ADD Versus ADHD: What’s the Difference? (James W. Forgan, Ph.D., and Mary Anne Richey)

Before you read too far, we want to explain the ADHD and ADD terminology, because it can be confusing. Some professionals and parents use the acronyms ADD and ADHD interchangeably. Others use ADD to describe behaviors of forgetfulness, not paying attention, and distractibility; they apply the term ADHD to describe behaviors of hyperactivity and impulsivity. Within current professional literature, ADHD is considered the umbrella term that is used to describe both students with inattention as well as students with hyperactivity and impulsivity.

There is ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Type, which used to be called ADD. There is also ADHD Hyperactive-Impulsive, and that was called ADHD. There is also ADHD Combined Type, which is when a certain number of symptoms from both ADD and ADHD are met. In this book, we use ADHD as the general term that includes ADHD and ADD. The diagram in Figure 1 provides you with a visual of the many variations of ADHD.

Source : James W. Forgan, Ph.D., and Mary Anne Richey. Raising Boys with ADHD. Prufrock Press Inc. 2012