Normal kids=ADHD?

[jkritchey]

Basically, I think the US should require people to have a license before having children. There's so many terrible people out there who apparently have no business procreating.

So, from this, we are to suppose that you believe parenting is the reason for ADHD diagnosis? No medical basis whatsoever? Or what?

 

[middy]

Basically, I think the US should require people to have a license before having children. There's so many terrible people out there who apparently have no business procreating.

Yeah, that would work. We could just take all the unlicensed children and sell them to the dog food factories.

Grow up.

 

[marcray]

Imagine a 9 year old boy in school. He exhibits some signs of ADHD, such as: fidgeting, inability to concentrate, frustration leading to occassional outbursts, and variable quality of school work. He is clinically tested, is found to have a definite, measurable physiological condition consistent with the medical definition of ADHD and is diagnosed as having the disorder.

Further imagine that this 9 year old boy lives at home with his divorced mother and her new husband and their 2 year old child. His mother is a "permissive" style parent, who lets him do what he wants to do unless he does something she really doesn't like, then she usually just yells at him and sometimes calls him names. She rarely praises him or rewards him for good work, but will inconsistently punish him for bad behavior, sometimes disproportionately. His father shows up maybe once a year for a few hours, just long enought to remind him that he used to have a father. His mother's new husband refuses to have anything to do with him and reminds him that he's not his son and tells him to go away whenever the boy seeks his attention. He spends most of his free time watching TV and playing video games and very little time outside. He exhibits signs of "acting up" consistent with children who are emotionally neglected, such as: outbursts of temper, inability to complete tasks, poor quality of school work and random incidents of disruption.

Now suppose on one particular day in school, this kid gets up out of his chair and throws his textbook across the room. Was it caused by the known condition of ADHD or was it caused by his "acting up" for attention that is known to result from living in an emotionally neglected environment?

You see the problem. There is an overlap of telltale behavior resulting from each of the two causes, one biological, the other environmental, and it's not reasonable to simply blame one cause and ignore the other, because it could be either, or both.

Incidently, this isn't a hypothetical example. This situation describes the boy who lived next door to me for eight years. He was put on Ritalin when he was 10, and he showed improvements in behavior in the areas of fidgeting and concentration, as well as a slight improvement in school work. His mother told everyone how she was so glad there was a drug that could calm him down but of course she did nothing to improve her own parenting. He eventually became violent toward other children and began to destroy private property. After he was arrested for trying to set his neighbor's house on fire, his mother gave him up to state custody, where he now lives in a group home at the age of 13.

wow, that's a horrible story, we all have them. Sounds like my sister who became extremely violent at a very young age, ending up in juvenile detention and two terms in prison later on... now shes in her 30's and a mother she's calmed down completely, turned her life around. It didn't have anything to do with ADD, she was deeply resentful at my mother not having a relationship with her father (his fault, not my mum's) and later on finding a new man... and it must be said I've heavily disagreed with my sister about this. My mother was an amazing mother to her, but emotionally my sis just couldn't process it.

Not ADD.

It would seem though that in your neighbors case, not enough follow up was done? In the 1 case I've known where a friend had a child diagnosed, it first took 2 years for them to even prescribe drugs and then it was weekly sessions of tests and therapy for another year to control and monitor it. He eventually came off them as their were also unknown outside causes for his condition. Maybe your neighbor just got the drugs, saw signs of improvement and decided case closed?

 

[hbarcat]

I don't see the connection between his untreated emotional neglect and and his successfully treated ADHD, as it relates to this thread. .....
I also completely miss the connection with 'permissive' parenting (whatever that is), which perhaps might be the boogeyman you're after?

My point is exactly that. There is a trend to diagnose the physiological ADHD and say, "That's the problem." and then purposefully ignore what is often (perhaps even usually) the larger problem of parents who fail to provide to their children a nurturing environment and positive discipline.