adhd

[Sozzie]

Do children suffering with ADHD grow out of it ?

[Goodsoulette]

Not sure on the whole but daniel Bedingfield had it and says he still does. That seems to have compelled him in life and not held him back at all. I am a bit of musical snob and would never asmit to my mates but I think he super super talented.

[Philtaz]

Always been a tad sceptical about so called ADHD. Why did no one have it 25-30 years ago when I was in school? If you showed signs of what is now called ADHD you had a board duster thrown at you or a clip round the ear!!

[joko]

you've answered you own question philtaz!

people did have it but it was treated as pure naughtiness and was an unknown disease!

[Loosehead]

There are kids with problems but most of the so called ADHD cases are unruly brats bred by unruly brats but these days we have to invent a "syndrome" or a "disorder" for them.

[Philtaz]

Strange thing is joko that those who had it were miraculously cured by the duster! I agree with Loosehead. A very small minority of children have problems, the rest is just down to general naughtiness and poor parenting i.e. those who let them get away with all manner of ill behaviour without chastisement.

[jake-the-peg]

Well Philatz I'd love to know what you base your opinion on - wouldn't be telly and the newspapers would it?

ADHD is highly inherited. My son has it and I did and the stories about my uncle are legion. I was taken to the doctor at 2 because on average I slept 2 hours in every 24!

There's also a ton of ignorance about this (it gets displayed nicely on this message board at regular intervals). ADHD takes a long time to diagnose and a lot of assessments (in my sons case it was 2 years) that's partly because it's part of a spectrum of similar conditions such as Asperbergers syndrome. It's not just "naughtyness" although fustration often creates this in younger children.

I do think though that the chances are though that few of the people claimed to have ADHD has actually been properly diagnosed simply because of the time involved to do this

As for your original question I think it's more that most of us learn to live with it and work around it sometime in our late teens but I think some never do.

Incidently, like autism although girls do get it the big majority are boys

[Philtaz]

So jake-the-peg I was right in saying a very small minority of children have problems. And no, I don't base my opinion on newspapers or TV, just experience gained from dealing with children just about every day and observing how they interact with their parents.

[jake-the-peg]

No you weren't I said properly diagnosed.

Many may suffer from related autistic spectrum disorders, many may suffer from ADHD and not have been diagnosed.

Some will have psychological issues and others behavioral issues

The one thing they will all have in common is that none of them will improve from the sanctimonious snap judgments of their parenting

[joko]

philtaz - of course some kids are just plain naughty for the fun, but there are also many who have problems. being threatened with a duster does not 'cure' it - its just puts fear into them.

its is certainly not a 'very small minority' - the problem is firguring out which ones are which.

at least now its been recognised, the children who do need the help can get it.

[Philtaz]

From a recent paper on the subject:

ADD/ADHD is a popular diagnosis in the 1990�s because it serves as a neat way to explain away the complexities of turn-of-the-millenium life in America. Over the past few decades, our families have broken up, respect for authority has eroded, mass media has created a "short-attention-span culture," and stress levels have skyrocketed. When our children start to act out under the strain, it�s convenient to create a scientific-sounding term to label them with, an effective drug to stifle their "symptoms," and a whole program of ADD/ADHD workbooks, videos, and instructional materials to use to fit them in a box that relieves parents and teachers of any worry that it might be due to their own failure (or the failure of the broader culture) to nurture or teach effectively. Mainly, the ADD/ADHD label is a tragic decoy that takes the focus off of where it�s needed most: the real life of each unique child. Instead of seeing each child for who he or she is (strengths, limitations, interests, temperaments, learning styles etc.) and addressing his or her specific needs, the child is reduced to an "ADD child," where the potential to see the best in him or her is severely eroded (since ADD/ADHD puts all the emphasis on the deficits, not the strengths), and where the number of potential solutions to help them is highly limited to a few child-controlling interventions.

[Philtaz]

Link:

http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/myth_add_adhd.htm

[joko]

for that one opinion, there many more that say the opposite.

I agree sometimes it is a misused title and is sometimes bandied round to explain everything, but that doesn't alter the fact that it exists and needs proper investigation.

the problem is children with genuine problems are being ignored and accused of 'putting it on', or the genuinely naughty ones are getting away with things becasue someone has attributed their behaviour to add.

its a tough problem that appears to have no definitive answer

[Philtaz]

Agreed joko, there are two sides to the argument, I'm just sceptical and refer to such figures borne out from another link:

Studies reveal that up to 80 percent of the time, children labeled ADHD do not appear to show symptoms of this disorder in several different real-life settings. First, up to 80 percent of them don't appear to be ADHD when in the physician's office. They also seem to behave normally in other unfamiliar settings where there is a one-to-one interaction with an adult. Second, they appear to be indistinguishable from so-called normals when they are in classrooms or other learning environments where children can choose their own learning activities and pace themselves through those experiences. Third, they seem to perform quite normally when they are paid to do specific activities designed to access attention. Fourth, children labeled ADHD behave and attend quite normally when they are involved in activities that interest them and are novel in some way, or that involve high levels of stimulation. Finally, some of these children reach adulthood only to discover that the symptoms related to ADHD have apparently disappeared.

[jake-the-peg]

Thomas Armstrong?!!!

A Californian "Award-winning Author and Speaker"?

I see from his "blurb" that his clients have included Sesame Street and the department of Indian affairs!

I very much doubt his opinions relate to health policy here in the UK!

[Philtaz]

OK jake, read this from a UK link then:
Naughty child syndrome': does it exist?

Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money is being paid to families of children suffering from the condition dubbed 'naughty child syndrome' - even though many experts say it does not exist.
The Government says 345,000 children aged between six and 16 suffer from the disorder - meaning a doctor has attributed their disruptiveness to a medical condition rather than just bad behaviour or poor parenting.

ADHD was almost unheard of 20 years ago but the number of prescriptions for Ritalin - the controversial drug which suppresses symptoms of hyperactivity - has rocketed from 2,000 in 1991 to 329,000 last year.

Ministers and the Department for Work and Pensions say they do not know what proportion of the annual �8.6 billion disability allowance budget is devoted to ADHD sufferers. But Professor Eric Taylor, one of the country's leading experts on the syndrome, told the Mail on Sunday he estimated around one in 20 of the families who attended his clinic were receiving benefits for the condition.
There are no medical tests for ADHD. Instead, children are diagnosed on the basis of their behaviour and questionnaires asking parents if a child is displaying symptoms of restlessness and fidgeting.

Critics say ADHD should never have been acknowledged as a genuine medical condition and accuse doctors of complicity in the 'mass drugging' of a generation of children.
Dr Sami Timimi, a consultant and adolescent psychiatrist at Lincolnshire NHS Trust, said: "There is no evidence to suggest there is a medical condition called ADHD.

[Philtaz]

Link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=375455&in_page_id=1766&expand=true