Seven-year old Dusty awoke at 5:00 one recent morning in his Chicago home. Every muscle in his 50-pound body flew in furious motion as he headed downstairs for breakfast. After pulling a box of cereal from the cupboard, Dusty started grabbing cereal with his hands and kicking the box, scattering the cereal across the room. Next he began peeling the decorative paper covering off the TV table. Then he started stomping the spilled cereal to bits. After dismantling the plastic dustpan he had gotten to clean up the cereal, he moved on to his next project: grabbing three rolls of toilet paper from the bathroom and unraveling them around the house (Wallis, 1994).
In the vignette, we see Dusty's display of inattentiveness: the demands of paying attention to the task at hand (e.g., getting the cereal from the cupboard to the table) are totally violated. Furthermore, we see that although his intentions are appropriate (e.g., getting the dustpan to clean up the mess) the results are out of sync with the task. The hyperactive and impulsive components can be seen in his constant motion and inappropriate behavior (e.g., unraveling the toilet-paper rolls around the house).