If You Have an ASD Kid, an ADHD/ADD Kid, or If You Don't....

Wow! No disagreements here! I have to be honest, I don't like that my daughter has Asperger's. If I had my choice, she would be "typical." That being said, the label drives the services. And the services have been phenomenal for her! She started getting services in January 2009, and I now have a different daughter! Both the psychologist that assessed her and a leader autism expert who have met her now think she'll be off the spectrum soon. I think she has a ways to go, but we're actually seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

If we didn't do behavior therapy, I think my daughter would still have the problems she had a year ago. No friends, tantrums, rigidity, pulling her hair out, unhappy. So, getting her assessed and getting her the Asperger label helped--tremendously. Do I want her to have the label the rest of her life? If she needed it, then yes...but we're VERY hopeful that we'll be dropping it soon!

C.
www.littlebitquirky.blogspot.com

I think kids are being diagnosed more appropriatly now than 15 or 20 years ago. My son was diagnosed with nadhd and ocd about 15 years ago. We had all kinds of trouble with the school system and with other kids. I am now raising my two grandchildren(not my son's kids) and they have been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. They attend public kindergarten and pre-school, and also go to a private autism day treatment program . They are doing extremely well. their behavior before diagnosis was almost identical to my son's behavior. Now I wonder if he wasn't on the spectrum, and if he had been diagnosed properly his life could have been so much better in school.

I have known my husband since we were in middle school. His parents always had what they felt was a "hard time with him paying attention". He always seemed disorganized, could not sit still, blah, blah, blah.. Back in the day they had him evaluated and the experts told them he was just a "very active boy" and to" keep him busy and stay on him". He was breast fed for a year, which was very unusual back then. She made his own baby food again considered "way out there" back in the day. So he was always being monitored with what he ate.

To make matters worse, he actually overheard his mother ask one doctor if her son could be retarded? Can you imagine how my husband felt as a little boy? He knew he was good at understanding school and all subjects, he just could not stay on task, could not keep up with time, dates, and focus. SO he always had a terrible self esteem pronblem. We have been married almost 30 years and he is an Adult with ADHD. He REFUSES to take medication! It is getting worse. He is always stressed because he has to keep it together at work and with his own business..

We even had a "Discussion" today about a very important incident that happened about 10 years ago and he has NO memory of it! This is a significant event.. I was so upset, I told him, "Your ADHD is getting worse as you age." He said he refuses to take the medication because "of the stigma".. I asked him who was going to know?

What I am saying is I think there has always been a lot of ADHD, Aspergers etc.. we just thought that boys were like this sometimes.. I think some families were better than others at helping their children find coping skills.

Personally, I also think it is happening more and more because the people that in the past may not have met others like themselves, Aspbergers especially, used to be the "absent minded professor types or scientist or "way out there artist" that did not bump into other people like them. With all of the technology and use of computers and Nerds starting to rule our world and women now educated and accepted into these professions, they are marrying and having children and these are inherited genes..

My sister in law has a child that is Aspbergers and she kind of acts like it is my husbands fault! I reminded her that her own husband is a perfect example of Aspbergers,, He did not want to kiss her in front of people when they got married. He can barely make eye contact with people. He has to be kept on a very specific schedule. And he has an anxiety disorder.
So these is 2 people with genes marrying.. Their son has had extensive intervention since he was 3. He is extremely intelligent, but he had and still has to be taught how to interact with all people. He has never been able to tell his mother he loves her, because he says "it does not make sense".

The stigma comes from parents and people who have no first hand knowledge. I say, if you have not lived it, stay out of the discussion, you have no idea how your own grandchildren may turn out. Help take away the shame, the reluctance for parents to try to figure out what is going on. Accept that there are real cases of these differences and do not worry about it if it does not affect you or your children.

Oh McK4 you know how to hit the hot button! ;)

I actually both agree and disagree with you. I'm a semi-retired teacher (a little joke I use, cuz I'm just raising my kiddos right now) but I have spent a significant amount of time with kids who have had all these issues. I mostly agree with you that as a society we are becoming more aware of these issues and therefore can disgnose and treat them better. However, labels are not always a good thing. Because labels do a have a stigma in society you want to be careful which of those is given to your child. Many people, teachers, clergy, friends, and strangers alike, treat people differently because they are "labeled". It is not right, but it is true. Sometimes people have lower expectations of a person with a label, and that is wrong. Yes, sometimes thing will need to be modified, etc. for your child and other children, but I hate to see children who get the short end of the stick b/c they have a label, and it happens a lot.

