When my kids were in grade school many of these ‘ADHD’ kids just needed a good swat on the rump and a parent to be a parent.
We completely modified my son’s already healthy diet and have witnessed a miracle. He doesn’t eat any sweets to begin with, but we did pull him off of the little bit of juice he drank. He is dairy free (which made the most noticeable difference), and we learned all the terms for MSG so we can avoid that as well. Now he is a normal, super active little boy without uncontrollable and irrational breakdowns.
Once again the left has become what they claimed to fear from the right. Note the NASA "look and feel" of the control center, as the space program was taken as the model of subjugation to technology.
I remembered Robert Duvall was in it, but I didn't know he was THX1138 !
Bubble wrap is also good.
I have to wonder how many so-called “hyper-active” kids are just rambunctious. I certainly was.
I only know of very FEW little ones NOT being full of excitement, joy and exuberance at that age.
Great. Get all the kiddies on ritalin and encourage the grown-ups to dope themselves up with “medicinal” marijuana.
A drugged society is a compliant society.
I have also noticed the diagnosis has increased since the school schedule took out recess every day. Kids with energy and no way to expend it during the day...
I remember when my oldest boy was in grade 2 (or perhaps it was 3) … he drove the teacher off the deep end and like good parents at the school’s insistence, we took our son to see a child psychologist who immediately recommended that we get him on Ritalin. Not content with such a blazingly fast (and dare I say predictably automatic) diagnosis, we waited a few months until we could get him to see the head of the psychology department at our university….who incidentally had made it his life’s work to study ADHD. He put our son through 3 days of testing, produced a 6 page very readable and sensible report….then when we had gone through the final briefing of his findings, he accompanied us to my son’s school where we had set up a meeting with the teachers and principal. It was a sight to behold as this psychology head royally raked the school over the coals on everything that they were doing wrong. Oh… and one other thing, his analysis of our son indicated that putting him on Ritalin would have been the absolutely worst thing that could be done. One of the most simply things that he recommended was to relocate him to a different seat in the classroom where all the artwork that normally gets put up on the walls was removed around him… this very simple act of removing distracting things out of our son’s field of vision settled him down so that he could concentrate and had an amazing result. My wife and I followed this up at home and one of the things that I remember doing for several years was simply making sure that he went to bed early and then we used to just lay in the dark together and tell stories… the room was absolutely dark and with nothing to distract him, he would be absolutely calm. After saying goodnight prayers, he was off to sleep like a baby. A few years of this regimen and he had settled into a pattern of behaviour that was devoid of the wild nature that he originally exhibited.
Our son went on to become one of the top students in his high school where by age 15, he made it his mission to read the Bible cover to cover and memorize many many passages… he went on to university and finished 6th in a class of 110 in what was probably the toughest engineering program in the country. He’s 30 now and a finer young man you won’t find. I won’t take credit for any of his successes because they are all his….but my wife and gladly accept the credit for not letting ourselves get bowled over by ‘the system’ and being willing to dig deeper.
Now they are saying there is adult ADHD. That is simple a result of parents that didn't teach their kids a little discipline and now their is an excuse.
Be very leery and highly skeptical of any school or doctor wanting to push Ritalin before an Audiologist and Allergy Specialist is seen. The Audiologist or a Speech Pathologist can test for and diagnose CAPD a Shrink can not and most never consider this as a cause. Giving a CAPD kid Ritalin or ADD ADHD meds can do far more harm. Their sensory system is already overtaxed.
Watch the kids. Do some basic detective work and keep a log or notes on when behavior changes. Be especially watchful where they have just engaged in sensory processing extensive activities such as video games, TV, etc.
Observe the child’s reactions and pay very close attention to if they are actually processing what you say. Example TV is on but kid isn't watching it. You say "hey Billy please take out the trash". The child just sits there as if he didn't hear you or says Huh? You repeat yourself and about mid sentence Billy says "do what" as if he just heard you. The third time you've had enough and say slowly "Billy take out" and then it's like a switch was turned on Billy understands. This is not ADD ADHD this is likely CAPD. Billy began processing your first attempts about the middle of your second attempt. The more background distractions the more attempts it takes to communicate.
Watch how they read. The kid may honest to goodness be only to read a few minutes. Watch for more clues such as reversing order of words, skipping words, skipping an entire sentence or paragraph and in some causes Dyslexic symptoms. Again this is not ADD ADHD.
A teacher is giving a lesson and says OK class take notes. Billy will either have no notes and will have understood half the instructions or had very few notes and can't tell you what the teacher said. Get Billy a voice recorder.
Bily needs to be placed facing the teacher and the teacher needs to face the class when talking not the blackboard or walking around the room. Kids like Billy usually read lips. They may process lip reading faster.
Next what else to look for? Watch the kids activities outdoors. Dad's you need understand what I am about to say. If Billy is lets say playing sandlot baseball and can not hit the ball despite your repeated attempts see if this happens. He swings way too early, way too late, or ducks from the ball as if afraid of it. That points to eye and muscle coordination often related to CAPD. Get him into Occupational Therapy for help. It is a good investment money wise in this case. Look at his shoes? Does he break the shoes over to the side? That again points to balance and function of the Inner Ear where most CAPD symptoms originate from. That one will require a visit to a foot doctor for some prescription insoles likely.
How did I learn all this? My own life experiences as a misdiagnosed ADD ADHD child who had multiple sensory processing issues and I still have them today only far worse. My parents got me help for what help was out there in the late 1960’s early 70’s.
ADD ADHD was not rampant when I was a kid. I was one of the few in my school they thought had it. I don’t and I never did. After my sensory processing system deteriorated to the point of disability when I was about 35 years old did I then seek out answers. It has taken me over 18 years to do so. Much of my information comes from looking in Vestibular Disorder venues on the web. Last but not least to adults reading this I give you this bit of information you will never hear in a Shrinks office. Vestibular {INNER EAR} and sensory processing dysfunction is likely the leading cause of adulthood Panic or Anxiety Disorder.
Mothers know how a baby with an ear infection acts. They are not happy campers. Older General Practiconers knew an Inner Ear Infection in adults. How often do you hear of adults having an Inner Ear infection today? Did they just go away? No I doubt that. Doctors have lost focus as to physical ailments cause and affects.
How can you tell if a preschooler has ADHD? They all have the attention span of a gnat.
I believe I am moderately ADHD. If I went to school today instead of the 50’s-60’s, I’d probably be a zombie from the meds. I learned the old fashioned way - if I acted up, I got punished. If I did stupid things, the teacher and my classmates would look at me (most of the class would laugh) and the humiliation would give me opportunities to be more aware and to stem most “episodes” before they developed. Today, they would be punished for noting that I was acting strange because it would be a slap at my self image.