Rant: Your child does not have ADD!

[ChoralScholar]

I posted this buried deep in another thread, and I was so proud of it, I wanted to re-post it as a separate article so you wonderful people can comment on it.

==========================
Too many people tack ADD and ADHD on to whatever the f*** is going on with a kid.

ADD (attention deficit disorder) is a legitimate medical condition whereby an individual, no matter how hard they try, cannot concentrate on a task in the presence of a minute distraction. For example, the child who can't do his math problems because his brain focuses on the noise of the air conditioner instead. Another example is a child who cannot concentrate on what the teacher is saying due to a distracting visual stimulus i.e. brightly colored bulletin board in their line of sight. (be carefult not to confuse an inability to concentrate with UNWILLINGNESS to concentrate because there's something more fun to do)

Couple this with a natural hyperactivity of some children and you have ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder).

Teachers, Parents, and even Doctors are misdiagnosing this every day. Just because a child is not taught the correct way to act in a social situation does not mean they have ADD or ADHD.

Doctors, who should know better, have been goaded into diagnosing it by parents (and teachers, fairly) who are CONVINCED that their children are ADD, who march into doctors' offices every day demanding that they do something about their child, often at the behest of their classroom teacher. The doctors then prescribe the drug du jour, whether it be Ritalin, Adderal, or Strattera. It is in my opinion, that, at this point, the doctor becomes no longer a medical professional, but a drug dealer.

There are a lot of people at fault in this chronic misnomer of bad behavior, and it has infected professional educators and doctors who should know better.

</soapbox>

This rant is not directed at parents of children with actual ADD or ADHD, or a parent of a child on any of the abovementioned medications. This is a direct attack on the overuse of tha name, which overshadows children who HAVE the unfortunate conditions.

[Mick Knox]

1. .

[ChoralScholar]

2. sorry, I had to go get it. EOM

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. I'd love to...

Where is it? :)

[bluestateguy]

4. ADD: That will be how rich kids get get out of the draft

Just watch. You do enough doctor shopping and you can find someone to tell you what you want to hear.

This will be how little Dylan gets to dodge the draft and stay in his fraternity house during the Bush draft of 2005 (if it comes to that).

[lanparty]

10. Well, thats up for discussion ...

First off, I can think of no more effective treatment for ADD than a high stimulus military life stripped of any possible external distraction. So I don't think thats a good excuse.

But ... the military won't accept you if you need "maintenance medication". And a necessary morning dose of ritalin is definitely a maintenance medication.

Personally, I think the military will run into a wall where they will need to make a policy on this. I would hope they would at least allow people to use meds when they are in a classroom situation. They certainly have no problem compelling pilots to use stimulants to keep them alert and aware.

Eventually, one must realize the difference between ritalin/adderall and coffee (caffiene) is effectiveness. Prescription stimulants are WAY more effective than the stuff you take in beverage form and have less side affects. If the px stocks coffee and cola, why not ritalin??????

[ChoralScholar]

13. <psst...> I think bluestateguy was being facetious

But point well taken.

[The Flaming Red Head]

41. Why not just feed them crank every morning

on their breakfast cereal.

I saw a school where they drugged the children so much that they were running into walls.

[lanparty]

51. Children don't need crank ...

... to run into walls.

And paradoxically, prescription stimulant medication actually calms the mind and body. This contrasts with a "jitter" drug like caffiene. Caffiene just makes ADD worse.

[enigmatic]

5. Not feeding kids prossesed foods, sugar up the wazoo, and 'lunchables"

in place of actual food will take care alot of that, too..

[Maple]

6. Agreed

When I was a kid, many years ago, a cuff upside the head, and an admonition to 'sit up straight, and pay attention,' cured a lot of this.

It had to do with learning a little self-discipline, not taking drugs.

There may well be some children who actually have this disorder, but my guess is that 99.9 % of them don't.

[LosinIt]

35. OK, I'll send my kid over for the weekend (without the adderall)

what time do you want him on Friday? I fought the medication thing for a long time until my then boyfriend (whose son had been on Ritalin) said, "try it, you don't have to keep him on it." How profound, I hadn't even considered that. So the first day he was on it he read a book. Holy Crap. He is only borderline ADD, but offscale hyperactive. His father is the same way and would probably still benefit from medication other than the alcohol he uses today.

