A NEW study into children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been announced by Southampton based medical research charity Hope.

The £100,000 project will work with families to help them cope with ADHD in children as young as three without using drugs.

A pilot study in the New Forest has already produced encouraging results and the new research aims to confirm that the treatment methods work.

It is hoped the findings could help reduce the long-term educational and social problems that young children with ADHD often go on to suffer.

The project will involve a team of researchers based at the University of Southampton, Southampton City Primary Care Trust and Guernsey-based child psychiatrist Dr Penny Thompson.

About 150 pre-school children will take part in the research. Half will receive standard treatment while half will be visited by trained clinicians who will work with the youngsters and their parents at home.

The clinicians will help parents learn how to cope with difficult behaviour, improve the attention and control the impulses of the child.

Each family will have eight one-hour sessions, with the results measured against the standard treatment and assessed again after three months to see if there is a lasting effect.

The project was chosen as ADHD is an increasing problem across the UK.

Although often not diagnosed until youngsters are about seven, the on-set is typically during the pre-school years.

Research shows children aged three or four can be helped if their parents have special training to deal with difficult situations.

Director of Hope, Ray Kipling, said: "ADHD is a serious condition which makes life hard for both parents and children.

"Anything we can do to improve treatments must be welcome and this research offers a realistic chance of control without drugs."