G&M Article – Grrrrrrrrr…

[purlgurl]

HEADLINE: “Are We Medicating A Disorder, Or Treating Boyhood As A Disease?”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/failing-boys/are-we-medicating-a-disorder-or-treating-boyhood-as-a-disease/article1762859/

“For school children across the country – most of them boys – taking a drug for attention deficit disorder each morning has become as commonplace as downing a vitamin. But the daily ritual has been quietly growing in Canada, year after year – a trend that’s dwarfing rates in other countries and raising disturbing questions about the forces driving it.”

***

A “choice” selection of comments that this article has prompted:

“We know who is diagnosing this “disease.” — the mumbo-jumbo psychological community, who believe that everyone is “abnormal” and needs to be controlled by medication.

We know who is writing the prescriptions — physicians who are pill-pushers for the pharmaceutical industry.

But what the heck kind of parents fall for this cr@p and turn their kids into drugged-up zombies?

Oh, right …..the ones who have a medicine cabinet full of their own prescription drugs.”

***

“I was pumped full of Ritalin when I was young…for nothing. If it was a real disorder then would I not still have it now as an adult? The issue is that boys are active (girls are too) and their minds wander. It’s part of being a boy. We fidgit and sometimes we can sit still. Do we need to give our children drugs to make them sit in their seats like zombies?”

***

“The suggestion that many school systems in North America rely on medication to deal with so called Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children, particularly boys, is disturbing. It’s particularly disturbing because criticism of this approach has been around for at least a decade and nothing has been done about it. ADHD is an amorphous diagnosis that is popular because it puts a scientific gloss on the apparent anxieties of the medicators. There seems to be a good case for renaming it Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Anxiety (ADHDA) and, as others have suggested, medicating the respective parents and teachers rather than the children.”

***

“Here is the cure to ADD:

1) Eat healthy food: Stay away from high starch, glucose, fructose, red die, sugar. If you must have sugar, stock up on Maple syrup

2) Turn off that darn TV and use video games as a reward for good behaviour; no more than 1 hour per day

3) Interact with your children: Talk and play with them. Get to know their dislikes and likes at school. “What was your favourite part of the day?”

4) Send them outside at least 1 hour per day to play whether it’s cold, hot, rainy or sunny for that matter.

5) Teach them respect and remember that respect is a two way street.

6) In extreme cases, take them to yoga and teach them on how to meditate

7) In some cases, change schools. Newsflash: Some teachers are lazy and disengaged for whatever reasons and should never have gone in the teaching profession.”

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Can we have a TotallyADD.com media “rapid response” team to shut down idiocy like this?

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[Anonymous]

It’s so unfortunate that people can be so against something they know so little about. I especially love when things get blamed on the physician’s agenda, and big pharma conspiracies. If more kids are being diagnosed with ADHD in Canada relative to other countries, perhaps that shows that Canada is more open to this condition, and as long as kids are being diagnosed with the utmost care and with consistent guidelines I see no huge issue. This is similar to the phenomenon of autism rates continually increasing; but they aren’t actually — it’s just being recognized and diagnosed more.

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[Anonymous]

1) Every meal I ate as a child was home-cooked from fresh ingredients

2) Don’t know how much TV I watched, but I don’t think it was more than an hour per day

3) My parents CONSTANTLY interacted and played with me. I didn’t give them any choice.

4) I had more than 1hr per day outside playing. Or inside, playing. I did a lot of playing and running around.

5) AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I didn’t have the impulse control to have anything resembling manners until I was 4

6) AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I would have been BORED, started trying to talk to EVERYONE AROUND ME and telling them they looked silly.

7) I’m from a part of the world and an era where a psychological assessment was done on kids before they started school, to be sure they were ready. I was 6 when this was done on me, and it was recommended that my starting school be delayed by another year because, despite my intelligence, I couldn’t sit still enough and would have suffered horribly in a school environment. They didn’t pick up on the ADHD, but they did pick up that I wasn’t suited to a standard classroom and the behavioural reasons for it. I was developmentally behind, which is part of ADHD.

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[Saffron]

This is part of an ongoing anti-ADHD series in the Globe & Mail called “Failing Boys.”

It has become the BIBLE of my son’s father, who steadfastly refuses to allow medication for our son with severe-range ADHD. I’m appalled that, while the authors spout every logical fallacy, generalization and cherry-picked study in the book to gain readers for the paper, few bother to challenge them. The commenters are composed of believers in Big Placebo who represent the fashionably scientifically-illiterate general population, and they eat this stuff up.

Articles like this have appeared on the CBC website and in our local paper. And it’s like there are two camps, but the public is only hearing from one. The genuine experts don’t seem to be visible in the same forums actively challenging the growing myths and misconceptions around ADD. Maybe they aren’t being given any air-time when they do, or maybe journalists seek only the Fox-news versions of info on ADD. Maybe they’ve been silenced silly by the constant chorus of accusations that they’re co-opted by the pharmaceutical industry.

Or maybe they’re just busy — actually working on the front lines of treatment and research in ADD — while the band plays on around them. And while my son throws his pencil across the room for the third time and erases his homework so hard he rips the page.