[The Flaming Red Head]

42. Wait until he gets in your medicine cabinet

after all, if one pill helps, then two will be even better, and lets see what helps mommy relax.

[Xipe Totec]

53. Yup, You Can Always Tell The Parents With Life Experience

Whenever we had to change physicians we always went through the same rigmarole, so we'd take the kid off the medication and go sit in the waiting room. 30 minutes later the room was in shambles and we were moved to the front of the line to see the Doc.

:evilgrin:


It's pretty easy to tell the kids that need the medication from the ones that don't. The ones that don't need it get worse with the medication rather than better.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. In addition...

I suspect there are a number of parents and teachers who find it much easier to cry ADHD than deal with a perfectly normal, if somewhat squirmy child.

Large, overcrowded classrooms with booming acoustics do not help the situation any.

[ChoralScholar]

9. Amen... I shudder at the sheer number of children

on mind-altering medications. I swear to God, at least 50 percent of children in my Concert Choir (grades 9-12 - 57 kids) are diagnosed and labeled ADD or ADHD, and/or on medication.

All I can do is educate... and breathe deeply... and calm down.

Thanks for the supportive comments. DU is always a great outlet for a well-thought-out academic rant.

:)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. That's appalling!

Do you think it affects their performance?

[ChoralScholar]

29. I dunno. It's hard to say, not knowing their personalites before

they were on the drugs.

[LWolf]

54. Large, overcrowded classes don't help.

My roster for Sept. says 33.

I'm known on my campus as a teacher who will support alternative treatments for attention problems. I get loads of them every year because of that. My classroom always has the highest percentage of kids with attention problems on my campus. The overcrowding makes managing all of that energy and keeping them focused a herculean effort on some days. It would be easier to recommend meds, but I don't.

I'm not talking about normally squirmy kids; I'm talking about kids who truly can't function with the level of stimulation you get in a big group. There are numerous things that can address the problems without meds; for it to work, parents have to be willing to make lifestyle and diet changes, and teachers have to be willing to constantly, in a gentle, supportive way, redirect the kids having trouble.

I'd rather do that than drug them. That said, I have seen medication make a profound difference in a few cases. When we've tried everything else, and the kid is not able to be successful, there comes a point when he (or she) gets so frustrated and disconnected that he hates school, and is in constant rebellion. At that point, the meds are a better option than a youth spent angry and failing.

In true cases, it doesn't just go away; they don't "outgrow" it. If their lucky, they learn coping skills. My mom is a case in point. She never needed meds, but it takes her literally years to bring even moderately small projects to completion. An example: I visited her in June. She wanted help buying a new computer; her Gateway from a decade ago was giving up. We did it. She wanted a Dell, so we put Dell on speakerphone and I walked her through the process. I came home the next day, so wasn't there when they delivered the computer. They delivered it in 5 days. It's still sitting there. She hasn't so much as opened a box. I spent my whole life impatient and frustrated with my mom. It wasn't until I started recognizing her symptoms, based on a decade in the classroom, that I realized what she was dealing with, and that many of her irritating rituals are actually finely crafted coping mechanisms.

I don't have a link, but I read a few articles the last couple of years in professional journals discussing a hypothesis about the seeming proliferation of ADD/ADHD. The hypothesis, if I remember correctly, has something to do with lifestyle. Apparently, too much tv/video/electronic stimulation instead of physical activity and conversation/interaction with live adults wires the brain differently, and one of the effects has to do with attention span.

[mzmolly]

8. Kid's are not meant to sit behind desks for long periods either.

Our schools are not generally very "kid friendly"

They are also over burdened with little staff and want "stepford kids" in the classroom.

I agree with you, ADD is over diagnosed. My husband was probably one of the first kids on ritalin - diagnosed for ADD. He was simply active and misunderstood if you ask me. He finally had a teacher who said "this kid doesn't need ritalin" and he was thankfully taken off of it.

I also just finished reading "The Highly Sensitive Child" and many sensitive kids are diagnosed with ADD in error.