I also agree with Amy about the over medication issue. Many times medication is not handled appropriately, especially in young children. Teachers and parents don't communicate fully and sometimes, especially those on ADHD drugs go all day without eating b/c the meds make them less hungry and the other party always thinks the other one is feeding them (I saw that happen with more than one kid at my school!). Also, not all people need to be on these drugs FOREVER, but there is very little education and/or treatment to get kids off the drugs at some point. It is possible to wean off the drugs ina few years, once kids develop better skills on how to better function in society. That being said, I must play my own devil's advocate however, and point out that for people who truly do need the meds, if they don't get them they are more likely to self medicate with illegial use of drugs, and obvioulsy no parent wants that!

In the end, I think you're doing the right thing to talk about it and make your child feel good about who they are no matter what. It's also great that you're talking about it to everyone to remove the stigma, but remember that not everyone is as open minded as you, and you want your child to every chance possible, so don't ever let her or any one else use the diagnosis as a crutch!

(what was that you said about a novel!!?) ;)

I knew my son had ADHD early on (my husband has it and they are like two peas in a pod) and I wanted the diagnosis so he would qualify for the help he needs to succeed in school and life. At the beginning of this school year, he was failing all of his computerized reading quizzes because the internet wasn't fast enough for him. He was just clicking the mouse all over the place thinking it would speed it up. His teacher actually thought he just wasn't smart enough to use a computer. He started on medication in December and he now has over 100 reading points (for which he had to read over 20 chapter books). He is reading and comprehending at the 3rd grade level and he just turned 7. Without his medication, he just doesn't have the ability to make the choices his brain is telling him to make. Before the meds, he would do something he absolutely knew was naughty and then he would have this terrifed look on his face, like, "did I really do that?" I am not afraid of this diagnosis. My son is brilliant, athletic, and musically talented. He is a loving big brother and son. He stands up for his friends when others treat them badly. His medication helps him follow through on his decisions and make the good choices he desperately wants to make. The diagnosis allows him to see a therapist who is teaching him coping skills to deal with his anger and anxiety brought on from people thinking he was just a bad seed for 6 1/2 years.

I am not even going to read the other responses, out of fear of my blood pressure rising. I know there are a lot of people with no experience with ADHD who don't "believe" in it or think it's "overdiagnosed."

I just wanted to tell you I am the parent of a child with this condition and it's VERY real. America, in general, has a hard time accepting mental disabilities and you combine that with this condition being in children (in addition to adults), you will get naysayers. When I hear it's "overdiagnosed," why is it from people who have never even been through the evaluation process? Our son's behavior has always been off the charts, from the time he could walk. He'd run across the furniture nonstop (no matter how we tried to stop him), literally bounce off the walls, couldn't sit still for more than one minute. He was also very aggressive, hitting me, clawing my skin, punching me, spitting on me when I'd take him to time out. I felt trapped in an abusive relationship. We'd get stares and mean comments about his behavior in public. He was uncontrollable. We're both college-educated parents who read all the parenting books, applied consistent and loving care, and we were driven into the ground. People should walk a mile in the shoes of a parent dealing with ADHD before they even think of commenting. No one tells parents of kids with diabetes that it's a made up condition or overdiagnosed, or those whose kids have heart conditions that their parenting is to blame (maybe if you didn't encourage your child to run so much s/he'd be fine) ... can you imagine the outrage if that happened?

When our son's preschool commented about his extreme behavior, we sought help from the doctors at Kaiser. Our son's pediatrician knew immediately something was wrong, and we went to a child psychologist. We got tips from him that didn't work. He then sent us to a behavioral therapist. More tips that didn't work. This dragged out for some time. By three and a half, the preschool gave up and kicked out our son. It was only then that we met with a child psychiatrist to talk about medication, because our son was a danger to others. We ended up starting with mild non-ADHD meds that did nothing. We then tried ADHD meds when he was four and everything changed -- life changing improvement for everyone and our son was so much happier. We didn't get the official diagnosis for almost two years, even though our son was a neon sign for ADHD. How is this overdiagnosis or a rush to diagnose? We jumped through many, many hoops to get the help our son needed. It was a very lengthy, thorough evaluation.

