Failure to identify and manage children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder could have lifelong effects, the head of a local health organisation said yesterday.

Simone Barton, the chief executive of the Bermuda Heart Foundation, said that her son, who was later diagnosed with ADHD, had enjoyed his first days of school decades ago.

She said: “The first, he was happy. The second day, he was elated.”

But Ms Barton said that the situation soon changed. She explained: “By the end of the first month, my son wasn’t speaking.

“He was withdrawn and I couldn’t figure out how this kid that started off so happy and excited all of a sudden went to depression and didn’t want to go back to school.”

Ms Barton said that she learnt from one of her son’s classmates that the teacher made her son sit in the hall by himself.

She added: “That framed my child for the rest of his life.

“How do you tell somebody that they’re somebody when their initial entry into school told them that they were a nobody?

“We’re still putting these types of issues on kids and we need to learn not to.”

Ms Barton was speaking before a seminar, ADHD: Truth, Myth & Management, was held last night.

She said that a lot of factors contributed to heart disease, high blood pressure and strokes, including stress and anxiety, and that she wanted to bring attention to the link between mental health and physical wellbeing.

Ms Barton explained: “If you’ve got a family member who’s got stress on the job, stress with dealing with our current economic situation, and they’re dealing with a child with ADHD, you’ve got a recipe for some really challenging medical issues.

“Our philosophy at the BHF is that change begins in the mind long before it’s manifested into action.”

Ms Barton said that the problems she had finding help for her son 25 years ago still existed for parents.

She added: “They’re not as draconian as they were back then, but they are still the same issues.”

Atlantis Psychiatry, a private practice in Hamilton, has estimated that 550 children and 1,200 adults have ADHD in Bermuda.

Last night’s event at the Hamilton Princess and Beach Club was aimed at parents, teachers and others interested in learning more about ADHD.

It featured a keynote speech from guest speaker Lourival Baptista-Neto, of New York City’s Columbia University Medical Centre.

Dr Baptista-Neto is an expert in child and adolescent psychology, depression and anxiety disorders.