More pills...more pills...Yeah!!!!
What, they discovered that if you’re a boy, you’d rather be outside interacting with the real world than be stuffed in a classroom and treated like you’re nothing but a defective girl?
Interesting how science finds ways to justify its opposition to the natural world.
Our son, whom we homeschool, would quickly be labeled ADD or ADHD. I have found that Vitamin D3 helps his focus a great deal. The vitamin shop suggested fish oil as well and we will be adding that later this week. We also sometimes have to “learn in motion” or use visual blocks (like a library carrel) to cut down on distractions. That’s it. No experimenting on my kid with mind-altering drugs...just safe and natural.
There may well be a genetic link to ADHD, but I still don’t think that drugging the kids into submission is the answer.
When I was a kid, I was just labeled as “hyperactive” and that was that. I had to learn how to bring myself back to the task at hand, instead of letting the distractions run my life.
These days, kids are drugged rather than taught how to effectively deal with the condition.
mark
First, genetic association studies like this one don't prove causality; and often the involved genetic loci are only mutated in a relatively small (but statistically significant) percentage of patients. They are useful, however, to help guide further studies into potential mechanisms, and also potentially as biomarkers.
Second, it's very important for everyone to acknowledge that not all human behavior is a ‘choice’, or based on nurturing/upbringing etc. Our brains work on the basis of complex biological processes, including intricate patterns of brain chemistry. Sometimes the ‘hardware’ for those processes is genetically impaired/altered, and that is not something you can ‘fix’ by discipline or strong-willed intervention. Anyone who has interacted with a true schizophrenic, and who has seen them go from hearing voices and having severe delusions to being normal after receiving specific appropriate anti-psychotic medications knows how true this is.
Are some conditions, such as ADHD overdiagnosed? Likely, and I'm sure there are plenty of children who have other reasons for their inability to concentrate than ADHD. On the other hand, ADHD is a real entity, like autism, and bipolar disorder, etc., and proper diagnosis and treatment can allow affected children to lead normal lives. Let's not be dogmatic on either side of the fence.
I’m sure ADHD is an issue for some kids but I agree that a huge number of kids get diagnosed with it to make their lazy parents feel better. If the parents can point to ADHD, they don’t have to face the fact that their kid is a little terror because of their bad parenting.
I have no doubt that my 2 year old would be labeled that if we used daycare. I have no doubt that he would be labeled that if we decided to send him to school (which we won’t, we’re going to homeschool). He is a boy; therefore, he is supposed to be very active and sometimes a little aggressive.
What about the parents who go around diagnosing everybody else’s kids with ADHD? Is that genetic, too?
Researchers who scanned the gene maps of more than 1,400 children found that those with ADHD were more likely than others to have small chunks of their DNA duplicated or missing......of course, the researchers may have merely overlooked the missing strands when an ad with a musical score came on the radio and they started dancing.