There was no rush to medicate and no rush to diagnose. Just a collaborative effort with the medical professionals to help our son.
P.S. I gladly accept the "label" of his medical condition any day over the previous label he had from others (including teachers, administrators and other parents) of "bad kid." And this was when he was just three years old. People are not kind to kids with special needs.

Hey there -

I was diagnosed with ADD when I was 12. I DEFINITELY feel it was legitimate as I still see it in my daily life now, although I've learned to balance it and work with it so that I am accomplishing things.

I hate using the "ADD" abbreviation because everyone seems to use it now to describe people who are flighty or flaky. And that really bothers me because it is SO much more than just someone who is 'flaky' or 'random' or is more talkative than others. I'm sick of hearing it on TV shows and in movies... like, "Ugh I forgot my purse! I am so ADD!".... or for example, "My class notes are so unorganized, MAN I am so ADD!".... that kind of thing is what I'm referring to.

As an adult who actually has it, I get aggravated because I don't think its funny. Its really difficult to learn to schedule a routine and make appointments and do housework and (for me) homeschool with ADD. I have to try twice as hard as everyone else to remember things, to be overly-organized and to be almost a little rigid, because it helps me stay on track.

I personally feel that the medical advancements are only going to keep coming, and we will soon be seeing more and better ways to help diagnose and treat disorders like these, and Autism and other related disorders. I'm actually quite thankful at the medical research being done because I believe that progress is necessary in helping kids with Autism and other PDD's (Pervasive Development Disorders) I don't feel that its being over diagnosed. I think that people are just more aware of it and a lot of afraid - so they tend to be more on the lookout.

Perhaps another good question to add to this is this;

How do yo guys feel about the treatments? Does anyone feel that (aside from the diagnosing) there is an over-medicating issue?

Just curious. I've heard a few arguments over this one within my own group of friends so I'm just wondering...

I just wanted to say that I am a mom to an almost 4 year old aspie. He was diagnosed on his third birthday and I agree with everything you wrote. It seems to me that the ones who think these disorders are over-diagnosed are the ones who do not have kids and whose kids are per se normal. I admit that I was one of those people prior to having kids. Now, I feel bad for being judgemental. I had no idea what parents go through. It has been an eye opening experience.

I hope your post helps people become more open minded. It is really hard when people assume that we do not displine our child. We do. He just responds to different techniques than most kids. The judgements are hard to take when it was the hardest thing to admit that something was not quite right and it to be reaffirmed by doctors.

As a species, we taxonomize (give things specific names and relate them to groups). Canis Lupus (wolf). Canis Lupis Familiaris (dog). Rain, torrent, torrential downpour, drizzle, mist. Wheat, oats, rye. Cell, tissue, organ, organ system. The periodic table of the elements, molecules, substances. Music, r&b, rap, soul, jazz, rock, alternative, classical, instrumental, vocal, etc. Heck, we even taxonomize our religions and our colors (as anyone who has ever stared at 1000 colors of white will attest to).

A label is nothing more than a word trying to define something, to taxonomize it. It is *fundamentally* how we define our world and our selves.

The very first thing that we start teaching our children are names. Our names (mama, dada) names for foods (baba, milk) names for actions/ colors/ feelings/ concepts. Through names we learn to interact with our world.

Do we get things wrong? Absolutely. Especially those who are unfamiliar with them.

Take the following parallel:

A person who has never seen wolves before, but has read about them/ heard about them, may see a bunch of huskies running in the snow and think that they're seeing wolves. They're wrong. But that doesn't mean that wolves don't exist.

ADHD runs (skips, hops, slides, & gallops) through my family. It's the *BIGGEST* blessing, and I wouldn't want life any other way:

- The uncle with a double PhD in astrophysics who instead ran his own (immensely successful) adventure gear company for over 30 years and spent 6 months a year kayaking, mountain climbing, skiing, hiking, and in every other way propelling his body around the world. Who, at his eventual death from an avalanche in his 60's had over 500 people at his wake and several PALLETS of Pepsi (because he always had one with him), set up as kind of a shrine.

The thoracic surgeon who still made housecalls, and who also owned a bicycle shop and who taught his daughters, grandaughters, & nieces how to type so they'd never be desperate and hire the "wrong" secretary when they were in a bind (I just love he assumed his female relatives would HAVE secretaries... instead of be them... he was born in 1909)

The NASA engineer/inventor folks, military types, the writers, artists, and professors. The adventurers, explorers, housewives who take 3 kids (2 in diapers) on out-of-country "explores" just to see what the world is like, and all of those in my family who just take a different approach to life than the world at large.

