Both ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive) and ADHAD (Attention Deficit Hyper Anxiety) manifest in almost identical ways but need very different approaches for successful treatment.

Students who are hyper anxious do NOT respond well to traditional ADHD medications and often have significant and some times serious side effects to stimulant medication.

Hyper anxious children need to taught cognitive and life coping skills along as opposed to cognitive and executive functioning skills.  A hyper anxious child cannot pay attention due to anxiety, self-confidence, and lack of social skills.

A hyper active child cannot pay attention due to a lack of executive functioning skills such as attention, selective attention, auditory processing, and visual memory deficits.