree with practice (also completely different from bipolar disorder), giftedness, sensory issues, peculiar sense of time, difficulty transitioning, impulse control... These are all hallmarks of ADHD.
Girls TEND to be born with ADHD-i, and boys TEND to be born with ADHD-h, but anyone can be born with any of the 3.
It's NOT contagious.
It's NOT caused by
- parenting
- environment
- diet
- sleep
You don't grow out of it (although coping mechanisms can make it look that way, sometimes).
It's a brain disorder just like straight giftedness, dyslexia, etc. It runs (skips, hops, slides) in families / strong genetic component. Misdiagnosis happened frequently 'back when' (and occasionally now) by people who didn't understand the disorder at all (and just looked at hyper kids and lumped them all together) so a lot of malnurished, sleep deprived, badly parented kids were lumped in. These kids NEVER had ADHD (just like a tumor doesn't equal pregnancy... It's not like "Oh, I was pregnant until I had the tumor removed!", NOR "I had ADHD until I fixed my allergy/malnutrition, sleep, etc." it's as silly a parallel.)
Her friend will care deeper, hurt longer... ADJD types tend to be 'till death do us part' kinds of friends.
Her friend will not understand seemingly simple things, but instantly grasp complex things.
Her friend will most likely argue/debate more (not defiance, nor disrespect, but 1000 what ifs).
Her friend won't be running out in traffic, etc., unless she has lousy parents. The impulse control tends to be more along the lines of pushing boundaries on ALLOWED things (like climbing higher in the tree just to see if she can, blurting out things, wanting to play for 'just' 5 more minutes, etc.ADHD kids/adults are OVERLY aware of the world around them... Think of your sense of smell when pregnant, and imagine if that was sight, sound, touch, etc.)