We adhd types are very obvious in some respects. It's a great pity that the modern day schooling system is set up to quash all the gifts of adhd, while bringing out all the negatives. Number one BEST trick for an adhd kid? Instead of medicating them, throw them in a gifted class and give 'em a can of coke (or pepsi ;). ADHD schools are ALMOST indistinguishable from Gifted schools (the two tend to come hand in hand). But they tend to have a lot more physical activity.

ADHD IS massively overdiagnosed, although the world at large is getting better at seeing huskies instead of wolves. In the meantime, while the world sorts itself... we'll continue to play.

Speaking of which... it's time to take "Black Ships Before Troy", and our algebra, and go snowboarding.

Happy Easter

:)

R

Disclaimer- I have NO special experience with ASD beyond some aquaintances, and do not have a child on the spectrum. I DO have a sister who is a special ed teacher, specializing in Austism Spectrum Disorder, who is also dylsexic herself, and a stepdad (always been my 'dad') who is ADD. So those are my lack of credentials. :)

What I wanted to tell you was what my sister has told me a few times when we talk about the subject- The number of children on the Autism Spectrum have definitely increased in recent years. At the same time, the numbers of children who are diagnosed with things like Mild Mental Retardation have gone down in direct correlation. That is basically an obsolete diagnosis, and now the medical community has the ability to better diagnose children with an actual disorder instead of a catch-all term that really means nothing. So it is a matter of advances in medicine, and like you said, an awareness of what is actually going on. In my completely uneducated opinion, I agree with her on this.

She also sees overdiagnosis in the course of her job, and definitely some people who use the diagnosis as an excuse for poor parenting. But that is not the majority, just a few bad apples like you find in any group.

As far as ADD/ADHD, it drives me crazy to hear people say they are made up disorders. When you live with someone who has it and definitely needs to be medicated (but stubbornly refuses sometimes) you know it is real. Sure, it can also be overdiagnosed and overmedicated. I have known people that I am pretty sure are ADD but have chosen careers and lifestyles where they thrive and have no need for medication. I think that is wonderful. And I've known other people who should take some parenting classes and stop giving thier kids so much junk food. It annoys me to see perfectly normal people classified and medicated, and it annoys me to see people in total denial about a condition that there is treatment for.

I also agree (and hope that I will follow this thought if my son ever needs treatment for something) that it is better to know and be getting help. Whether you choose diet or medication, or whatever you need to do, getting help if you need it and living a full and happy life should be most important. I would also want people to know that my child had a disorder and not just a lack of social skills. That is the EXACT arguement we made with my dad at one point. He has other issues too, and at one point the doctors thought he was bipolar, but he refuses to seek treatment to figure out exactly what he needs. He dreads the label and is ashamed. We kept asking him "Wouldn't you want to know there is a reason you act the way you do sometimes, and that you aren't just a ____ (fill in the blank with whatever is most appropriate)?" Isn't it strange the way society places a stigma on behavioral/mental/emotional disorders, but not physical ones? People wouldn't be ashamed to admit having a disease of the body, but as soon as it is a mental issue, there is shame and insecurity. I find it sad. We tell my dad all the time- if you had cancer, you'd see the doctor and take your medication. Although with him I am not so sure that is true anymore. And even though I think it is totally ridiculous, I still sometimes feel weird telling people I have depression and anxiety issues. And that is just for ANXIETY! So, I make myself. If it comes up in a discussion, I tell people. Otherwise how will the stigma ever go away?

Since I don't have a child with a disorder, I can't speak to the issue of labeling, but I do know from my sister and friends that there are pros and cons. It think it is a tough call for parents, and I think it is a shame that it is, because getting your child help should not be a tough call. It shouldn't be looked down on. Parents shouldn't get upset if you say the "A" word, and no one should be placing any blame. Just getting kids help if they need it.