[ChoralScholar]

11. The previous generation of teachers

often were not taught any differently. Only the ones who went out and kept up with new research know better.

Thankfully, the teachers that are graduating college now are better trained in child development issues (at least in Arkansas) than in the past.

[stevedeshazer]

12. Is this meant to be some kind of joke?

Please tell me you all are either joking, or I've stumbled on a wormhole from this site into Free Republic.

[ChoralScholar]

14. what do you mean? EOM

[stevedeshazer]

18. How can I make it any clearer?

Are you joking? Do you believe that ADHD doesn't exist?

[Book Lover]

23. How on earth do you get that from this?

The man said "ADD (attention deficit disorder) is a legitimate medical condition whereby an individual, no matter how hard they try, cannot concentrate on a task in the presence of a minute distraction." He said that it is overdiagnosed in schoolchildren. Argue that point if you will, but read what he says first.

edited for editorial clarity

[stevedeshazer]

34. I particularly resent the comments

of people who don't know me or my kid or anything else about ADHD telling me that "Your child does not have ADD!" , that I am "doctor shopping", suggesting that "no more effective treatment for ADD than a high stimulus military life stripped of any possible external distraction" is the answer, that maybe "UNWILLINGNESS to concentrate because there's something more fun to do" is what's wrong, that "a cuff upside the head, and an admonition on this thread that to have my kid 'sit up straight, and pay attention,' cured a lot of this", not to mention the idea the this is "a well-thought-out academic rant" even though there is no supporting data.

All these things have been said on this thread. Sorry, my spouse and I have spent YEARS trying to help our son. At the risk of being accused of "doctor-shopping", he's been diagnosed three separate times by three separate psychologists through extensive testing. Diet has been ruled out.

ChoralScholar, no offense personally to you, but your qualifying statement came at the end of your original posting, but read your subject line, man.

Others here suggest that I'm either not feeding my kid the right food, that he lacks discipline, that I should strike him, and I just am really tired of fighting this battle.

Book Lover, that's what I'm trying to get at. I trust that ChoralScholar is a great teacher, that s/he knows what s/he is doing, but I have seen so many attacks on ADHD parents that I am a little sensitive. Maybe I'm the one who needs medication. :silly:

[ChoralScholar]

38. only you know for sure... it's your child

I commend you for having the care and perseverance to get your child help. I did not mean this as an attack on you at all.

To clarify, I am not talking about children who go to specialists and get diagnosed. I am talking about parents who take their child to the on-call doctor/taxidermist/Justice of the Peace at the Townville Clinic and Bait Shop, and get their kid drugs from someone not qualified to diagnose ADD or prescribe mind-altering medication. Once again, kudos to you for taking your child to an actual psychologist.

Don't let anything I've said, or anyone else, upset you about this. You are on a completely different level of parenting than this rant was intended for.

Keep fighting the good fight, and eventually you'll find the right formula to help your child.

[stevedeshazer]

49. Thanks for your reasonable response

If I came down hard here, it truly is out of frustration with all the pop psychologists on this thread who are uninformed about this condition, so again no offense intended to you. As a teacher, especially of music, I hold you in the highest regard. I apologize to you and anyone else on this thread for any hard feelings my comments resulted in.

Addressing the question of whether or not some parents are taking advantage of the system and involuntarily drugging their kids, I can only speak for myself and the experiences my family has gone through. It has been one of the most frustrating experiences we've ever had as a family.

All I ask of others here is that before you all condemn parents, remember that for most of us, this is not a choice. You all likely wouldn't have suggested that sugar causes cancer, and that a quick slap to the head would cure it. You think we want it to be this way? Not on your life.

[LynneSin]

40. No one is saying that ADD/ADHD is a 'fake' disease

But it is over diagnosed and weary parents & teachers sometimes would rather drug our children then find the root of the problem.

They wanted to put my nephew on ritalin but thankfully his mother wouldn't not accept the first doctor's opinion. Second doctor did further tests and found out my nephew has epilepsy. Now with the right diagnosis and a major cut back on processed foods (his little sister is typeI diabetes), the kid is living a normal life outside of his meds for epilepsy (which they are going to taper him off of).

