1 in 3 ADHD cases linked to lead, smoke

The Associated Press ^ | Sept 18, 2006

[SlowBoat407]

I'm not even sure what constitutes an ADHD diagnosis. Isn't it pretty subjective in a lot of cases?

Quite the contrary. ADHD has a number of quantifiable signs that... PUPPY!

[jwparkerjr]

Amen!

My wife has been a preschool director for thirty plus years. She maintains that 99% of what is diagnosed as ADD or ADHD is exactly what you describe, parents.

She has a young man in her program right now that has been a problem since day one. They have held him back hoping he would mature some before moving on to the public school system. He comes from a dysfunctional family and were his Mom not on the staff of the church she would have long since asked that he be removed from the program. They have put him on medication and he has become a different child. My wife has learned over the years that there are a few kids who will benefit from being medicated, but most are medicated to benefit the parents and the school system.

[jwparkerjr]

re: I can't name one child with ADHD back then

That's because you didn't know me and weren't in school with me! There were a couple of us who exhibited all the signs of what today would be diagnosed as ADHD. But in those days, the early 50's, and in that school system, a very small rural system in the South, our symptoms were our problem to deal with, not the school system's. Hard as it was we simply HAD to sit through class. Too bad if we were bored. There were two or three of us at my grade level that today would be one of those alternative school settings. But in our time the teacher's word was law and seeing the inside of the principal's office meant a very unpleasant encounter. And Heaven help us if the teacher or the principal called our parents.

My education suffered from the fact that I was "all boy" and found a million ways to get in trouble and goof off. My parents were told by a succession of educators that I had "problems" and would probably never make it through high school. Wrong. Although I have never excelled at education I did manage to get enough to make it in the real world.

Yup, we were there in those days, but we knew enough to keep a low profile!

[Just mythoughts]

There is probably a government hand out for every child labeled with ADHD and every other possible disorder known to man.

The public school system is a money pit, and it is the largest taxing without representation entity in this nation.

[JNL]

That's actually true. Schools get extra funding for "special needs" children. More "special needs" = more money.

A good book about the whole mess is:

The War Against Boys,
How Misguided Feminism is Harming Our Young Men by

Christina Hoff Sommers

[N. Theknow]

Meanwhile the children who grew up drinking water from lead pipes in houses with lead paint and with smoking parents stayed focused enough to invent a hell of a lot of stuff.

[Raycpa]

About one-third of attention deficit cases among U.S. children may be linked with tobacco smoke before birth

Nicotine is a stimulant and the largest indicator of ADHD is hereditary. The fact mom's smoked had more children with ADHD merely indicates the sample of Mom's who smoked were more than likely ADHD giving birth to ADHD children.

[festus]

I may be wrong but the three key factors I understand behind the rise in ADHD are :

1. Lack of adequate discipline.
2. Overzealous and increasing number of shrinks/teaches/etc. on the kickback plan from major drug companies.
3. Modern female teachers hating everything thats male and thus diagnosing a very very high % of boys as ADHD and very few girls that way.

[Dont Mention the War]

...may be linked...

Translation: You give me my grant money, I'll give you the study results you want to hear.

[longtermmemmory]

Parents are also seeking to have their kids diagnosed in order to have the mild cocain performance effects of ritalin.

Some parents are into the "i am not a bad mother, my little boy is just defective." (substititue fathers for mother and girl for boy etc.)

[Adder]

There absolutely is...The more kids medicated the bigger the subsidy.

[On the Road to Serfdom]

Isn't it pretty subjective in a lot of cases?

No, it is pretty subjective in all cases. South Park had a good description of the procedure.

[neverdem]

bfl

[sarahdmills]

I was thinking the same thing, that smoking has decreased but the incidents of ADD/ADHD seem to be rising. I hardly know of a kid who isn't taking medication for it. I am reading a fascinating book: Unraveling the ADD/ADHD Fiasco by Dr. David B. Stein, a VA psychologist and professor (Longwood University). He says that a lot of ADD/ADHD can be "cured" by employing "better parenting," and by helping the children learn to think. He says that by constantly reminding, putting up charts, etc. that you are teaching children to rely on those things so that they don't have to think. Interesting, eh?

In any case the book is interesting (saw it in my pediatricians office, he doesn't believe in prescribing meds for ADD/ADHD un;ess absolutely necessary...and he has a whole different meaning of "absolutely necessary" than most dr's!) Stein has an interesting website at www.drdavestein.com Has anyone heard of him, or used his methods? If the schools ever suggest my sons (who are just 2 and 4 right now) are evr ADD/ADHD, I would prefer anon-medication approach first, but wonder how doable it is in "real life"?