Hi McK4-I have a son with ADHD, his father has it as well. It is definitely a real disorder. However, I believe there are different levels of it and some people have more symptoms and struggles than others. When my son was first diagnosed, I really struggled to believe it (because of the stigma, no one wants something to be "wrong" with their kid) and I still do to be honest. I go back and forth between thinking he absolutely is hyperactive, and just thinking he's a rambunctious little boy. I absolutely think that doctors are quick to give this label, it is over diagnosed and over medicated in my opinion. However, I still believe it is a real condition. I also believe that the ever increasing trend of poor diets as well as the chemical toxins we are exposed to and ingest every day are exacerbating symptoms in people who have it, or are borderline. With my son, we changed his diet and added in some supplements, and saw drastic improvements. We are thankful that we do not have to medicate, for now. And hopeful that it stays that way. There is the argument that we are more aware now, and that is the reason for the rise in numbers, and that is partly true I think. But I think sometimes doctors are quick to jump on the bandwagon and offer labels and "fixes" to parents looking for an answer. And unfortunately, the diagnosis process (even with specialists and "experts" we dealt with) is not cut and dry...its not like there is a blood test or a brain scan that definitively says yes or no. So thats where all of the controversy arises, people like concrete evidence. So thats my take on it, good luck with your daughter, and good for you for having a positive outlook on the situation and not making it such a "bad thing" in her eyes.

McK4,
I could have written your post. I have said at one time or another everything that you have written in your post. I do not feel that ADHD is over diagnosed, as you said, technology and medicine has advanced along with increased awareness due to groups such as National Attention Deficit Disorder Association and other associations. Of course, all medical disorders are at risk of being misdiagnosed at times, but this is not unique to ADHD. In my experience, the people who have judged parents who have children with ADHD are those who have perfect children and who are perfect parents. My kids have ADHD and I am proud of them, they are intelligent, creative, energetic, curious and think outside the box, the qualities that will make them successful in life one day. People act like ADHD is such a terrible thing, why does it have to be?

your questions require thorough analyzation of what one wants to say. it's easter morning, i am tired as heck so i will keep it short and to the point.
i know these conditions are real. parents with children with ADD and ADHD and asperbergers (sp?), and autism spectrum will tell you this. i also feel we overdiagnose, only in this country, we do overdiagnose. you have a spirited child, who is not cookie cutter child, and he or she WILL be diagnosed with a three letter something. why? is it because the parents wants answers as to why their child is more difficult than other, hence goes to the pediatrician, who then has no idea WHY this child is more difficult or different, then sends to a bunch of evaluators, who then come up with diagnosis. i say this for cases, when a child is borderline. why do parents need to know why their child is not being able to sit for hours on end and pay attention? some kids do it, are more mature, some kids don't. i was not born or raised in this country, and had many classmates who had signs like what here would be labeled as something. what happened in those cases is teachers will find a method on how to deal with that child so the child was successful in school. there were no labels put on that child.
then, i look at my daughter. she cannot sit for longer than 10 minutes doing homework. when i ask her to read, she reads for a few minutes, well, great, way beyond her age, for a few minutes, then her mind wanders off and she is not able to read the words that come after her mind has stopped concentrating. so i give her a break, and pick up after her break. she is top of her class right now. why? because i know my child, and i have spoken to her teacher, and told her, when you test her in reading do not give her the entire reading passage all at once. break it in half, test some other kid, then continue with my daughter. she does that, and my daughter scores highest in class. why would i need to label my child, when i know what she needs? what would a three letter diagnosis do for her that i am not able to do for her? or her teachers? why? if she were to be labeled, then my options, i am assuming would be to medicate her. there is no way in hell would i medicate my child about what i ultimately see as her being. that is who she is.
now, if she were an autistic child, meaning unable to function then i would want her diagnosed and provided with tools to go through life successfully. so my 'speech' is not about autism, it is about these in-between diagnosis. the diagnosis that are not clear cut, at least to me. i am not against labeling at all, i am against labeling every child who does not fit the model of the perfect child.
you also have to ask yourself, what do you wish to achieve by labeling the child? would you medicate her or him? if yes, then you should definitely seek the diagnosis, even those in-between diagnosis, because ultimately you want the medication in hand so you don't have to deal with the outbursts etc.
i am against it, therefore you won't see me rushing to the doctor about this. never, unless there are no other options.

Hmmm... I find it interesting that you say you promise not to be offended if someone disagrees, but tell Julie V. she is wrong... When the doctors make the evaluations to diagnose, they generally don't do any kind of physiological testing, so many children are potentially misdiagnosed.

