Posted on 04/29/2003 8:40:41 AM PDT by Houmatt
Many kids these days need to experience the power of a good habbit.
Trajan88; TAMU Class of '88
From the time my daughter was about 4 we had noticed that she could not keep her mind on one task for more than a few seconds. This girl has been in an excellent Catholic school since first grade. However, her conduct grades for grades 1-5 were consistently unsatisfactory. She has had detention because of conduct, forgotten homework, lost homework, lost anything and everything, more times than we care to remember.
The last straw was when she stayed last summer with one of her out-of-state aunts for a couple of weeks. The original plans were for her to stay a week or so with the aunt, then another week or so with her grandmother. Since they only see our daughter maybe every other year when either we go up there or they come here (we're 1200 miles apart), they were not completely prepared for having an ADD child staying with them. Her grandmother cut her stay short saying she couldn't handle her. It was an unpleasant experience for everyone involved. And, it was then that, after debating for more than a year, we finally decided to have her tested for ADD.
As we suspected, she is ADD and was placed on 10mg Adderol, the lowest dosage available. Subsequently, the dosage was upped to the 15mg dosage once a day. The change has been absolutely amazing. This child has gone from being a C - D student to straight A's the last report card. Her conduct grades are mostly "Outstanding" with the balance being "Satisfactory".
I don't appreciate in the least Boortz' statements that ADD is a parenting problem. To be nice about it, unless Boortz has an ADD or AD/HD child, he doesn't have the first clue what he is talking about. Boortz tips his hand about his motives when he talks about the government and docile citizens. Boortz is not concerned about children, and children's welfare. He really appears to, for some unknown reason, fear being drugged by the government and is using ADD as some sort of front.
I will put my and my child's mother's parenting up against anyone anytime. You will NOT find a better home than what we have here. We have tried every approach possible to get our daughter to focus. We have had serious around the dinner table talks about personal responsibility. We have both had serious one on one talks with her about personal responsibility. When "being nice" hasn't worked, she has been grounded from her favorite things more times than we care to remember. We have prayed as a family together about this problem. She has told us she has prayed in church about it. She is as aware as any of us that this is a problem. I have no doubt that she wants to be able to focus but just does not have the ability to focus for any extended period of time.
Yes, I suppose if we wanted, we could become absolute tyrants for parents where every single lost train of thought by our daughter would incur serious consequences but at what cost? If we wanted, we could scar the poor girl for life and she would hate her parents for being parental tyrants. And, yes, she might comply for short periods as she has with our "nice" approaches but the compliance would be out of fear. Is that really fixing the problem? Not hardly. This type parenting is extremely destructive and probably just as importantly, it wastes valuable time in this child's life.
She is in sixth grade now. She is 6 years away from starting college. Her grades need to be maintained where they are now so she can go to college in order to give her the best chance of making it in the world. If Adderol gets her there then that's all the better. Hopefully, as the doctor said, she will outgrow this when she matures and will not need the Adderol.
Mr. Boortz points out that Dr. Bob Jacobs "correctly points out that there is no proof that ADHD exists." At the same time, there is often no physical proof that headaches exist. People will report the symptoms of a headache but often even a CAT scan will show no reason for the headaches. This by no means indicates that someone's head really does not hurt. And, when someone has a headache, they can also take two tablets of acetylsalicylic acid, more commonly know as Aspirin. Scientists believe that aspirin's ability to reduce the body's production of hormone-like "prostaglandins" is the reason for both its effectiveness in relieving pain and reducing inflammation... but they don't know. Similarly, no one knows exactly why Adderol and Ritalin work, they just do. I don't know what kind of proof Mr. Boortz wants, or if he even wants proof.
As a side note, our daughter is not completely free of losing her trains of thought. She is still an "air-head" at times. She still loses things. She still forgets what she is supposed to be doing. The difference has been that the degree and frequency of these lapses has decreased dramatically. We have learned that you cannot give this child a list of things to be done in order to complete a task. She simply loses it after the second step. Last Christmas, after a minor emergency here when her mother received an electrical shock and had to go to the emergency room, I asked her to help me clean up some of the things that were broken in the accident. The task involved about five steps that I started to describe to her. After the second step, I could tell from the blank look on her face that I had lost her. I then wrote down each step for her. She completed the task perfectly. I see this as more "proof" that ADD exists. I suppose if we continued to increase her dosage she would be laser focused and maybe "docile". But that is not what we're after.
