ADD (Aquired Discipline Disorder)

[Ragnorak]

I have started a one man campaign to rename ADD "Aquired Discipline Disorder." I'm also calling ADHD "Aquired Discipline Homefront Disorder" unless I think of something better.

My sister is a teacher and she has a student who asks questions at least every thirty seconds for at least half of the class. She isn't isn't allowed to tell him to hold his questions because it isn't bad behavior--- he has a disability.

My mom is also a teacher and she was talking about how some parents are trying to get their kids diagnosed with ADD so they can get to take tests in the "extended time room." Apparently NY State mandates kids with ADD get extra time to take tests.

[Oystir]

Ignorace should remain a one man campaign.

[Politicalmom]

That was a lot kinder than what I was going to say.

[LauraleeBraswell]

I HAVE ADD.

It is over diagnosed especially among boys.

But I'm a girl and I had a very bad case. I was NOT bad and did not misbehave. I was impulsive, could NOT pay attention, sit still, stay on task, finish a task, or concentrate. I was on a different wavelength.

[Petronski]

You live under powerlines as a kid?

[LauraleeBraswell]

So it does exist. But I am sick of undisciplined lazy kids claiming to have it, when they clearly do not. It really
denigrates the true learning disability that ADD is.

[LauraleeBraswell]

My mom is also a teacher and she was talking about how some parents are trying to get their kids diagnosed with ADD so they can get to take tests in the "extended time room." Apparently NY State mandates kids with ADD get extra time to take tests.


I live in NY, yes that's true. I'm appalled they don't get it in other states.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

My husband, youngest son, father, brother, and niece all have ADD...It's real. My dad has trouble finishing a complicated sentence.

But I will admit that it is used as a tool to control boys who are just acting like boys - curious, bored, fidgety, demanding...boys. Just the way they are supposed to be.

It's no doubt often used to excuse bad behavior (so the parents have a cop out because they are busy).

But when we got my son on the correct medicine, he said it was like his mind stopped bouncing around like a pingpong ball and he could finally pay attention and understand what the teacher was saying (because his mind would wander off in the middle of a sentence sometimes, and he's only hear the opening and closing...)

ADD kids need discipline, a structured environment, and frequently meds to bring out the best in their abilities.

The first two things actually help a lot of kids, too.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Two other items of note:

1) In FL a school gets more $$ for "exceptional students". This applies to both ends of the curve.

2) I can't source this, but I have read that ADD gets a kid classified as disabled & thus entitled to disability payments. If anyone knows of a reputable source that corroborates this, please post it.

[LauraleeBraswell]

I have ADD and around the time I was diagnosed my father realized that he had it. He never knew what was wrong before.

It is hereditary.

[LauraleeBraswell]

No disabled payments, but yes it is by definition a learning disability.

[Ragnorak]

There are many children who have real problems that manifest themselves in behavioral problems including an inability to pay attention. But those real problems are not and never will be ADD.

A real disorder that prevents someone from focusing attention would actually result in an inability to pay attention to anything including enjoyable activities.

There is no medical, biological, or physiological evidence to support this so-called disorder. Even those "experts" who claim to believe it exists only say that that the diagnosis was arrived at by observing patterns and trends in behavior. They don't even claim to know of a single misfiring neuron.

Connecticut recently banned its public school system from making any recommendations regarding psychiatric medication because the percentage of students the system had recommended for ADD medication had reached 40%. Has this disorder affected 40% of the population? Another 11% and those without it will have the disorder.

Either a child has a behavior problem that comes from lack of discipline or that child has a real problem (that is not ADD) that will go unrecognized, unaddressed, and untreated because the drugs accompanying an ADD diagnosis will mask the symptoms.

[Griptilian]

I can't source this, but I have read that ADD gets a kid classified as disabled & thus entitled to disability payments. If anyone knows of a reputable source that corroborates this, please post it.

Not any more. I met a guy [at a friend's house] who claimed ADD during the 90's. Because it was the 'new trend' disease, he got Social Security.
"I feel your pain."

He's nothing more than a dope head. Smokes pot every day. Last I heard, he works full time mowing lawns in the summer. Don't know what he does in the winter.
He works under the table and does not pay taxes.

[herewego]

Sad to say that I have seen some parents, kin to me , that put their kids on the dope (for ADD) just to make parenting "easier".
While in my care the drugs weren't given and the kids were very well behaved on numerous weekends over a number of years.
I know ADD is real, but bad parenting is much more common.

[Politicalmom]

And you became an expert how?

My son went from being a child with problems in school who hated reading, to being the top reader in his school and an A/B student, all in a single year.

Guess what? He had the same parents, same school, same discipline....all that changed was he got on the proper medication.

[Griptilian]

And... he's been busted three times for drugs in the last 6 years.

Guess it doesn't matter to Social Security if you commit crimes.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Sure can make a difference when there is real problems...and yes, my kid can space out in the middle of a pleasurable activity, or get distracted by it...or go into hyperfocus....people who don't have "the butterfly syndrome" in their own family don't necessarily know what it feels like.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

But I do believe this should be a matter between the doctor, the parent, and the kid, not between the school and the doctor...It can be tricky to get psychoactive medication balanced, and a school has no business thinking it's a psychiatrist.

[downwithsocialism]

[Gerish]

Very well said - I agree with you!