Anyway, here's my opinion... I think that in some areas of the country, doctors are more likely to over-diagnose. I also think that they are WAY too over-zealous about doling out medications for ADHD. There are a myriad of other ways to handle it, especially since ADHD is a catchall diagnosis that includes a variety of behaviors that have multiple possible causes.

My daughter was diagnosed with ADHD and the psychiatrist wanted to medicate. I agree with the diagnosis, but found other ways to deal with it other than medication. Since she wasn't getting into trouble at school or in any way a harm to herself or anyone else, I didn't feel it necessary. Instead, I used a multi-faceted approach which included taking her out of public school (they had no real means of helping her,) putting her into counseling, using behavior modification, lowering refined sugars and adding a fish oil supplement to her diet, and working with a Waldorf school remedial teacher who did a very thorough and different kind of evaluation to help her on a different level. With the Waldorf teacher, she did movement therapy, art therapy, and used flower essences.

I agree with Julie V. in that our society, and in particular, our public school system does not have the proper perspective nor resources to effectively deal with many learning differences, in my humble opinion. Both of my children process differently than the average linear, visual learner. I am glad to have found a couple of books to help open my eyes to their gifts and talents rather than focusing on their challenges. There is nothing "wrong" with them. One book is called "The Gift of ADHD" and the other is "The Edison Gene." Thanks to the Waldorf school, they are able to be who they are and not be labeled. If a child is having a hard time paying attention and getting work done due to excess energy, the teacher sends them out to run a couple of laps rather than "bench" them at recess which only punishes the child for something they have little control over and makes focusing worse. They teach to ALL the senses, not just visual. They see the whole child, not just behaviors. I only wish more children had access to other types of schooling other than the "No Child Left Behind" model of education.

P.S. I specifically chose NOT to tell my daughter she has this diagnosis, because I do not want her to identify herself with having a "disorder." She is aware of her areas of weakness, but more so, she is aware of her areas of strength which is much more empowering for her.

I have a degree in Special Ed and taught for 11 years before my son was born. My son was diagnosed with Autism just before his 3rd bday, and is now 6 and more of an "Asbergers kid".
YES, I think ADD/ADHD is waaaayyyyy over diagnosed, both from a parent and teacher point of view. Over my years of teaching, I have had kids come into my kindergarten class, already diagnosed and on meds, that were off meds by the end of the year. The symptoms of ADD are very subjective, and can mimic a variety of other things, including something as simple as poor parenting, and never having been taught manners, patience, organization, or general good behavior, or a develpmentally young child who just needed time to mature. Having said that, I do 100% believe that ADD is also a LEGIMATE CONDITION that many people do have. Like so many other things in this world, I think that many people are looking for an excuse or somthing to blame so that they are not held accountable for their own/their childs actions or behaviours.
Having switched the acceptable terminology from "Autism" to "Autism Spectrum Disorder" in the past several years has opened up that label to the same type of subjective diagnosis. It used to be a person with Autism was classic autism - non verbal or close to it, very little social interaction, etc. but the new ASD label has changed that. I have mixed feelings regarding it bcs of my personal situation. Since my son has that diagnosis, I have been eligible for many things that I have not taken advantage of (I thank God each day that he is mild and does not NEED many of the things) but having opened up the label to so many people has led to (what I call) Vultures taking advantage of things. We have lived in 4 states and have been offered everything from speech services, respite time, free tickets to amusement parks and theatre shows from different foundations and organizations all bcs of his label. I take on the attitude that we are very fortunate, and there are others with much greater needs than us, but have actually been in arguments with other parents about the subject - they see the label as an entitlement to gain as much as possible. But I am going off subject.
I do 100% think there is an over diagnosis, but also feel strongly that there are many legitimate cases out there. I knew for sure that my son had challenges in these areas, and had no opposition against the label, bcs I knew he needed services. People get crazy over lables - I have a neighobr here who refused to have her son take the Gifted and Talented test, bcs if he did not qualify, he would be labled as "not having qualified for G&T". But as one person stated earlier, it is usually the label that drives the services, esp thru the public school system.

