Posted on 01/25/2005 3:21:32 AM PST by grundle
I was in a coma for 2 weeks when I was around a year old and I always thought that the lack of oxygen that put me in that coma somehow damaged my brain...until I had my own son with the same problems.
Although he hasn't been tested, I'd guarantee that my youngest grandson is a genius, he is 6, asked enough questions to learn how to read and is on a 3rd grade level and he will be starting 1st grade in the fall. He is the worst of all of us. He'd drive you insane as he is doing to us this summer. We have been using some behavior modification with him and the main thing is making him stop and listen. If he doesn't react when we speak to him, I tell him why and then I swat him. I haven't had to do it often. Just talking to him and explaining how we expect him to behave has helped enormously and then making sure he has some time for extreme physical activity every day.
The reason it is more common in the US and is more common than 50 yrs ago is diagnosis. Looking back on my school days I could now point out to you those who probably were ADHD and ADD. I work with a lot of children and I can point out those who have it whether they have been diagnosed or not. I have seen many parents use it as an excuse and there are also parents who would rather have a zombie than a real child too. It is a diagnosis that is taken advantage of to excuse bad behavior and is over-used but that still doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
I was at least, smart enough to see how other people acted and I tried to emulate them but I still had control mechanisms to deal with the ADHD. I learned that if you slept less you were able to have more control and I still only sleep around 6 hrs a night and if I have something very important to do the next day I will stay awake all night. You just don't know until you have it and having a name for it is comforting even though I use no clinical controls. Until you feel like you are going to jump out of you own skin, until you try to keep a train of thought and can't, until you really have it then you don't know and if I could, I'd let you spend a few days in my body then you would believe that it is a condition that does exist.
I know how you feel because my husband doesn't understand it either and I've lived with him for 34 yrs.
The reason home schooled children don't GET this disease is that they have caring, concerned parents who teach them to deal with their condition. My son did fine in school but we were terribly afraid he wouldn't, even though we tried to teach him to reign in the hyperactivity. At the first open house we went to the teacher met us at the door and couldn't say enough wonderful things about our son. We looked at each other in shock and I told the teacher that we were "John's" parents, thinking that she might have been confused but she wasn't. We never had anything but glowing reports on him throughout his school years and he is a fine man now who is raising 2 children on his own. But he still has ADHD...
Rant over. I know I've told you more than you wanted to hear.
When you find out will you post it and ping me? Please!
IOW, distraction and overstimulation. As an adult I keep my house relatively empty because it isn't just audio noise it is also visual "noise". I work in an office where there are 4 or 5 people and people in and out, I have to go in after hours to get any real work done.
That was a great post. Thanks for telling about that.
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