Pregnancy
Discussion Title: Do all kids with behavior problems have ADD ADHD??
Created by: tamz
Created on: Sat, 03/29/2008 - 12:59pm.
Created by: tamz
Created on: Sat, 03/29/2008 - 12:59pm.
I have read post after post stating kids have ADD, ADHD, bipolar disorder and such. My own son was diagnosed with ADD ...
I wonder how many kids actually have a physical/mental disorder and how many have only a behavior problem??
If that many kids really do have these problems then is it an epidemic?
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Replied: 10/23/2008 4:12am.
I believe that this is a easy cop out and always diagnosed to early in Children. As a teacher I see children all day most days and I feel that they are not add or adhd.Children just need to find themselves and to find the best way to express themself. A friend son was diagnosed ADHD and on medication for years and years he recently turned 15 and found a really lovely girlfriend and now has a part-time after school job and takes no medication at all. He is a different child now and just understanding and the responsibility has been the best thing for this child........ He knows what his triggers are for his behaviours and knows how to control, REally if you think about this was it that common 30 years ago is it just a easy way to blame a medical condition or does it come back to parents as we seem to wrap our kids up in cotton wool when we were growing up I never knew about this and what was normal behaviour then is not NOW!!!!!!!
Replied: 10/23/2008 7:32am.
Overdiagnosed, yes, but not always misdiagnosed. I think it is often a response to the over-burdening of the educational system, which leads to children in a high stress setting, which leads to misbehavior.
Replied: 10/23/2008 12:16pm.
Actually, acitez opinion is very interesting to me. I guess I really did not consider the stress kids are under these days... I was thinking about managing behavior from a parents perspective. True kids spend many many hours at school and school systems do not have the resources to manage behavior. Plus the stresses of life are intense for today's kids. Druging them could be an easier solution...
I'm not saying these disorders are not REAL, I'm saying if as many kids have these conditons as are diagnosed, we have a serious problem.
Replied: 2/19/2009 6:21pm.
This leads me to a further thought about the educational system. So many kids are being mainstreamed into regular classrooms where teachers are not equipt to handle their needs. I saw this first hand w/ my son. At the pre-k level, my son attended both a spec ed school and our local public school. This was the first and only yr he was in public school. The thought was to see how he wld transition into the regular classroom. For him, this backfired. W/ a large class size and a teacher w/ no spec ed background, it was quite evident that this setting was not the right place for our son. Today our son attends kindergarten in the spec ed school, and he's doing well. Put in the right environment and given the proper tools, he's proven he can function and progress to the best of his ability. I fear that if he stayed in our public school, he wld've only fallen backwards and wld've probably developed behavior problems which he started to exhibit when he was there. I have no problem w/ our public school, but I don't feel it's the right place for our son. I often wonder if we were forced to send our son to public school, and he started acting out b/c they don't know how to handle him, if they too wld push us to medicate him. Our son is not ADHD, but he does exhibit many behavior problems associated w/ the condition if put in an environment that's over-stimulating.
We don't know what the future holds for our son. We can only base our decisions on what we know now and on what has worked for us up to this point. It's just unfortunate when you see parents struggle w/ whether they shld medicate their child or not, especially if they feel pressured to do so. If there is another alternative, that shld at least be an option to them. Parents shld never feel forced to medicate their children if they don't want to. Sometimes it may be necessary, but other times parents shld have other options available to them. It shld all be about what's best for the child, not what's best for the school and it's budget.
Replied: 2/24/2009 4:32am.
I just want to say that after reading these posts that many moms and dads make decisions to put their children on ADD meds after many other failed attempts at success for their chid.
We started our 7 yr old son on ADD meds back in the fall and we are still trying to get the medicine type and dosage right. We tried so many things before turning to stimulant medications... our son lives in a structured nurishing environment, we've read books on ADD children and tried many strategies, we've done behavior mod programs, goal setting, etc. We are also currently doing counseling and seeking an evaluation at a children's hospital.
When it came to the point that my health was majorly suffering because of dealing with my son's behaviors we knew we had to try something else. We talked to our family dr. and had our son evaluated which showed he had ADD. We also took the route of counseling to help us all survive. One thing that did come out with the psychologist is that he probably is PDD or has Asperger's Syndrome which can be quite challening to deal with. We will have the official diagnosis from a children's hospital soon.
My husband and I are good parents and we are not the cause of our son being ADD or PDD. I get quite upset when people just assume that we are to blame.
Now are some parents the cause of their children showing signs of unstructured behavior... yes. I've taught children that can't sit still are totally disorganized, etc. and exhibit all the behaviors that ADD kids have, but then when you find out about their homelife you realize that their environment is causing their behaviors. It is very sad in these cases to see the children put on ADD meds. So there are cases where ADD meds are overused and shouldn't be.
Another thing I'd like to mention is that just because a child is not successful in school doesn't mean that he isn't smart. Look at Albert Einstein. Being "smart" doesn't mean just book smart... many people have wonderful gifts (mechanical, musical, social, etc.), but really struggle with the school environment. So lets not judge someone on their intelligence because they aren't as successful in school!
There is my two cents worth.
Only
Replied: 6/21/2009 10:04am.
My son is 8 he has a hard time with his anger teachers work him to death but he still has a problem so they sent him into a normal class were he is challanged and now he is fine so what do u think about that?