Parents of attention-deficit kids need treatment too, experts say

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | January 7, 2004 | Unattributed

[luckystarmom]

Most of the kids that I know that are labeled as having ADD/ADHD are having trouble learning how to read.

I think that medication definitely helps them focus and learn to read, and it's an easy (for the parents/teachers) to dod this.

However, I would use it as a last resort. I personally think that some kids learn differently, and that should be the first step. Change the environment first, and if all other steps have been taken then put the kid on drugs.

[DJtex]

I have adult ADD. A girlfriend who was therapist identified it in both of us. All of the ADD evaluations showed that I had 80-90% of the characteristics listed. Even though I graduated from UT-Austin with Honors, I've always had problems finishing projects (until the last minute) and I'm easily bored. I think that ADD or ADHD only became a problem as we've shunted our kids off to well-ordered schools for 12-16 years of their lives. Those whose brains can adapt to the mind-numbing dullness of a teacher having to repeat things over and over for the slower students will do well. Others, who would have been great leaders and 'doers' are labeled as problem children because they don't fit into a very recent, modern prison/baby-sitter call socialized education.

I tried Ritalin for a couple of months. It helped, but my kids said it made me "cranky." So my friend the therapist suggested Welbutrin, an anti-depressent that has mild stimulative effects--unlike SSRI's like Prozac. I've taken it for five years. It helps--not dramatically, but if I don't take it for a couple of days I definitely notice the difference.

[sarasmom]

Why is it that you refuse to see that ADD is the "new" requested diagnosis and parenting drug fad ?
The last one was Autism.
As I posted, I know a parent whose children are autistic.
They were, and would have still been permanently labled severely autistic, except for the incredibly hard work their mother has dedicated the last 12 years of her life towards.
They can now function in normal society.Not perfectly, but adequately.Even to the point of considering higher education after high school.
I know from conversations with my friend that SOME parents decided the reason their children were not behaviorly perfect, must be due to autism, when that was the latest fad.
That has nothing to do with actual cases of true disorders.
Just the "in" diagnosis for parents who did not understand that it often takes hard work to raise a child, and even the "normal" children have problems.
I have encountered many more of "those" type parents in regular daycare centers and public schools, than I do actual special needs children.
Mostly because parents of developementally challenged children avoid placing their children in situations they know they are not yet capable of dealing with.They can often function on the level of their peers, for short periods, and often later they can be mainstreamed.
But it is no more "right" that you require my child to be lectured to be extra-supportive of your child because he/she is ADD, than it is for me to require your child to be extra supportive and sensitive of my child because she is ......,
Why would you take that as a personal attack?
Since you say you have a child with actual severe ADD,you, more than anyone else, might be expected to decry the misuse of the diagnosis for children who are not actually ADD, just inconveniently needing more attention and work than some parents want to expend.
Best of wishes for your family.
If I might make a suggestion, based on experience,go outside the traditional medical and phychiatric professionals and link up with other parents whose children have the same problems your child does.
Compare notes, and use your best judgement.You are the only expert on your own child.
Nobody cares more about your own child than you do.
No matter how much you pay them.

[stands2reason]

There's a big gap between considering ADD a made-up condition and acknowledging the real problem of overdiagnosis of ADD especially by underqualified individuals, like schoolteachers or daycare workers.

There are children who are being medicated that do not have ADD. That is very wrong.

[Capriole]

I don't dispute what you say about overdiagnosing and overmedicating. I would simply like to respectfully draw your attention to the fact that there has been a good bit of generalizing on this thread, along with blanket accusations that anyone who permits his or her child to be diagnosed as ADHD is neglectful, lazy, or selfish. My purpose in my post is to point out that ADHD and ADD are real syndromes, and if a child is identified as having one of these symptom-constellations that is not necessarily evidence that his uncaring parents simply want to avoid responsibility or collect SSI by drugging him.

[sarasmom]

And I would love to point out that every child of a single mother is not doomed to a life of misery.
So what?