I know that ADD/ADHD is a real diagnosis and none of us should pretend to play god and say we know who really has this issue and who doesn't. But more and more I'm finding people who are told their kid is ADD/ADHD and these parents are working on alternative methods to correct their problem, especially when they feel the doctors & teachers are taking the easy way out

:D

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. Choral Scholar wasn't saying it doesn't exist...

He was saying that it's misdiagnosed more often than not.

[ChoralScholar]

26. uh... no...

allow me to quote myself:

"ADD (attention deficit disorder) is a legitimate medical condition whereby an individual, no matter how hard they try, cannot concentrate on a task in the presence of a minute distraction."

It does exist. Bigtime. And many kids that have it are not labeled. Many kids that do not have it are labeled.

ADD medications often work for non-ADD kids because they do what they were designed to do. Help retain focus. Who couldn't use a little of that.

[enigmatic]

15. If you believe kids are over-medicated you're a Freeper?

Are you serious?

[ChoralScholar]

16. do I have someone on ignore that you're seeing and I'm not?

I don't see that anywhere.

[enigmatic]

17. This post...

from Stevie D:

"Please tell me you all are either joking, or I've stumbled on a wormhole from this site into Free Republic."

[ChoralScholar]

22. oh.. ok.. I'm not sure what happened there...

I thought that was directed at me.

[Courtesy Flush]

39. There seems to be a bit of ADD in this thread :-)

Look how many comments have already been made by people who missed the points made by posts in this thread. It's kind of comical, considering the topic.

I'll chime in, though:

I had a hyper, out of control kid in my caseload. We finally got him into foster care two weeks ago (not because of ADD. His family is a trainwreck), and he is not exhibiting the same bahavior anymore. It changed immediately. This isn't his first time to do this. Several months ago, he was sent to an inpatient facility, and they sent him home after a week, because he was calm and well behaved... no symptoms of ADD. He returned home, and went ape-shit at school and home.

Before you jump my case for saying that, let me note that I'm not accusing you guys of being bad parents because your kid is ADD. It takes a village, after all, and our village is a tangle of mixed messages and confusion. A generation ago, kids could sit and behave. If half the kids are ADD these days, there is something environmentally different than 30 years ago. Processed foods may be part of it, but society is the major factor -- in my never-to-be-humble opinion.

My wife is a school psychologist. She tells me that ADD will soon lose its qualification as an exceptionality, because it will be so common that it will be classified as normal. That's scary.

[ChoralScholar]

19. seriously.. someone help me out here...

did I say anything about Freepers at all? Did I even allude to it? I just want to clarify my points if someone misunderstood them.

[stevedeshazer]

24. I am not accusing you of being a freeper

But I am stunned by the ignorant posts about ADHD on this thread by people who obviously know little about it.

[enigmatic]

27. No one on this thread has said that

What they are saying is that it is being used as a crutch for way, way too many kids instead of looking at thing like their diet, for example.

[ChoralScholar]

30. I apologize, I misread your post and other posts. EOM

[Mick Knox]

21. didnt know you were a doctor.

[ChoralScholar]

28. I'm not, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express

oh yeah, and I wrote a thesis about it for my first education degree (which was an emphasis in special needs children). I spent months with my head buried in medical journals learning about the condition.

[ChoralScholar]

31. Well, folks,

I am off to bed. I have Beginning Choir (7th graders) at 8:00am.

Thanks for the discourse. Will reply more tomorrow.

[enigmatic]

33. Have a good night, bro..

[DemBones DemBones]

32. I've got to say that it seems that the parents of "ADD" kids

always seem to be of the "Now, Jason. . ." school of discipline.

You know, the ones who just say "Now, Jason. . ." while their kid is jumping up and down on the furniture or hitting people, just begging the parent to stop him from himself.

:eyes:

About school, I must add that to expect anyone of any age to be "on task" all day long is insane. Yet teachers are told they must keep all their kids on task all the time. I think the fact that there's not supposed to be any daydreaming or goofing off makes the kids' minds resistant to learning.

Kids need structure and boundaries at home and school but they also need downtime during the schoolday.

