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#Post#: 7195--------------------------------------------------
The Trouble with ADHD
By: Jack Date: July 12, 2018, 5:26 am
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The title says 'ADHD' but this thread is really about any type
of mental/emotional/behavioral problem.
When I found out that Andy Jackson's family included a boy who
had 'level one autism', I looked that up to get a better idea of
what that meant. Then I came to this part
To make matters more difficult, a person with "mild autism" may
have advanced communication skills and academic abilities, but
have very delayed social skills, severe sensory issues, and/or
extreme difficulties with organizational skills.
"OMG!" I thought. "That explains why I had so much trouble in
school!"
Okay, no. I don't think I'm actually autistic. However, while
I don't have 'severe' sensory issues, the rest are accurate, and
I am a bundle of issues on my own.
The thing is, if you show a doctor an X-Ray, they can normally
look at it and say, 'yep, you have a broken bone'. You can't
do that with ADHD (or autism, or depression). Those things are
not binary (yes/no) diagnoses. Problems like that exist on a
scale.
Go Google 'diagnosing ADHD'. They have redefined ADHD again in
the last few years, and I'm not quite clear if there are two or
three types (there is inattentive, but sometimes I see hyper and
impulsive treated as the same and sometimes as separate). This
is a decent article about them though
HTML https://www.healthline.com/health/adhd/three-types-adhd#type-1
The thing is, if you read the symptoms, it's hard not to think
'yeah, that hardly describes 99% of the boys I've ever known.'
The thing is, you not only have to have at least six of those
symptoms, but they have to be present for a period of time, and
they have to cause major disruptions in at least two areas of
your life (home and school, for instance). The other thing is,
many of the symptoms are also not binary, but can be from mild
to serious.
So, what happens when you have a boy who only has five symptoms,
but they're severe enough to cause him troubles at home or
school? Is he better or worse off than a kid who has 9
symptoms, but they're all mild?
If you take the time to read that article, you'll probably
realize that diagnosing ADHD is more an art than a science, and
that's also the reason Ritalin seems to have been
over-prescribed for a long time. You should also realize that
there's no one, perfect way to deal with a kid who has ADHD.
Even though they all have the same diagnosis, each of them can
have it in a different way.
I had originally intended to talk about Liam here, and how some
of the problems he's having right now reflect some aspects of
ADHD, and how my own ADHD and anxiety/depression, can be seen in
different things, but I think I already made my point, and don't
think we need to go that far afield, so I'll let it end here for
now.
#Post#: 7200--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Trouble with ADHD
By: Zyngaru Date: July 12, 2018, 8:13 am
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Thank you Jack for this well thought out post.
ADHD diagnosis and it's treatment is so controversial around
here. Some want every boy who has any energy at all to be
diagnosed and drugged for ADHD, while others don't want any boy
to be drugged and made into a zombie.
I used to be in the non-drugging, no zombie camp. After meeting
and engaging with boys with ADHD, I changed my opinion about the
drugging. The reason I changed my mind had nothing to do with
what doctors said, or teachers said or any authority said, I
changed my mind by what boys with ADHD who are on drugs said to
me.
I used to run a monthly "Magic the Gathering" club for middle
school boys. I would have a half dozen to a dozen boys show up
on the Friday night of the meeting. There was this one boy,
Brian, who had severe ADHD. Other boys in the group had ADHD
but in a much milder form. Brian was all over the place. The
old term was "He's all boy." Meaning he was into everything and
constantly moving.
I talked to him about his ADHD and he explained to me, that how
I see him is when he is on his ADHD medications. (Ritalin). He
told me that when he doesn't take his Ritalin, he cannot
function at all. He can't control his body or his mind. He is
just out of control. With Ritalin he has control. He can sit
down on the floor and play "Magic the Gathering" with the other
boys and myself. He can concentrate on the game, which he was
very good at. He beat me, but then they all beat me. It was
funny how they would intentionally try and let me win and I
would still lose. Brian's medication was regulated to the point
he was able to concentrate and be still when necessary, but
still be all boy in his socializing with other boys.
Knowing Brian and some other boys showed me that done right,
medication for ADHD works. It works for the boy. Before that I
just thought adults, teachers, parents and the like, just wanted
to make boys zombies so they didn't have to deal with them. I
have seen the boy zombies, and they are not a pretty sight.
Dull eyes and no energy. That is taking meds to far in my
opinion. But when done properly, a boy actually benefits from
the meds. He can be the boy that is inside him and still have
control of what he is doing.
One of my sister's has cared for children all her teen and adult
life. She owns her own daycare. She too has seen both ends of
the spectrum with ADHD kids. She has seen parents who try very
hard to get a doctor to diagnose their child with ADHD so they
can get them on meds, just to make them zombies and not have to
deal with them. The kid doesn't have ADHD. She also has to
deal with parents that have a child with ADHD or some other form
of mental/emotional challenge and deny their kid needs help.
My opinion of the whole controversy is that it should be about
the child. What does the child need to function? Forget about
what the adults around them want and why they want it. If
medication is needed then regulate that medication so the boy
can still be a boy and not a zombie. I have discovered that it
is NOT best for the child to deny medication when they need it,
because they cannot be the best boy they can be without the
meds.
This is random I know. That's how I think. I am random. But I
wanted to say, we need to be flexible in our thinking about
things like ADHD. Being rigid in your opinion only hurts the
child. Do what is best for them. Some need meds. Some need
counseling. Some need a strict routine. Some need a flexible
routine. Each boy with ADHD will need his own support system,
so he can function to the best of his abilities. We need to
help him in this effort.
#Post#: 7202--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Trouble with ADHD
By: Adric Date: July 12, 2018, 8:27 am
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[quote author=Jack link=topic=693.msg7195#msg7195
date=1531391173]
The thing is, if you read the symptoms, it's hard not to think
'yeah, that hardly (?) describes 99% of the boys I've ever
known.' The thing is, you not only have to have at least six of
those symptoms, but they have to be present for a period of
time, and they have to cause major disruptions in at least two
areas of your life (home and school, for instance).[/quote]
I think the key part of that criterion is that the symptoms
"have to cause major disruptions". If that's not the case, then
the diagnosis isn't very important, but if they are disruptive
then the problem needs to be addressed.
#Post#: 7209--------------------------------------------------
Re: The Trouble with ADHD
By: Jack Date: July 12, 2018, 11:54 am
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Adric, another consideration is that some people handle the
medicine well, while others don't.
I talked about Paul in my 'Teaching' thread, and mentioned that
he's one (like Charlie, actually) who doesn't tolerate the meds
well, but both of them were so ADHD that they HAD to be on meds.
With time, patience, and experimentation, both boys found the
meds they could tolerate and the levels where they could
tolerate them, and then they learned behavioral methods of
dealing with them. Charlie is doing really great in the Army
right now, and Paul - while he's repeating 8th grade this
upcoming year, has also settled down and made a lot of strides
in the past couple of years.
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