Posted on 06/17/2008 12:20:07 AM PDT by neverdem
Atkins works! : )
I do believe it's been around longer than that. My wife had a student in her first year of teaching that today would be call ADHD, I think they just called him hyperactive. That was in 1971-72. His "medication" consisted of a big thermos of strong coffee, to be administered when needed. It worked, most of the time. The other times I think he was being the typical 11 year old boy. Given his home/family situation, poor as church mice, I doubt he got a lot of TV time, even in black and white). I know the one time I interacted with him, he wasn't either hyper or "down", he was just being a brat. he paid for it by having to stay on the bus while the rest of class cavort around a park and zoo. However he was told that if he didn't straighten up, he'd miss the tour of the computer center, something he really wanted to see. He straightened up, albeit with some difficulty, and got to see the computer center. (The IBM 360 room sized computer). I've heard that he grew up OK.
Before I took any kid suspected of being ADD ADHD to a shrink though I'd see an Audiologist or Speech Pathologist for sensory processing disorders testing first. In doing so you get a pretty well uninfluenced opinion away from Big Pharm as they can not write prescriptions.
BTW this is not the same thing as deafness either. But these disorders can wreak havoc on some very primative but powerful responses by the brain which is programned for self preservation.
I recently began work at a children's behavioral treatment center.
They are of the opinion that ADHD is a fraud, that much of the behaviors can be treated with the same approach that the Dog Whisperer Uses: first you take them on a walk (exercise) then they can focus.
Many of these youngsters need some old fashioned recess activites like Dodgeball, then they can focus.
P.S. I'm a boomer, lived all over the US as a military brat, grew up with a wide variety of kids all over the US.
Boys of my generation did NOT suffer from ADHD.
I also was not subjected to hideous government schools...a far worse punishment than any I had ever received...
I wanted to try Ritalin, being a major ADHD sufferer (I’ve been called everything from space cadet to the absent-minded professor). Instead I medicate myself with coffee. Fortunately not gallons of it, since I have another problem — acid reflux. However, enough to keep me alert. I can never give it up. I also forcefed myself non-fiction and writing exercises to bolster the intellect & make myself more tolerable to others.
I made up a saying: When you have ADHD, your brain has a mind of its own. Although I don’t base my whole identity on it, it does, unfortunately, control my life. Every time I find myself staring off into space or forgetting something 5 seconds (literally) after reminding myself, I get frustrated. People don’t realize how crippling it can be.
At the same time, though, as you said, it can be a blessing. My ability to think out of the box & make sudden, creative decisions or solutions has been an asset at work. Like many ADHDers, I like media, maybe because of its visuality & blending of disciplines. So far — knock on wood — my biggest fear of ending up homeless has not materialized & I’ve remained employable.
Guess when you’re stuck with lemons, you make lemonade.
My situation was pretty much the same--my father was Air Force; I went to military-sponsored schools from 1957 to 1971, where the discipline was no-nonsense, and class sizes averaged about 32 kids, with recess twice a day in the lower grades, and gym once a day in the higher. No ADHD, or anything like it. My own belief is that a better name for ADHD would be "bad child syndrome."
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