2 Million more kids diagnosed with ADHD since 2004 (games, activity, medication)
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When my son was in the first grade back in the early 80s, there was an attempt to diagnose him with ADHD.
The thing was, he had no problem sitting quietly in my lap for an hour watching "The Hulk." He had no problem quietly playing at the table for hours with his Matchbox cars. He had no problem sitting quietly doing anything he was actually interested in doing for hours on end.
When my son was in the first grade back in the early 80s, there was an attempt to diagnose him with ADHD.
The thing was, he had no problem sitting quietly in my lap for an hour watching "The Hulk." He had no problem quietly playing at the table for hours with his Matchbox cars. He had no problem sitting quietly doing anything he was actually interested in doing for hours on end.
I decided his problem was not ADHD.
Hyperfocus on things enjoyed is actually a hallmark of ADD or ADHD.
What you might not know about ADHD is that there's another side: the tendency for children and adults with attention deficit disorder to focus very intently on things that do interest them. At times, the focus is so strong that they become oblivious to the world around them.
For children, the object of "hyperfocus" might be playing a video game or watching TV. For adults, it might be shopping or surfing the Internet. But whatever holds the attention, the result is the same: Unless something or someone interrupts, hours drift by as important tasks and relationships fall by the wayside. "People who think ADD means having a short attention span misunderstand what ADD is," says Kathleen Nadeau, Ph.D., a psychologist in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the author of ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life. "A better way to look at it is that people with ADD have a disregulated attention system."
I've got ADD and I think medication is not the solution, except in very severe cases. My so-called disorder comes with a lot of strengths, and once I learned to do things my own way rather than the way "normal-brained" folks do them, my career took off. Basically, I accepted my limitations and concentrated on my strengths.
More tailored curriculums and skill sets would be a much more effective solution than simply medicating.
I wasn't diagnosed until my late 20s, but I went to a private school that had a very strong program for students with learning disabilities. Although no-one knew there was anything different about how my brain worked, the school's curriculum and structure naturally accommodated me. I was very, very lucky.
I wonder if there's a correlation with less physical activity, too much time spent indoors, even lack of sunlight and vitamin D.
My solution when a child gets whiney and annoying indoors is to get the kid outdoors doing something -- climbing trees, riding bikes or horses, going for a long hike.
I wonder if there's a correlation with less physical activity, too much time spent indoors, even lack of sunlight and vitamin D.
My solution when a child gets whiney and annoying indoors is to get the kid outdoors doing something -- climbing trees, riding bikes or horses, going for a long hike.
I think it's more that those things help ADD/ADHD symptoms and we do them less now.
The ADD in my family can be traced directly to oneof my great-grandmothers who was born in the late 1800s. The stories about her are kind of epic.
The testing for ADHD is too subjective. Psychologists basically can pick and choose which tests to administer to test for ADHD. Teachers are often asked as to how they would rate the behavior of the child in question. And also, the reported symptomatology from the caregivers is heavily weighed. It is getting to the point where ADHD is becoming the catch all for typical misbehavior.
It is very important that parents get a second and maybe third opinion if their child was diagnosed with ADHD. Also, it is especially important to make sure that the diagnosing clinician has thoroughly tested the child before making such a diagnose.
My oldest son was getting almost perfect scores on standardized tests but doing poorly in school --- I'm against drugging children to make them sit still but decided to take him to a child psychologist who of course promptly diagnosed him with ADHD and gave me a list of doctors who would prescribe drugs for him.
I decided to just take him to the pediatrician I had who undiagnosed him with ADHD and said that ADHD is a learning disability and this child was obviously learning. Early puberty and boredom in school were more the problems and so no drugs.
He did much better in high school in courses like chemistry and physics and did great in college. No drugs, no more psychology.
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