Many of the 'ADD generation' say no to meds

LA Times ^ | 18 December 2006 | Melissa Healy, Times Staff Writer

[shrinkermd]

Newly minted grown-ups are carrying out a massive natural experiment by choosing to do without the drugs that profoundly affected their experience of childhood.

...American society remains deeply ambivalent about the diagnosis of ADD, a catch-all term used more commonly in the past that includes today's more well-known attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. (Children diagnosed with ADD typically have difficulty focusing and paying attention. Those with ADHD are physically frenetic as well.)

Almost three decades after the psychiatric profession first detailed the condition in its diagnostic manual, nagging questions remain: Does medicating a child with ADD help that child's well-being in the long term? Are there any negative consequences? And must it be a life-long prescription?

Although most mental health professionals believe that about 2 in 3 children with ADD will continue to contend with the condition as adults, the truth is that "we have very few firm numbers," says Dr. Xavier Castellanos, a leading ADD researcher at New York University.

In short, "There are more questions that are unanswered than are answered," says Lisa L. Weyandt, a psychologist at Central Washington University who studies college-bound kids with ADD. Nobody, she says, knows how these fledglings will fare away from home and neighborhood schools, and whether the medications that appeared to help them in grade school will continue to be of use to them as adults. "They are," Weyandt says, "in uncharted territory."

[higgmeister]

The more you post, the more you reveal what an ignorant and mean person you are. You have no clue what you are talking about. I pray it never happens that a kid with ADHD comes near you, because it cannot be treated with abuse like you propose.

You are a sick individual. I do nit believe you when you say you have never harmed your wife or child. I'd bet they cower when you come home because of your history of violence towards people weaker than you.

Do you step on baby chicks for fun?

You must have buttons all over you, because I sure must have pushed some.

In actuality I am the nicest guy in the world. I have never lifted a hand in anger against anyone. I don't subscribe to the notion that there are people weaker than me. Every person is an individual, each and every one and The Golden Rule applies in all cases.

I don't like knowing that there are people on the street now that have been allowed by a permissive society produced by Dr. Spock to run rampantly out of control. I don't like knowing that clueless parents have allowed little Jimmy to talk back because it was cute, until the moment when it wasn't cute anymore. I don't like knowing that there are lost criminals like my nephew that wouldn't have turned out that way if they were properly punished as a child.

Have you ever seen baby chicks on a farm? They are very difficult to avoid stepping on, the way they dart under your feet, but I have successfully avoided them every time.

I also abhor invective attacks. I believe persons that result to that, lack civility and appear ugly and mean-spirited

[higgmeister]

What is this vague phrase "stay on task?"

That sounds like PC Dept. of Education lingo that could mean anything. In my case I only meant that I was spanked for not doing homework many times throughout my school years in addition to many other situations I almost always deserved. Yet the total package of my life is a success.

[FreedomCalls]

I think Corin's measured response to Albie was generously nice

Refuting an argument by calling someone a moron is a "measured response"? LOL! Like I said, if that's the way you generally deal with disagreements then your skills in parenting must come into question.

Or would you have simply preferred I call you a moron if that's the level you operate at?

[FreedomCalls]

And your expertise is?

I'm a parent and I can read.

Do you too think that name-calling is an effective way to discuss something? Is that the way you deal with your children too?

[Poser]

"they just can't tell you how they got it or walk you thru the steps- that's not the way their brains work. "

Before the system drugged children, I was one of the ADD type kids. I was a serious problem to my teachers. I always got lousy conduct grades and my parents kicked my ass for it many times. That worked pretty well in my case.

My high school AP math teacher saw it differently. While the rest of the class was doing formal proofs, she gave me a giant box of tinker toys and told me to build a dodecahedron.

She had figured out that I was doing the first 15 steps of most problems in my head and that it would be counterproductive to try to make me detail each minute step.

The reason I wasn't paying attention in grade school is because I had already reasoned out the problem in my head and was bored with the busy work. I didn't need to do 100 addition problems. I needed to learn geometry or trig.

I ended up teaching accounting and business computer applications at a major university. I write computer software and restore antique motorcycles for fun. I've never gotten bored trying to figure out the individual learning styles of students. There are as many learning styles as there are individuals. I wish some school administrators and primary school teachers would learn that.

Two more things.

1. By the time they reach college, some kids are out-of-control lazy and have chosen not to learn. They need some maturing and some full-time work before they will have the motivation necessary to succeed in an academic setting.

2. There are, in fact, some stupid people, too dumb to learn many things.

[shurwouldluv_a_smallergov]

Yes, it is a vague PC phrase. It means the inability, or unwillingness to see a task through to completion. ADD proponents claim it's an inability. I maintain (at least in my kid's case) it's an unwillingness.

Not doing your homework- because you could not or would not? Your getting spanked might have served as a punishment, but not as motivation to do the homework. But in the final analysis, did the missing homework or the spanking make any significant difference? Or is your success attributable to making the right choices and doing what needed to be done as an adult?

As a parent, I cannot get overly excited about a 9 year old not hanging on the teacher's every word. Either to medicate or spank. If by trying the medication, it will get the teacher off of our backs, it's worth a 30 day trial period. In the final analysis, I don't think his lack of attention in 4th grade is going to matter all that much.

