Nigel Mellor recently retired from his work with the educational psychology service in North Tyneside. In this article, he proposes that attention-seeking behaviour may lead to major difficulties at home and school and indicates the ways in which recent research is beginning to clarify the area. Attention deficit disorders also cause great concern. However, the extremely widespread range of attention-seeking behaviours may easily lead to their being confused with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Nigel Mellor explores ways to distinguish these two behaviour problems. This, he argues, may help target interventions more efficiently. However, a great deal of further research is called for.