I have to add my own experience from working for a charity giving activity
holidays to economically and socially deprived kids: ADHD has been diagnosed
in a significant number of these kids, and in our view the vast majority
simply needed a decent diet (i.e. limiting fizy drinks, chocolate, sweets
and other junk) and mental and physical stimulation. Not only are these
children labelled, they are also given drugs whose long-term effects are not
known. I only met one whose behaviour could be termed uncontrollable, and
ritalin had helped to an extent. One social worker who came with a group of
young carers estimated that, of the children she knew who were on ritalin,
90% did not have ADHD, but had parent/s who simply were inadequate (often
through no fault of their own) and/or inadequately supported. The children I
am talking about are from poor areas, and attend schools where the
child/teacher ratio is too high, and ritalin is a way of curbing their
"disruptive" behaviour. I'm no expert, but I was horrified at the apparent
scale of this problem.
Lynne
> ----------
> From: susan fitzmaurice
> Reply To: susan fitzmaurice
> Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2000 5:59 pm
> To: [log in to unmask]; UK Disability-Research
> Subject: Re: attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyper
> activity disorder
>
> Colin,
>
> I think you summarized very well ADD, ADHD in its originating form, but
> there is also another. Recently in the newspapaer in the US it was
> announced that Ritalin usage (for ADD & ADHD) among 2-4 years olds had
> skyrocketed. If persons with ADD, and ADHD are described as distractible,
> impulsive, highly disorganized, and oppositional as they often are - that
> accurately describes typical behavior for any 2-4 year old and ordinary
> behavior for most 4-6 years olds. But in this age of all too frequent
> surrogate parenting, children whose behavior was once accepted is now
> being
> medicated.
>
> ADD and ADHD are also too often are used as labels for children who have
> been inadequately parented or have been involved in something seriously
> wrong and the parents are in search of a quick remedy. Let me be clear, I
> am not saying that it does not exist, only that its existance is rising as
> quickly as the label is becoming an acceptable means to getting addtional
> services, medication, or a lighter punishment for your child.
>
> My child is 16 and is in inclusive special education. All the 29 included
> kids attend the same homeroom for the first 15 minutes of each day. Why do
> all the Black/African American males (over half the class) have the label
> of ADD or ADHD? Why are there only 3 girls in this class - all three
> which
> have readily identifiable visible disabilities and are not identified with
> ADD? Where are the girls with ADD and ADHD? Why do nearly all of the kids
> of other races who have ADD or ADHD also have another readily identifiable
> disability label?
>
> Why is the label ADD preferred over MR (mental retardation)? I have been
> surprised at how many children my son has grown up with whose parents
> successfully have kept the dreaded MR label at bay, only to accept the ADD
> label later on. When mild MR was the only label offered - they chose to
> refuse the label and services. Their kids behavior was just rowdy male
> behavior and their level of low academic accomplishment due to poor
> teaching/high student teacher ratios, etc. But when ADD is offered
> accompanied by services and medication it is accepted.
>
>
> Recently a family sued a local school district because due to their child
> being expelled from school so frequently he did not learn to read and had
> very poor grades. He was now of college age and had the recent diagnosis
> of
> ADD. They claimed the school was remiss in not identifying his ADD and
> offering him special education services. The school was being asked to
> pay
> for his specialist college education.
>
> ADD seems to be a sort of Pandora's box.
>
> Susan Fitzmaurice
>
>
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