Adhd, An Excuse For Lack Of Discipline.

[dave50]

http://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/leo-mckinstry/422158/Why-a-diagnosis-of-ADHD-is-welcomed-by-some-parents

As is said in the link, a benefits racket.

[FredPuli43]

Anecdotal, but a specialist remedial teacher told me that we get fashions in conditions. She was constantly seeing children, generally from prosperous families, who had "dyslexia". They hadn't. They were just slow to learn. One child was referred to her as such. The boy had been seen by teachers and referred to her. Within minutes she discovered he was deaf! She began, she said with a smile, to doubt whether the condition existed at all !

And ADHD may be the same. No doubt there are a few children who are unmanageable because of a disorder, but a great many may well not be really abnormal at all.

[Sqad]

dave......I have a certain amount of sympathy with the tone of your post and AB knows how i feel about ADHD.

I do not deny that some children fall into this category of personality disorders, but in my opinion the disorder is overdiagnosed as shown by the explosion of prescriptions for Ritalin.

We are at the stage when it is being diagnosed in adults and the diagnostic criteria is often based on newspaper "tick box" criteria.

[B00]

I know absolutely nothing about ADHD, but I was concerned to read....

"Those who receive the ADHD diagnosis are often instructed by doctors to take psychotropic drugs such as Ritalin that have the temporary effect of calming them down, though there can be disturbing side-effects such as depression, loss of appetite, insomnia and stunted growth."

If a child is properly diagnosed as having this disorder, are the pills doled out worth it?

[VHG]

>>> there can be disturbing side-effects such as depression, loss of appetite, insomnia and stunted growth.

Almost ANY tablet you take has a list of possible side effects on the paperwork that comes in the box. Some of these lists are very long and can cover a frightening list of illnesses.

[FredPuli43]

Think of dogs (I think of little else, but bear with me). Trainers and owners often encounter dogs which seem totally uncontrollable, mad even, but most of the time there is nothing wrong with the dog's brain or body chemistry. The dog may be difficult , more so than others, but with skilled handling and understanding, it comes to be controllable and normal. Don't think we dish out Ritalin to dogs. The two situations may be equivalent.

[Fitzer]

Slightly different (but similar) take http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/kids-dont-need-pills-they-need-parenting-8759095.html

[B00]

totally agree VHG, but im assuming most tablets are taken on a need a take basis whereas medication for ADHD is a long term thing, where the risk of the side effects may have more of a chance to happen? No?

[ToraToraTora]

Yes, everything is an allergy or a syndrome these days. There are genuine cases no doubt but they are much harmed the mostly charlatanery of the others. ADHD sounds so much better that unruly brat or terrible parent. Have you also noticed that when someone doesn't like something it has now become an allergy?

[FredPuli43]

Yes, Tora. I do wonder how many people were gluten sensitive or had nut allergies, for example, 50 or 100 years ago !

[pixie373]

The report in the link is not very accurate, though. It says if a child disobeys it's parents, that's ODD. That is actually far more dramatic and includes deliberately walking out in front of cars, etc. I think there are parents who want a "diagnosis" to use as an excuse. But the majority of parents will want to know why their child is behaving a certain way, to learn the best way to deal with them. We all want our children to grow into functioning, successful, independent adults, so an "excuse" is no help if you don't do anything about it. I think we are partly more aware of these issues, but i have known parents say their child has ADHD, when they haven't actually been diagnosed.

[youngmafbog]

If you can get diagnosed with ADHD you qualify for disablilty living allowance.

Someone close to me works in the child and adolescence dept in the NHS. Seems it is becoming endemic now. Some parents get 'very upset' when told there is nothing wrong with the child.

[ToraToraTora]

Nowt wrong with the saucepan YMB, quiet a bit wrong with the parents!

[Zeuhl]

Kids with ADHD are clearly paying Attention to something - just not what people want them to in particular contexts

A highly regarded Therapist I was training with some years ago said he didn't believe in Attention Deficit

He said the only form of AD he'd ever observed was Death

[mikey4444]

While it would seem that there are some children in Britain with ADHD, it beggers belief that we suddenly have 10,000's of children suffering from it, maybe 100,000's. In the same way, I find it hard to accept that we have the same number or even more of kids that can't eat peanuts.

Or fruit.

Or vegetables !

ADHD is notoriously difficult to diagnose, in the same way that "bad backs" are. I have a friend that works as a Paediatric Nurse in America and she has become very become alarmed at the huge rise in Ritalin being prescribed to young children, some of them only toddlers. It is estimated that more than 5 million kids are being given this very powerful anti-psychotic drug, with no way of knowing what the long-term side effects may be.

She tells me that when Ritalin is prescribed, most parents are delighted, as their over active kid will behave for the first time. But she is sure that most of these kids are just naughty and equally sure that most parents lack simple parenting skills that were common only a generation or two ago. To put it frankly, the lower down the social scale, the more likely it is to be prescribed. Unfortunately, the drug companies are in cahoots with the Doctors over the Pond, so its no wonder the situation is getting worse.

I found the following on the 'net this afternoon, which may be of interest ::
http://www.laleva.cc/choice/ritalin.html

[sherrardk]

Also, if a child 'has' ADHD they will get extra support at school, usually in the form of one-to-one help from a teaching assistant (even at the lowest level it equates to ten hours per week of additional support).

[Booldawg]

interestingly enough I've never heard of a girl being diagnosed with ADHD - are there gender statistics out there?

[andy-hughes]

This is a favourite media hobbyhorse, and as this is the 'silly season' -it's time to trot it out again.

The Express demographic is Middle Englanders who like to think of themselves as 'no nonsense' so the notion that ADHD is simply a trendy excuse for bad parenting and unscrupulous pharmasutical chicanery ticks a couple of boxes very well.

The fact is that experienced child practicioners can work out by analysis not only of the child's behaviour, but that of the parents, and the interaction betwen them, when a genuine psychological condition requiring treatment exists, and when in fact, little Johnny is jsut being a bolshy little sod who gets his own way far too much!

[ummmm]

And when they have other children that don't suffer and are well behaved. Are they just bad parents to the one child?

[Sqad]

andy.......of course you are correct and i only speak for myself here:

I have met some "bizarre" Psychiatrists, but believe me, some Child Psychiatrists really do "take the biscuit."

Just a person opinion you understand.

[FredPuli43]

Andy, does Middle England include Islington? I bet, as with dyslexia, that the occurrence of this condition first got significant among the educated and prosperous.