[streetpreacher]

Nice tagline.

[FreedomCalls]

Thanks.

[gardengirl]

I coped by always having a book. By fourth grade I was reading at or above an 11th grade level. Can't do anything with Math, though. I must have been reading an adventure story when they passed out Math circuits!

[SoftballMominVA]

I have 2 daughters--both grew up with a stable household, a largely stay at home mom, regular church attendance, upper SES class. One has ADHD and one does not. Without her medication, my older would not survive in the real world. As it is now, it is so severe (even with meds) I will not allow her to obtain her driver's license. She is almost 20 and at college. She is so spacy I do believe that she would run the car off the road just from daydreaming.

Bad parenting has nothing to do with it. You know nothing about the subject.

[SoftballMominVA]

I had a similar experience, except that all meds are only partly effective for my daughter. She is currently in Strattera and Adderall XR and her symptoms are partly controlled. She has learned to schedule her classes when the meds work best and not operate heavy machinary at any time.

[SoftballMominVA]

You know nothing about ADHD. I can't tell you the number of times I spanked my daughter, put her in time-out or made her redo when it was appropriate. We tried diets, biofeedback, punishment, yelling, redirection, rewards, contracts, everything we could think of before we went to meds. Only the meds worked.

True ADD is not bad parenting. Now does that mean that every single instance of attention wandering is ADD or ADHD--no way. But in my case in my house, it was true ADD

You don't know what you are talking about when you say it is just bad parenting.

[Fierce Allegiance]

HA, you are the one who claims you can cure a kid with ADHD by whipping him/her 100 times with a belt or smashing them in the face.

Nope, i don't believe you have a single socially redeeming quality if you would do such a thing as you siad you would to a kid with a chemical imbalance.

[SoftballMominVA]

You don't get it--I could have spanked my child 20 times A DAY for every day of her life and her attention would not have improved. What would have happened would be a deep-seated fear and hatred of me and other authority figures. And what about at school? Do you think teachers should have spanked her? Slapped her? Should I have waited at home with a belt or a spoon ready to spank her for every offense at school? SHe also shows signs of autism with her repetitive behaviors--should I have spanked that out of her too? What if she had had Down's--would spankings cure that? Of course not. She has a genuine medical condition that cannot be cured with spankings.

If spankings could have cured her, she wouldn't have ADHD.

[Fierce Allegiance]

Call me what you will, post what albie did is well beyond moronic.

If my kids were to say somethinig as stupid as albie did, your damn right i'd call it moronic. i don't believe in sugarcoating the truth.

[Gabz]

I was following this thread when it started earlier today........the depth of ignorance is absolutely mind-boggling.

And I say that as the parent of an 8yo who has NOT been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD.

I'm very thankful for the teachers and administrators in the district she attends. I know full well I would be fighting them over this issue had we stayed where we were and put her in the district my husband, his sisters and his nieces attended.

[Gabz]

I have been following this thread from the beginning....

If anyone has engaged in invectives, it has been you and those who have called you upon it have been within their right to do so.

I am not averse to placing a well earned swat on the behind of a wayward child, my own included, but you advocate using a belt on a child and doing so repeatedly. That is HORRIBLE.

And you have the audacity to wonder why people think you are not such a nice guy?

[gardengirl]

Curiosity question for some of you others out there with/close to ADD-do you notice the repetitive behavior in yourselves or your kids? I catch myself doing things like that-right now we have a runner on the floor at work. It has letters on it about a foot high. I've caught myself several times in the last few days pacing on that rug, placing my feet on the letters exactly the same each time. LOL
Must be close to obsessive/compulsive. I'm not so far gone I can't stop, but it is annoying in the extreme to find yourself doing something like this. I've done it before, since I was little, so I know what to watch for. I also find myself doing things the same way every time. I function better that way.
You're absolutely right-spanking does no good. The kids can't help themselves. The best example I can think of-my oldest was in high school/special ed. He had to pass a state mandated test in reading and math to graduate. They read the math problems to him, but wouldn't help with the reading. He has no trouble with math, but his reading is probably 3rd grade. When I questioned them, they couldn't give me a good answer. I told them that was like giving a blind child a printed test and expecting him to do well on it. If you can't do something, you can't do it.

Don't let what's is name get to you. He doesn't have a clue.

[WV Mountain Mama]

You know you are going to hell (don't worry, so am I) because he have child(ren) in public school, and think our districts/schools are good, don't you? LOL! Couldn't resist!

[SoftballMominVA]

I teach special education children--and many have ADHD. Now in all fairness, I cannot vouch for the veracity of the diagnosis in every one of them. I didn't do the medical work up with them as they are not mine to take to the doctor. But yes, repetitive behavior is very common--as is hyper tactile ness for the lack of a better word. All my students do best if they have their 'attention rock' in their hands when working. They roll it around in their hands, or feel it, or rub it when they read or work. It helps them--and no I've never once in 10 years had a problem with one of them throwing it or misusing it in any way. They are so relieved that a teacher is letting them do something with their hands they are too grateful to screw that up.