It sounds like you are a great parent.
I am a former early intervention specialist. I believe this disorders are real. But anyone my age will remember that there might just be one student in a grade that exhibited those type behaviors.
Many of the children my boys have grown up with have these issues. There was usually 5 children in each of their classes with ADD/ADHD.They also get a great many their meals from places like MacDonalds and the school lunches are even worse. It is my personal opinion that poor diet and exposure to chemicals are causing the increase.
Here is a website that may be helpful for you: http://www.bobsfiles.net. There are audios there you can listen to on various health issues.
Good luck and God bless.
Victoria

I too am the parent of an ADHD child. I do NOT believe that the condition is over-diagnosed. At 6, she was evaluated and I was told that she had ODD but not ADHD. A year later at 7, I had to get a second opinion because her school was starting to discuss her possibly needing to go to an Alternative School. I tried EVERYTHING in my power to help my daughter and nothing worked. Once we got the second opinion that said she does have ODD but ADHD as well, we started her on medication. The difference in my child was like night and day. She is much happier and is able to really succeed in school now. She is 9 now and can tell the difference in herself when she doesn't take her medicine. At first, the majority of our family and friends were extremely against us medicating her but after they saw the improvements themselves they quickly changed their mind. My point though was to point out that I had to work to get her help, I was not just handed the diagnosis.

Wow this is such a heated topic. I do believe that all are real diseases. However I do think they are people who try to lable kids that do't need it. My sister has 3 boys one is ADD one is ADHD and the other nothing. She thought the school system was pushing it too soon and put it off for a few years and in the end she found out since she didn't get them on the meds soon enough they fell behind in things at school. You can so tell when they are off the meds as they drive you insane but are tolerable when on their meds. No I don't think all kids need meds because they are hyper but they are extremes that too.

I think adhd is overdiagnosed for (some not all) parents who cant control their child due to lack of discipline. I have been around an adhd kid and trust me it wasn't lack of discipline. this kid was like a rubber ball bouncing off of every wall of my house multiple times for hours. Does it exist yes is it over diagnosed yes. autism I think is severly underdiagnosed I think due to lack of awareness.

They tried to say my son was adhd after I had been around an adhd kid. I didn't buy into it and never filled the perscription. If you were my nanny you better tell me something looks wrong. at that point I have the choice not to listen and blow you off. or listen and watch it to see if I think you are right. I wouldn't have it evaluated by a doctor right away though. I would watch it and also research it. I didn't want my kid on adhd meds mostly cause they are downers and my ex is an addict. I didn't want to be the reason my son became an addict because I over reacted.

This is by no means disrespectful to those of you who have kids that fit into that criteria. I do realize it is a real disease. Especially the statement about the adhd. I am not judging your parenting skills and can't since Ihave never met your kid. That would be readingthe book by the cover. Please don't take offense to my answer if your kid is adhd. It is just my opinion SOME parents (NOT ALL) use it as an excuse to not be able to control the child instead of discipline.

My step son had been diagnosed add becuause his mom couldn't control him. He did try this at my house when living with us. I can't do chores I have add. I can't concentrate in school and do my homework because I have add.
In actuality he couldn't concentrate in school or get good grades due to he was using street drugs but the add label gave him an exuse for his bad behaviour.

Check out our latest post on Autism Awareness, part of our special Child Advocacy Month! http://sproutreviews.com/2010/04/13/child-advocacy-part-ii/

We are looking forward to our very first guest post this Thursday when Joanna from "The Story of Parenting a Child with Autism" gives us a real life look at family life with Autism.

I'd like to stay out of the discussion, but it's not that easy. My son goes to after school taekwondo and there is a boy in his class (he's about 10 yrs old) that hits kicks scratches every other kid in the class - doesn't really matter if the master is looking or not. This boy whines, cries, screams, yells threats even at grown ups. Last blow up I personally witnessed, this child was finally given a time out from class, made to sit by the door (as a cool off period) and he's shouting 'You'll pay for this!' and 'F*** you!' at the instructor and not cooling off at all. The school has a policy of turning away no one, they try to work with every one. If there were another martial arts school available I'd consider moving my son to it. The other students exhibit a whole lot of self control by not flattening this kid when he repeatedly keeps bothering them. Last summer he stabbed another child with the pointy end of a toy jet - at least he didn't draw blood that time. What ever help he's getting is not enough or his medication is wearing off at the end of the day. My son enjoys the classes except for having to deal with this kid, so I continue to send him. This isn't high spirits. This isn't 'boys will be boys'. This boy clearly can not function. And what ever label or condition he has doesn't give him the right to beat up on other kids because he has zero capacity for controlling himself.