[stevedeshazer]

50. ADD is no longer an accepted term

According to the DSM IV, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder can be divided into these categories:

*ADHD, predominantly inattentive type
Meets inattention criteria for the past 6 mo

*ADHD, predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type
Meets hyperactive-impulsive criteria (section A2) for the past 6 mo

*ADHD, combined type
Meets criteria for section Al and section A2 for the past 6 mo

*ADHD, not otherwise specified
Prominent symptoms of inattention or hyperactivity-impulsivity that do not meet the criteria for ADHD

source: http://lib-sh.lsumc.edu/fammed/intern/adhd.html

*******************************************************
In other words, not all kids who have ADHD are hyperactive. My kid is not hyperactive.

He also isn't named Jason. As for this comment, "and while their kid is jumping up and down on the furniture or hitting people, just begging the parent to stop him from himself", that's a mighty broad brush you're painting with there.

Please make an effort to move past stereotypes if you are going to criticize parents of children with ADHD. My kid is almost 17. He never jumped up and down on furniture, he's never struck anyone in his life. Your comment is indicates you are ill-informed about ADHD.

[AmandaRuth]

36. Good god

I'm in seventh grade. Seesh, I can count at least five different people that say that they have a faimly member that has ADD.

It's sick. I mean really sick. Yeah, some of us (Like me.) are hyperactive, but not enough to get on drugs. C'mon, people, the reason kids are hyperactive is BECUASE HALF OF US SIT ON THE COUCH ALL DAY AND WATCH TV WITH RAPIDLY FLASHING IMAGES!!!! We just don't know how to concentrate because since we were four we've been put in front of a TV at daycares and school!!! Also, were being fed sugar filled cereal and candy. Heck, our parents don't care! Instead of giving us some constructive activites they just give us the Xbox (remeber, swimming lessons cost money, and they have to drive back and forth. Not cool for old folks.). Eigh. I can't STAND IT ANY MORE!!!!

Miniluvamericahatebush

[LeftishBrit]

43. I think there's a lot in what you say, Miniluvamericahatebush

I think many so-called 'hyperactive' children are simply normally active children who aren't given the opportunities for outdoor physical activity that were the norm in the past. And the constant bombardment with ever-changing images from TV can't help.

There are also lots of genuinely ADD children.

In between, there are children who do have some form of specific perceptual or cogitive difficulty, which isn't really ADD, but are diagnosed as 'ADD' because it's the prevalent diagnosis in their area. Similarly, there are parts of the UK at the moment where anyone who has normal IQ but is having trouble fitting in at school is diagnosed as having 'Asperger syndrome'.

This is not to say that ADD and Asperger syndrome don't exist; or that they aren't serious and genuine problems; or indeed that some children have them without being diagnosed. But I think that in some ways developmental diagnosis is still at the stage where medical diagnosis used to be in the 19th century. 'ADD' and'Asperger syndrome' are sometimes used in rather the same imprecise way as 'low fever' and similar terms were used 150 years ago, to mean: 'there's a problem but we can't diagnose exactly what it is'.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

46. Great point!

And you're a seventh grader!? Wow. Smart, mature junior higher. And if you haven't noticed parents aren't ones to actually take the blame for their children misbehaving. THAT is one of the biggest reasons for overdiagnoses. This way there's something "wrong" with their child, not their parenting skills.
Why is it harder to get a drivers license in this country than to have a child? PArenting classes should be required...but none of this fluffy shit. Teach parents to PARENT!
Duckie

[NashVegas]

56. Even Misdiagnosed, Attention Deficit Disorder Is Still a Good Name for It

It just happens that sometimes, the problem is not with the kid's inabilty to pay attention, it's with the parent's ability to give it.

I've seen kids whose parents don't understand the first thing about true discipline (hint: it means you follow through when you reprimand junior for acting up, not necessarily with a spanking), and who will behave the minute they see you aren't going to take a drop of shit from them.

I've seen young men who felt they were robbed of their teen years because their parents couldn't cope with them and had them put on drugs.

