Posted on 03/18/2014 10:29:27 AM PDT by Paladins Prayer
The child would daydream in class, his elementary-school teachers said. He often just didn’t pay attention the way they would have liked. This was before the age of prevalent ADHD diagnoses and Ritalin, so no remedy was at hand, either. If one had been, though, who knows what he might have been?
Perhaps not co-valedictorian of his school — which he was.
I was that child. And were I attending school today and especially if my behavior had been worse, it’s likely I’d have received that fashionable diagnosis. And why not? It seems everyone now could have ADHD.
This point is made by Dr. Richard Saul, who has been practicing behavioral neurology for 50 years and is the author of the new book ADHD Does Not Exist. In a March 14 Time piece he writes:
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
While I agree with almost everything he writes, after 29 yrs. of working with children I still believe that there are some children for whom the ADD/ADHD diagnosis is valid. If anything, the bad parenting (with which I heartily agree has been occurring) and the liberal psychobable explanations that have encouraged the lack of disciplinary action and abdication of good parenting may be masking the real deal. When one considers all the women that are on some type of birth control (that directly effects the hormonal system) and the increase in drug use in our nation - both over the counter and illegal - it’s not too great of a stretch to believe that those things are having an adverse effect on prenatal development.
It's grossly overdiagnosed, because everybody wants a quick fix, and if somebody really has ADD or ADHD, the correct drug in the correct dosage is indeed a miracle.
But for every kid who actually has the specific brain condition that is remedied by medication, there are probably 100 with various difficulties and problems - some intractable and heartbreaking - that their parents and teachers hope will benefit from a quick fix.
I've seen it even in parents who should know better (e.g. a physician).
” ‘Most children diagnosed with ADHD are boys’ because most teachers forcing this to happen are liberal feminist womyn who are atheistic man-haters”
—
I think that’s a bit of a stretch.
.
I avoided any kind of drug treatment and found an eye doctor who specialized in a form of brain remediation. My son went through his program and that did the trick.
Come to find out when he went into the first grade the principal of the school decided to switch reading programs without letting any of the parents know. So, my son was taught "look-say" and those reading exercises made it impossible for him to read correctly.
He's alright now, but I did have some experts tell me all he needed was drugs to "cure" his problem.
When there is a problem parents need to do their homework and figure out what's wrong. Drugs are usually a bandaid but the problem is still there.
My kid has ADHD. Her shrink said it is a problem with the underdeveloped pre-frontal cortex, which pertains to impulsivity.
Daydreaming was not a problem. She could do that, and follow the lesson in class at the same time, while sneaking peaks at a book she was reading under her desk! It was rather that she blurted out and acted out, without any self-awareness or situational awareness. It’s like a piece of her puzzle was completely missing. The medicine made it possible to do things that normal parenting includes, like going over homework, or helping her organize her things. She stopped running to the knife drawer every time she perceived a challenge, and could actually listen to instruction, begin to calm down, and respond. Her best self could emerge— with her humor and empathy and motivation, and better social skills.
I’d like to have her wean off of the meds, now that she is
older and can see the big picture a bit better and is motivated to manage herself.
I have no knowledge of whether the medication is over-prescribed or the condition is over-diagnosed, except to say that I know that happens because it happened to me on a dental condition that was the trendy condition-of-the-moment.
Healing is an art as much as a science, and mental health professionals have a lot to learn.
I don’t think my daughter’s treatment is great, but it has been better than nothing.
Judge if you must. I know many FReepers enjoy that. But let’s learn a bit from others’ experience, also, please.
All true. One of my sons, the calm, deliberative one who was bored out of his mind, was diagnosed with ADHD while his one-yr.-younger brother, a human cyclone, was not. Wish I’d taped the meeting with the shrink. The younger son (who’d accompanied us because he was home from school with a broken arm—having fallen from a friend’s zip-wire he was forbidden to try) was driving the doc crazy (never sat still for a second) while the elder son sat quietly while being “counseled” about his ailment. Perfect SNL skit.
it’s not a medical issue but it is a mineral deficiency issue. give a kid magnesium (the right kind) and add, adhd, and a plethora of other maladies will go completely away.
ADHD is certainly over diagnosed, that I know for sure. We have a provisional diagnoses for our son who is five. We have chosen to treat him with diet and exercise and not drugs. We now eat a clean diet; i.e. no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, sweeteners, etc. We make almost all of our food from scratch. We are so much healthier as a result. When my son does get exposed to these things, especially artificial colors, it sets off his issues frighteningly badly. We’ve even experimented with him: His teacher gave him gummy worms a few time one month and noted the dates and his behaviors. We journaled his behaviors as well, without knowing which days he was exposed to the poison. His very bad days at home correlated to the days he had gummy worms.
True ADHD cannot be disciplined out of a child. For those who think it can, perhaps you can take that special knowledge to a cancer treatment center and insist that the patients be spanked until their body’s stop producing abnormal cells. It can be treated therapeutically by loving parents who don’t want zombie children.
We are treating our son’s diagnosis as a gift: Like many true ADHD people, he has a higher IQ. We take advantage of that and expose him to more information than a typical five-year-old.
I’m not a single mom trying to drug my kid into submission because parenting is hard. As already stated, we don’t give him drugs at all. My husband and I have been married for 11 years now, and our five-year-old is our oldest child. Both sets of grandparents are still married. We were raised in church and are raising our children in church. Corporal punishment is used when appropriate, and TV time is greatly monitored and limited.
Cool! What kind of magnesium and how much? (You are not a magnesium salesman, are you?)
ADHD exists. Look at classrooms today compared to when we were kids (I am child of 60’s)
When we were kids, there was a number line and an alphabet on the walls in the classroom. Maybe a chart with stars if the teacher was extra special.
Today, there is $hi( all over the walls in both the classroom and hallways.
When I was a kid, I had to play outside except for Saturday mornings when I got to watch cartoons. My mom made me eggs or oatmeal for breakfast. Cereal was a treat and I usually had Cheerios.
Today, kids sit in front of the TV for 6-8 hours at a clip or play video games. They eat cereal soaked in sugar.
They’re too busy kicking our asses getting better grades, graduating at higher rates, and all while spending less on education.
Gee, you sound like a gay activist who "just wants to he left alone...."
The don’t eat GMO stuff and horomones injected meat. Just sayin’...
Check out Dr. Brownstein on iodine, and Dr. Bob (Stop ADHD in 18 days) - DHA fats.
Pursuant to your comment, I just read an article about good sources of magnesium in food. Amazing: chard, spinach, avocadoes are good sources. All of those are things my daughter has had cravings for since first grade or so. She must need it more than other people do, though, or not metabolize it as well, or something.
My daughter has it and with many of the same symptoms your daughter has. People can think what they want because I still don’t give a sh__ what they think.
I just didn’t want somebody “yelling” at me for ruining my kid, or something. People can be kind of nasty on here, sometimes.
I’ve gleaned a lot of info from this site, although I do not use the specific brands she suggests: http://addnaturalremedy.com
ADHD - The malady also known as masculinity.
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