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[purlgurl]

Saffron – I’m so sorry. I started on Ritalin just over a year ago, and the difference it has made for me is *monumental*, so I really feel for your son. And I’m disgusted with the G&M – this entire “Failing Boys” series has become an excuse for the “anti-women and also ADHD is a crock” crowd to gather together and tell eachother how right they are, and that the rest of the world is persecuting them. I hate it, I really do.

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[Clive]

http://www.hospitalnews.com/content/magazines/Oct10/HN_October2010_lowres.pdf

Above is link from Hospital News , this month was mental health month .

If you go to the link above you will a PDF of this months paper , on page #8 you will see a articicle re ADHD in kids .

Check it out

Cheers

Clive

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[ADDled]

I have read the articles in the Globe and I while I agree with what most everyone is saying on this forum, I can’t think that maybe in more than a few cases the ADD is misdiagnosed and might be well controlled as stated in “Here is the cure to ADD:”. A few parents try that and if they find it works for their kids, then it apparently becomes the gold standard for treating all kids. Ritalin not needed: for everybody period.

We know that diagnosing ADD at best is difficult. Many of us have suffered silently, for years perhaps, while finding out “what is wrong with us?”

And it seems to me after reading a lot of our stories that reality of ADD took a long time for a lot of us. It was hard to put into words to doctors and therapists exactly what we were going through and how we felt. And then the wrong diagnosis was usually applied: either depression or anxiety and a suitable treatment was started. Not because of malpractice, but because nobody knew about adult ADD.

The root cause of the depression and anxiety we had was never even considered until recently. So it must be even more difficult to diagnose a young boy or girl, and based solely on anecdotal evidence from teachers for the most part. I’m reasonably certain that most parents cannot see ADD in their children unless the parents are aware themselves. Kids can’t verbalize what they’re feeling or what’s wrong or why they do what they do.

In most cases the diagnosis of ADD is usually “made in the field” by teachers who are trying to educate kids with minimal disruption in the classroom. Or because of lousy teachers. I don’t know.

But I think we need to look at the statistics, though. While it is suspected there is roughly 5% probability that a person has ADD, what is the percentage of school age children are, on the advice of a teacher, are ADD and need treatment? Has that been looked into? If there is a higher percentage of kids reported to have ADD by the school system, say in the 7-10% range then something is out of whack. That, or, there are more people in the general population that have ADD and that stat maybe needs to be changed. Maybe boys are being over diagnosed? But for the wrong reasons.

Everything now needs a quick fix, a pill, to produce the results we want immediately. Big pharma and doctors in a conspiracy? Well, that’s fine by me….I’m a lot better because of it. If someone out there has a secret agenda or a mission to make people believe it’s all a sham and we’re being duped. Fine, your entitled to your beliefs. However, these people are usually the ones that know just what’s right for everybody and you “just need to pull yourself by the bootstraps, try harder and stop being so lazy” Sound familiar?

Fine. Leave me alone, leave us alone. I’m better now, we’re better now.

“Anti-women”? I think that’s a little harsh sounding more like a generalization. Maybe because there are fewer male teachers in the junior grades it might make even more difficult for a boy to relate to school and want to do well. Maybe there is a correlation? Not having any children myself, I guess I don’t really have an opinion. But I would think the education system needs to look at that issue, because if we are “failing boys” we’re in for a lot of trouble when boys leave school early and lack the skills they need to succeed. We may need a few more “super-prisons” because some boys, as men, will find other “creative” ways to make a living. I believe the stats on the percentage of males with undiagnosed ADD already in prison bear that out. Let’s use our ability to “see the big picture” and make things better.

In just in favour of anything that engages and keeps boys in school. Maybe the curriculum has to change. My mother recently found most of my report cards when I was in school…a long time ago….and they really didn’t reveal anything I already don’t know as a result of being ADD. The subjects I liked, I did well; the subjects I didn’t like, well…you know. “Needs to concentrate/focus more…Needs to apply himself…Should pay more attention in class…”

And going back to the “Here is the cure to ADD:” Isn’t that just good parenting advice for all kids?

Hope this helps…and good luck.

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[Clive]

Did any body see the children ADHD artical i put in my recent comments

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[Ivriniel]

ADDled “In most cases the diagnosis of ADD is usually “made in the field” by teachers who are trying to educate kids with minimal disruption in the classroom.”

As a teacher I have to say that this is *not* supposed to happen.

What I was taught at the Faculty of Ed and during my Special Ed training was that we tell the parents about behaviours that are of concern, without trying to put a label on them. Next, we ask the parents if they are observing similar things at home. Then we suggest that they take the child to a paediatrician for assessment. We are not to attempt to diagnose kids, because it is outside our area of expertise.

That being said, my fiance’s niece had a teacher who insisted that she had ADHD and told them to take her to a specific Doctor in town. The parents took her to another Doctor at the regional children’s hospital, who assessed her and said she didn’t have ADHD. This didn’t satisfy the teacher, who kept insisting they take the girl to the Doctor she recommended. My fiance’s sister finally shut her up when she pointed out that the Doctor she was insisting they see had actually been a resident with the Doctor they saw at the children’s hospital.

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