ADD

[DaniJ87]

From what I hear, it is a real problem; as real as phobias are for some people, ADD and ADHD are also real. As real as Autism, and Dyslexia, and other problems that you can't see. People look at misdiagnosed cases, and extrapolate to assume that all people with "----" are just lazy, and don't want to learn... or don't have discipline... or don't have good parents...... But for example, you can't blame parenting on autism, you also can't blame parents for REAL ADD or ADHD.

About the drugs, though....

I do believe that in a lot of cases, they are completely unnecessary.. Sometimes they may be appropriate... but I know some people who probably would be diagnosed with one of those (ADD? ADHD???) except that they don't go to the doctor for that. My cousin Timothy, for example, used to have a great deal of difficulty concentrating on his schoolwork. He was home-schooled, so that my aunt was able to help him a whole lot more than some other kids. What ended up happening, was that he had to concentrate so hard on sitting still, that he couldn't concentrate on actually learning. Some people just have trouble trying to do so many things at once... What they did, was he would do some school, and when his mom decided he needed a break, she'd send him off to jump rope, or run around the yard, or something, to burn off his excess energy. It helped him to focus. Now he has grown out of a lot of that, and he can focus on a lot of things.

I think that for the most part, medication should be saved for the extreme cases, and cases where a child's grades are suffering terribly from their condition, and problems with attention. If you don't try to help a kid overcome his or her issues, it probably won't happen as fast.

sometimes I think that these issues indicate a weakness to failing in the area of concentration... but calling everything we are bad at an illness can go to far- it makes people feel like they are powerless to overcome their problems.

I think that I have put way to many contradicting sounding arguments in here, as I write one, and then come up with something totally different to write.

I hope SOMETHING here helped.

I can ask my communication disorders teacher at college. She knows a lot about these types of things.... (along with knowing kids with autism, and hyperlexia, and things... some of those people are really cool.)