ADD (Inattentive ADHD)
02 of 08You can sit still through an entire meeting and lose the thread halfway through. You can care about a deadline and still spend hours trying to start. This is one way ADHD can show up.
What is ADD?
ADD stands for attention deficit disorder. It's an older name that many people still use for ADHD, predominantly inattentive presentation. The experience has been recognised for decades. The terminology has changed.
ADHD has three recognised presentations: predominantly inattentive, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive and combined. In the inattentive presentation, difficulties with attention and organisation are most prominent. A person can still have some restlessness or impulsivity and fall below the threshold for that group of symptoms. How ADHD presents can change over time. [5, 8, 9]
What can it look like?
- Losing the thread. You drift out of a conversation, reread the same paragraph or miss steps in a set of instructions.
- Getting distracted easily. A sound, a notification or your own train of thought can pull you away from what you meant to do.
- Getting stuck at the starting line. You know a task matters and want to do it, but getting started or staying with it takes effort. From the outside, that can look like low motivation.
- Struggling to keep track. Keys disappear, appointments slip by, or piles build up because sorting them involves more decisions than you have room for that day.
- Leaving things half-finished. You start with good intentions, switch to something else and discover later how many loose ends you're holding. [8, 9]
Everyone gets distracted or forgets things sometimes. Inattentive ADHD involves a persistent pattern that has a meaningful impact on everyday life. [5, 9]
Why can it go unnoticed?
A child who daydreams quietly may draw less attention than a child who keeps getting out of their seat. Some people do well while school or family provides structure, then struggle when secondary school, university, work or family life asks them to organise more on their own.
The Australian guideline highlights that inattentive symptoms and strategies that hide difficulties can delay recognition. Girls and women are also more likely to be overlooked. People of any gender can have this presentation. [5, 9]
What does an assessment look at?
A clinician trained in ADHD looks at the pattern over time, including whether signs were present before age 12, whether difficulties show up in more than one setting and how they affect everyday life. A diagnosis can happen in adulthood. Old school reports or examples from childhood may help tell the story.
An assessment also considers other possible explanations for attention difficulties, such as sleep problems, anxiety, depression or learning differences, and whether any of these occur alongside ADHD. [5, 9]
What can help?
Make the next step visible. Write down "open the document and add three bullet points" in place of "finish the report". Try one instruction at a time for a child, with a short checklist they can come back to.
Put reminders where you'll use them. Give keys a home by the door, set a reminder for when you can act on it, or ask for meeting actions or school instructions in writing.
Try a shorter work block. Choose one task, reduce notifications and set a timer for a stretch that feels manageable. At the end, write down where to pick up again.
Support can also include adjustments at school or work, ADHD-specific psychological support and medication where appropriate. The Australian guideline recommends offering adults with ADHD cognitive-behavioural interventions tailored to their needs. A clinician can help you work through the options based on what is affecting you most. [5, 7, 8]
