Children are commonly rowdy; playing around and throwing caution to the air, kids are just being kids. However, there's a fine line between kids being kids and children who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

Also known as attention deficit disorder, or ADD, it does for a fact commonly appear early in childhood. Further adding fuel to the fire with the disorder is the fact that it is hard to tell whether a child has it or not. This leads to incorrectly labeling or diagnosing children with the disorder, or worse, leaving it undiagnosed.

But lead researcher Xiaobo Li, PhD, assistant professor of radiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, have found a definitive way identifying ADHD. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging - which is used to scan the brain - researchers have identified abnormalities in the brains of children with the disorder.

In Dr. Li's study, fMRI were performed on 18 typically developing children and 18 children diagnosed with ADHD, whose age ranged from 9 to 15. While their brains were being scanned, the children engaged in a test of sustained attention in which they were shown a set of three numbers and then asked whether subsequent groups of numbers matched the original set.

Under the fMRI, a brain activation map revealed regions of the brain that were activated while the child performed the exercise. With data from the two groups of children, the data was compared.

Findings show that children with ADHD have abnormal functional activity in several regions of the brain which are involved in visual attention information. In addition, communication among the brain regions within the visual-processing pathway was disrupted in the children with ADHD.

Dr. Li explained that these results show that children with the disorder are using partially different functional brain pathways to process information.

But for parents who think that their child may have ADHD, it is important to know their symptoms. Essentially, those with the disorder may fall under its three different subtypes: hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention. According to HelpGuide.org, some of the symptoms are the following:

For hyperactivity:

- Constant fidgeting, squirming, and moving around

- Not able to sit quietly

- Talks excessively

- Quick temper

For impulsivity:

- Acts without thinking

- Blurts out answers

- Can't wait for his or her turn

- Interrupts others

- Inability to keep emotions in check

For inattention:

- Doesn't pay attention to details

- Trouble staying focused

- Not listening

- Difficulty remembering and following instructions