So, I take it very personally when someone like Boortz insults my parenting by insinuating that ADD is a parenting problem. We have a very fine home. You will find no better. And, our daughter is doing fine, Mr. Boortz. Thank you very much.
Now, flame away!
Being the product of a Catholic School in the '60's I can answer this. The nuns were without mercy. Lots of yardsticks across the knuckles. Lots of yanked ears. Lots of public humiliations in front of the class.
My brother and I long ago discussed this very thing. We went through the list of the problem kids when we were in grade school. To the person, every one of them ended up in prison, and two are still there to this day.
|
EACH TABLET CONTAINS
|
5mg |
10mg |
20mg |
30mg |
| Dextroamphetamine Saccharate | 1.25 mg | 2.5 mg | 5 mg | 7.5 mg |
| Amphetamine Aspartate | 1.25 mg | 2.5 mg | 5 mg | 7.5 mg |
| Dextroamphetamine Sulfate USP | 1.25 mg | 2.5 mg | 5 mg | 7.5 mg |
| Amphetamine Sulfate USP | 1.25 mg | 2.5 mg | 5 mg | 7.5 mg |
| Total equivalence | 3.13 mg | 6.3 mg | 12.6 mg | 18.8 mg |
And yet I'll bet that if she reads and enjoys a book she could repeat it to you in amazing detail or give you the particulars of an event that occured weeks ago. Right?
We had my daughter tested two years ago and she was diagnosed with the inattentive form of ADD. She had been on Concerta since then and, like your daughter, has shown a marked improvement. While discussing the results of the tests that the doctor performed, the doctor told us that there are there are different forms of memory. We think in terms of short term and long term memory but there are sub-sections of each. Like our daughter, you daughter has a problem with what is called 'stacked memory'. This is the process in which the brain takes a series of instructions, stores them in order and then retrieves them in the order in which they were given. If I were to guess I would say that your daughter remembers the first instruction and often the last but loses everything in between. This is why children with this problem are thought of as air-heads and also often have difficulty reading at their grade level. When reading long sentences they lose track of the sentence structure and the meaning is lost, requiring that they reread the same passage. Fortunately as people get older they can easily develop skills that help them cope with the problem. If you know people addicted to to-do lists and meeting minutes it's likely that they suffer from this problem to one extent or another.
So no flame from this end. Just understanding and an equal contempt for Bortz for pontificating on something he knows nothing about.
Oh, and for Bortz's information, not that he would give a damn, but the reason ADD children can concentrate on video games and TV is that there they both provide a constantly changing visual stimulus. It's far different from reading a book or sitting in a classroom.
| Amphetamine | |
| DEA Number | 1100 |
| CSA Schedule | II |
| Classification | Non Narcotic |
| Other Names | Dexedrine, Adderall, Obetrol |
So...Controlled Substances Act 21 USCS Section 802 Definitions
(6) The term "controlled substance" means a drug or other substance, or immediate precursor, included in schedule I, II, III, IV, or V of part B of this title [21 USCS Section 812]. The term does not include distilled spirits, wine, malt beverages, or tobacco, as those terms are defined or used in subtitle E of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 [26 USCS Sections 5001 et seq.].
Your child is using a controlled substance!
The Controlled Substances Act (CSA), Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, is the legal foundation of the government's fight against the abuse of drugs and other substances...not the Constitution, not "We the People"...
I can name for you countless cases where mental health professionals have made gross misdiagnoses and destroyed people and their families for personal and financial gain.
Leaving aside your incredibly patronizing lead-in, let me point out -- sarcastically, in case you cannot tell; and by way of analogy, in case you do not get it -- that all lawyers are evil because there are a few bad ones in their ranks.
Making you kid swallow a psychotropic drug because he has "ants in his pants" is immoral.
First off, I don't know you from Adam, but in who are you in God's name are you to say, just because we have children on pills we are assuming we are bad parents (immoral)! It is obvious you have no clue to this topic of which is out of your discernment. It would be best that you refrain from such remarks. Heaven forbid you may have to be faced with this situation!
This I do know...
I also know that ritalin and Adderall can be used with other drugs to enhance the euphoric feeling and prolong the high. That is the second reason for the Class II
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