I hear you Oli and I was the same. I was also extremely sceptical about the condition, even at 13 and remain so now. Whatever you call it, it exists. That's all I'm saying. I'm certainly not beating myself up about it.

The thing is, the teachers weren't going too slow for everybody, were they? The majority of kids coped just fine. ADHD is only a cop-out, if it is diagnosed, medicated and then ignored. If diagnosis leads to awareness and self-development (as in my case) then I welcome it.

I know - wrong time of the month John

Al

JV to my rescue! Thats precisely what I meant. It was first hand experience of ONE example. Thats all I can base my opinion on. I suppose at least I'm basing an opinion on experience tho and not just something I read once

Your opinion, not my experience, nor the medical professions. My invite to your parents still stands.

Al

Just had a read around the topic of ADHD and came across this "pro ADHD is real" website.



I'm sorry but are they serious?

Playing the Devil's advocate here.

There is no such thing as ADHD. The kids just need to be told how to behave, given a good diet and shown discipline. Without rules, inspiration, motivation when they are younger etc... children are more likely to pay less attention in school.

This would then leave to them probably dropping out of school early through being bored being told they can't play and have to listen to the teacher (for the first time in their lives) not listening to lessons around sexual safety etc...

Obviously anyone who drops out of school early and hasn't paid attention/got any qualifications etc... is going to find it harder to get a job as an adult and will live at home on benefits and so the only thing they know how... have sex.

This normally leads to pregnancy and when you can drop out of school at 16 then no wonder the teenage pregnancy is increased in children who are not disciplined because "they have ADHD".

Well you're obviously fine and made it into adulthood no problem with a healthy amount of cynicism. Good for you.

Not everybody gets by so easily.

Don't take it personally. I'm only restating the facts as stated by this website.

They have put all of these "consequences" as a proof that ADHD exists.

But if you bring up a child badly and they misbehave and don't pay attention in class then they are also more likely to drop out of school early. They probably won't attend Sunday School or youth clubs, they are more likely to spend time on a field with a few like minded friends drinking cider and smoking and probably experimenting with canabis. "They're not in school and so have nothing else to do."

As a result of that they'll probably learn about sex by getting some girl (in their group) pregnant and then moive to a council house with no qualifications, a smoking addiction, a kid to support and will then struggle to find a job (if they even bother looking).

They might even pass the time by hot wiring cars and crashing them into lampposts (this happened at my school many times). Therefore increasing the number of RTAs "they" have.

None of the "facts" that they have stated on the website are any sort of proof that ADHD exists.

Please note, I am polaying devil's advocate here. I do not know whether or not ADHD exists. I am merely putting another POV on their arguments.

My other half, being a teacher, sees a lot of this. One parent WANTED her kid to have ADHD because she felt she would have an excuse to do even less. The result of the kid being diagnosed is that she has to do MORE than before.

Despite what some may say here, there IS a push by parents to have their kids diagnosed with this condition - not because there is anything genuinely wrong with the child concerned, but because they “can’t do anything with him/her” (ie discipline collapse) and because of this, the kids run riot around them. The result is that any genuine cases are lumped in with the false positives which from what I hear far outnumbers those in need of genuine help.

One thing she has observed a couple of times is that a gluten free diet can improve the condition. She says she has seen a major change for the better in some children when diets are adjusted.

I’ll add myself to the “could do better” school reports. I am very impatient at times, and like others felt that certain subjects plodded. Reading together in class was always a frustrating experience as my natural reading speed was much faster than others. Holding back was always problematic. However, I didn’t do too badly at school, and after a stint in the civil service I went to University for further and higher educational purposes. If I have a touch of the condition, I have never had a formal diagnosis, and to be honest until today, I’ve never really applied it to myself. I’m not that fussed, though the bus is NEVER on time.

I agree with both of you that there are false positives and that the "evidence" for the existence of ADHD is hardly incontrovertible. Like anything these days, I suspect things are a lot worse 15 years on than they were in the mid-90s when I was diagnosed. I rarely mention it and most of my friends don't even know about it, but I wanted to say something in this thread just to answer the inevitable tide of "it's made up" type responses.

Society has further decayed. A lot more parents are crap at their jobs (if you saw what I deal with everybody at the swimming pool here at work, you'd agree), but they're also under ever more stress and pressure. Communities are weaker. There is more fear and confusion than ever. Haven't you heard? We're in the middle of an economic crisis and a flu pandemic and terrorism is still running rampant globally

All of this coupled with a more target-driven educational system, less nutritional diets and less exercise is bound to create more problematic behaviour in kids and consequential problems for some parents. However, it doesn't make the condition a fabrication. I agree Oli, that the diagnosis of ADHD has always trodden a fine line between correct psych evals and just plain common sense, but that just means we should try harder to help those who need it and kick the ass of those who are lazy.

If you want to debate the issue, it goes into many facets of life and education is where I would start...

Yes it is my opinion. Whats your point? I am not allowed an opinion? Or because your kid has ADHD your opinion overules mine?Ill say again I have seen a child first hand be diagnosed (by a doctor) with so called ADHD and if you met him today (he's 10) you would not for one minute suspect he had it. Am I supposed to apologise for this? Of course if my experience has shown that someone with a problem has been 'cured' without drugs, etc I'm going to think its nonsense.

Yes you are allowed an opinion - I just think you could have put it across more eloquently.

My point is that your limited experience based on one incident of bad parenting and misdiagnosis with this one child has coloured your judgement towards the wider problem.

My opinion doesn't overrule yours but I have used my experience with a wider range of children (as well as my own) to enable me see the problem in context so please don't apologise. All I ask is that you don't categorise some children who misbehave as you have done in your first post by linking ADHD to the way they were brought up. That is unfair to both the children and the good parents out there.

I seriously hope nobody on this forum has to go through what we've had to these past 30 months - I really would not wish it on anybody.

Al

My parents had a total nightmare both pre, during and post my diagnosis. I can't claim to know you, or your experiences, but I think I probably have a vague idea.