I've seen the luckier ones, people who truly have the disorder, who would have been jailed long ago if they hadn't learned how to be productive with their hands.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

37. I have Adult ADD and it's real

I was never diagnosed as a kid. I was pretty active, but not hyperactive. I could definitely be a trouble maker, and through hs, college, present I could even qualify as a hellraiser. Until I got to college, I never realized I could have ADD. I never, ever paid attention in school. I talked to friends, read books, cut class, etc. However, I aced all my tests and due to everything else I was only a B/C student. Once I hit college, I had to actually pay attention and such. It's impossible. I get distracted by a shiny thing in the distance, etc. Currently, I'm on Adderall, which helps a lot. I've also dropped out of college for the time being, but I'm working in the field that I plan on pursuing (stage management). College isn't really important for it. Being Equity and your references/resume counts more than anything. I'm almost Equity and my resume/references are ahead of most people my age. I intend to getting a degree eventually.

I also have a lot of problems with "hyperfocusing," where I'll hone in on some obscure task to neurotic perfection.

[Courtesy Flush]

45. Sounds like you're describing me

I didn't pay attention in class, and often was in my own little world. There was no ADD diagnosis back then, but I made it through school and college just fine.

If I'd been medicated, I would certainly have made better grades, but would I be a better person? I've come to embrace my uniqueness. I may be unfocused, but I can play a decent game of chess, build almost anything, draw portraits, trim a sail, and a bunch of other stuff. My scatterbrained personality has taken me in many directions. I'd hate to think what I'd be like if I had traveled a straight road all these years. I might be more successful, but not very well rounded.

I could never have considered being a doctor or nuclear scientist. I can't devote undivided attention enough for that. But that's okay. There are penty people who can, and should, do those things.

No matter what I'm doing at the moment, a part of me is always sailing the high seas.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

52. I actually don't take them everyday

I know that I'm supposed to but I stop feeling the effects if I take them everyday, so I just take them on days where I know I'm going to have to focus a lot, such as a "table-work" rehearsal. That means I'll be sitting there for 8 hours for a few days in a row breaking down the play word by word. If I'm not doing anything requiring A LOT of concentration, I don't take them. Plus I don't get withdrawal if I skip a day, which I do if I take it consistently.

[RebelOne]

48. Yes, it is 100% real. I have two grandchildren with ADD.

And without their medication, they are completely unmanageable.

[Red State Rebel]

55. Yep, that would be me too :)

It's a blessing and a curse...

[The Flaming Red Head]

44. Ritalin/Adderall is a gateway drug

just say no.

[LynneSin]

47. And Lucky Us: Bush's new Mental Health program wants to drug MORE kids

his new mental health program will target our children in school, test them for mental illness and then dope them as necessary

:crazy:

[exJW]

57. Personally, I'd guess that ADD is still UNDER diagnosed

The diagnosis covers a range of symptoms, and I think that is a good thing. The fact that a kid (or an adult for that matter), is not one step away from being a vegetable does not mean that they don't have a very real problem that needs to be understood and dealt with.


Drugs? Yeah of course, be careful with them. But if they help, they help, if they don't, they don't. You'll know it, not your doctor. Sorry, but all a doctor is good for with ADD is being a drug dealer, it's up to the individual and his/her parents to actually do the real work of therapy. No doctor can do it for you.

This is from someone who uses Adderall on days he'll need it (which works out to an average of 2-3 days per week).

[Lydia Leftcoast]

58. I think it's a real syndrome and has always existed.

But before medication, there are other things to look at:

1) Food allergies or other sensitivities and/or a lack of proper nutrition can have an adverse effect on a developing nervous system.

2) Acting out due to stress. I knew a four-year-old who suddenly went haywire during her parents' divorce.

3) Parents who don't know how to handle an active child.

4) Kids who don't get enough free physical activity. Even non-ADD kids need this, and whoever came up with the idea of omitting recess for elementary school kids understands kids far less than I do (and I've never had kids).

5) Children who are over-programmed, sometimes on top of the above factors. Even adults need some down time. When I've been working on a massive translation project for a week or two, I start acting like an ADD person, unable to focus on anything and easily distracted by irrelevancies. (I knew I had reached the burnout limit last week when I found myself sorting my earrings by color.) :-)

[Warren DeMontague]

59. But my child doesn't want to sit still at a desk for eight hours straight.

...Under flourescent lights five days a week. I can't figure out why this is.

Obviously, this will be a great impediment to corporate drone-dom. Heavy medication must be indicated.