ADHD OFTEN MISSED IN GIRLS DISORDER MANIFESTS IN DIFFERENT WAYS.

Byline: Amy Raisin Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Mention attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and even the most informed in society are likely to imagine a young boy with an abundance of energy and a lack of discipline.

But Lori Lauver, a veterinarian and Newhall mother of four, discovered a few years ago what the results of a national survey recently confirmed: Many girls with the disorder go undiagnosed, an oversight fueled by the vastly different behavior exhibited by boys and girls.

While many boys are diagnosed with ADHD after repeated interruptions in class lead to an evaluation, girls tend to suffer in silence and internalize their inability to concentrate or retain information - a quieter symptom of the disorder that can have a devastating effect on their self-esteem.

``My daughter's not bouncing off the walls,'' Lauver said of her 11-year- old. ``She's the calmest, most loving child. But she couldn't get her school work done. She'd bring home a lot of work, and when she couldn't get it all done she'd feel like a total failure.''

Now a sixth-grader at a local public school, Lauver's daughter was diagnosed three years ago and began taking Ritalin months later, a treatment that Lauver and her husband believe has improved their youngest child's problems with forgetfulness and distraction.

``It's not a cure-all, though,'' Lauver said. ``Even being in the medical field, you tell yourself you can understand this and that. But going for outside help is paramount. It was a little hard, but it's about parents accepting that their children sometimes need to learn in a different way.''

ADHD is believed to affect as many as 2 million children in the United States - between 3 and 5 percent of the country's children. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, boys are diagnosed with ADHD at least twice as often as girls.

Those statistics are even more skewed at the Newhall School District, where administrators said only five of the 29 children who take daily medication for ADHD on school property this school year are girls.

In a recent report, Dr. Kathleen Nadeau, a Maryland-based psychotherapist who specializes in girls and women with ADHD, said a major reason for the gender discrepancy is adults' - parents, teachers and therapists - failure to recognize certain ADHD symptoms.

``One big difference is that girls are less rebellious, less defiant, generally less 'difficult' than boys,'' Nadeau wrote in an article featured on a Web site dedicated to girls and women with attention disorders. ``Sadly, they lose out due to their good behavior. It's the squeaky wheel that gets oiled.''

Nadeau identifies three major categories into which ADHD-afflicted girls fall: Tomboys, chatty Kathies and daydreamers.

Lauver had no trouble identifying her daughter as a daydreamer, which Nadeau describes as girls who ``seem to be listening to their teachers, while their minds are a thousand miles away. They are forgetful and disorganized in completing their school work and become very worried as assignments come due.

``They seem easily overwhelmed and operate at a slower pace than other girls. Some of these girls are anxious or depressed, and are often mistakenly seen as less bright than they actually are,'' she wrote.

In a survey conducted by Harris Interactive about the gender differences in the treatment of ADHD, results show that girls were three times more likely than boys to have been treated for depression before being diagnosed with ADHD.

Steven Kassel, a marriage and family therapist in Santa Clarita since 1985, agreed that girls tend to internalize their ADHD symptoms out of fear of being exposed as unintelligent or lazy.

``Girls tend to be a little more depressed, more prone to eating disorders,'' Kassel said. ``And especially in Santa Clarita, where schools tend to be academically enriched (and) higher grades translate to higher status.''

Lauver said the most important thing parents can do for a daughter who seems to be struggling without relief is to seek a licensed therapist who can help identify the problem and teach the family the best ways to deal with the child's individual needs.

``We all spend money on soccer, on basketball, on clubs,'' Lauver said. ``Spend the money for this. It's the best money we ever spent.''