On the other hand, there's the kids who have to go to the ER every 6 months, the ones who can't play at anyone else's house, the ones who never sleep and/or can't sleep with any stress. When they do sleep, it's as though they're in a trance - often they wet the bed much later than other kids. Some, when sick, will even vomit without waking.
This is ADHD. It may or may not need medication for treatment.
We have a soon to be 12-year-old child with ADD. Not ADHD, there has never been any hyperactivity problem with him. And he has never, ever, ever, EVER been a disciplinary problem.
He had a bit of a difficult time in first grade, but made it through. This really started manifesting itself at age 7, in the second grade. Three weeks into the school year, his teacher called us and asked us to come in for a conference. When we came in, the principal of the school was there as well. Being that we send our kids to a private Christian school, we opened this conference with prayer. So we're not talking about the dreaded public school bureaucracy.
Anyway, his teacher, a saint of a woman, started going over the problems our son had been having in detail. The big thing she said was "he's not with me." In short, he was on his own private planet with his own private area code and zip code. He was completely and totally unable to focus in class or stay on task. He would literally, and I mean LITERALLY, get distracted by a fly on the wall. If he heard a siren or something, he'd get up out of his desk and run to the window to see what it was.
His principal related something as well, having sat in as a substitute teacher once in my son's class. He gave the class a phonics test and he said he saw that my son was off in the ozone, it was obvious from the look on his face. And when my son turned in the paper, it was so wrong that it was almost like a dyslexic had done it. The principal, instead of giving my son an F, gave him the test again, and my son stayed focused this time and made 100 on it.
Anyway, at this meeting, my son's teacher read off something with, I think, the 13 signs of ADD. Our son was 13 for 13. There was no pressure put on us to put our child on meds or anything, the teacher and principal said they were just giving us this information because they thought we needed to know it and that they would support us and work with us whatever we decided to do with the info.
After much prayer and discussion ... including discussion with a friend at church who had a son with ADHD who was on Ritalin during his school career, and as an aside there must not be a complete ban on people with that on their medical history being in the military because this fellow, who's in his 20s now, is currently serving in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in Japan, and is crew chief on a fighter plane and is about to make sergeant ... we decided to consult a doctor who specializes in these things. Our son was assessed by this doctor and diagnosed as having ADD, and was put on Ritalin. We were one of those who said we'd die and go to Sheol before we ever put a child of ours on Ritalin, but we decided to go with it. And the difference in our child was immediate and dramatic. Within a week ... the doctor said we'd see results quickly ... our son's teacher was saying "he's with me" and saying that it was like night and day.
Our son has been on meds since then. We took him off Ritalin a few years ago because it was producing facial tics, and he now takes a drug called Strattera. It's a non-schedule drug, you can get 90-day supplies and multiple refills on it. He takes the smallest possible dose for his weight. It's not really as strong as Ritalin, he's liable to have more occasional "zoned out" moments on Strattera, but we are pleased with how he is on this med. We are hoping at some point to wean him off meds and see what happens. We're not quite there yet, but I think it's going to happen.
Basically, my point in posting this every time there's a Ritalin or ADD thread on here is to let people know that you shouldn't make blanket judgments on things unless you've walked in people's shoes. I do think it's probably overdiagnosed. I think there are probably parents out there who put their children on meds simply because they don't want to be bothered by them. I find that reprehensible. But there are legitimate cases where a kid has a problem and meds help. I know. They've helped our son. And we don't regret going that route. He's turned out to be a normal kid in pretty much every way. He's active in church, he's not really an athlete but is into music, has taught himself to play piano and guitar by ear and plays the clarinet in the school band, is very interested in history and geography and science, still struggles a bit in math. And he's never given us one bit of behavioral problems that we couldn't handle. If I had to give 100 reasons why we put our son on meds, behavioral problems and discipline problems would probably be No. 1000 on the list because they're non-existent. He simply was unable to focus on any classroom task at hand. The meds have helped him there and we're hoping and praying that maturity will eventually make them unnecessary.
A couple of things, because I went too long in the other post ... what my son's teachers have done since he was diagnosed is, instead of giving him a stack of papers like they might do with another kid, they give him only one at a time. He tends to focus better that way. Also, I mentioned that our kid struggles a bit in math. Our school uses Saxon Math in which the kids get a whole bunch of equations on a sheet to do within a specific time. Our son would see this wad of equations and just zone out. My wife came up with an idea and the teachers were happy to work with us on it, she took an 8x11.5 card and cut a slot into it where you could only see one row of equations at a time. Seeing only one row at a time helped keep our son from zoning out from seeing all those numbers at once.
Again, it's taken constant work, both with him at home and in pretty much regular consultations and conferences with our son's teachers, we make sure that we're a presence at school and we talk with his teachers regularly ... school starts next week, so we've got to begin the process again with some new folks ... and we make sure that they know to let us know sooner rather than later if he's having any problems, so we deal with them. I repeat, meds aren't a cure-all, especially if you're wanting to really do right by your kid.
I call ADD and ADHD the multimillion dollar medical myth," says Fendelman. "Why are diagnoses of ADD and ADHD on the rise in children -- and even in adults? Because we have invented this catch-all name for what is an adaptive response to our fast-paced, highly stimulating modern world. And what's more, drug companies have created medications to suppress this response so we think we have a solution."
SHE IS SO RIGHT.
If ADD and the other supposed disorder were prevalent used by the medical establishment when I was a child in the fifties and sixties, eighty percent of us would have been drugged. I daydreamed all through grade school and most of high school. I didn't have a learning or attention disorder, I was a normal boy who was bored with school. Like just about every other kid usually boys. I read a lot of books from the school libraries, so it doesn't mean I was disinterested in learning. It's just that's it's very difficult for young boys to pay attention to dull teachers for hours on end. I doubt todays kids are different from yesterdays kids in that regard.
There are many alternative explanations for restlessness, including a lack of discipline at home, family problems, poor nutrition, boring classes and whole language reading instruction which can induce dyslexia.
Anyone who reads a bible knew this was a myth.
ADD is real. Remember this lady has her own methods for treating this and a book ($$$$$$). Remember follow the money trail. You could do the same with the pharma companies but ask any parent who has an ADD kid if it is real or a myth.
Nonsense. I personally have a very severe case of ADD.
PR news. Thought that read a whole lot like an advertisement. MIRACLE CURE!!! BUY A BOTTLE FOR JUST $5!!! ALL YOUR PROBLEMS WILL DISAPPEAR!!!
Here's from a story about her methods.
"What's unique about Fendelman's approach is she starts with the parents. In fact, she rarely ever meets the child.
In the first session, Fendelman not only finds out about the child's behavior patterns but also goes a little deeper.
"A lot of imbalance that causes the symptoms that look like this thing we call ADD or ADHD is coming from the parents not living their bliss," Fendelman said. "They don't feel supported to live the life they want to live."
Doesn't sound like she's advocating strict discipline to me. She also talks about how giving a child medication destroys his self esteem. Ohhhh.
The medical community uses the word "disorder" to explain all manner of things that they have not a clue what the cause is. A doctor reporting that your child suffers from ADD and Ritalin should be prescribed sounds so much better than the doctor saying I haven’t a clue what is causing his behavior; give him a drug.
I have no difficulty believing that drugging a hyperactive child will slow the activity. If you can assign a name to it; attention deficit discover or ADD for example, a fortune can be made dispensing some drug.
Was somebody writin' something about DDT?