I have 3 ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) children, now grown and an ADHD husband. I have done a lot of reading and research to try and keep my sanity.

Many say Nadya Suleman's behavior on the View yesterday showed she was mentally unstable. She even said herself that she was delusional, thinking she could do it all. Nadya Suleman has undiagnosed ADHD, in my humble opinion. Now you know what it looks like and what parents and teachers have been complaining about for years. People who haven't lived with ADHD deny it exists and say the child is just overly active. Some are over active, but some have ADHD.

Nadya Suleman's rapid talk, hyena like laughter, jumping from one thought to another, bouncing around in her seat, constant movement are some of the visual clues she has ADHD. Yet underneath it all did you notice that she was very articulate, actually kept track of the jumbled conversations and is really very smart.

 **The Limbic system, a network of structures lo­cated beneath the cerebral cortex, controls major activities like friendship, love and affection and expression of mood. The Hypothalmus is part of this and has been identified as a major contributor to the production of loud, uncontrollable laughter.

Daniel G. Amen, M.D., author of  "Change Your Brain Change Your Life", Chapter 7: "Looking into Inattention and Impulsivity: the Prefrontal Cortex" describes the functions of this front third of the brain:

  • Attention span-watch the video, racing thoughts
  • Perseverance
  • Judgment-single parent, having 6 children and wants 1 more...but gets 8 more=14
  • Impulse control- jumping around on video, no control of laughing, rapid talk; knowing when to stop having children
  • Organization
  • Self-monitoring and supervision-cannot control activity and rapid thoughts; doesn't know when to stop having children
  • Problem solving- for a single parent with zero income 6 children are enough, 7 children are enough but 14
  • Critical thinking- I am a single parent with no income, living in my mother's small 3-bedroom home with 14 children; Octomom did move but no one knows who provided the new house and how she pays the mortgage.
  • Forward thinking- I will have "difficulty" taking care of all these children and paying their expenses-no worries
  • Learning from experience-she already had 6 kids with no income
  • Ability to feel and express emotions-gets angry at mother and doesn't appreciate her
  • **Interaction with the limbic system
  • Empathy-no understanding of what her mother has done to help her
Dr. Amen states that "the pfc (prefrontal cortex) is the part of the brain that watches, supervises, guides, directs and focuses your behavior. It supervises "executive functions," governing abilities such as time management, judgment, impulse control, planning, organization, and critical thinking. Our ability as a species to think, plan ahead, use time wisely, and communicate with others is heavily influenced by this part of the brain.

Dr. Amen does brain scans. The scans show that in a disfunctional pfc activity decreases rather than increases as it does in the normal brains of control group subjects. If activity decreases instead of increasing, as it should, the above the pfc is not controlling what it should.

I could go on and on writing about this and what can be done to help but it would be too lengthy. What I do see is that Nadya Suleman has ADHD and it is treatable. Nadya Suleman is not crazy. Nadya Suleman is actually very smart, as are most ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and ADHD people. Read Dr. Amen's book if you want to know more. It is a fascinating book which helps you to understand other people and family members better.

Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness