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Post by beags on Jul 14, 2011 17:17:54 GMT -5
Well I have a child with Attention Deficit disorder. I know of others who either have a child with ADHD, bipolar, autism, etc.
Sometimes it can get frustrating either dealing with the children or family members. Most frustrating dealing with the school.
I thought it would be a good place for people to discuss it with those who have been there.
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Post by tigerpause on Jul 17, 2011 0:59:20 GMT -5
A good book on the subject is 'Driven to Distraction', by Drs. Hallowell and Ratey  |
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Post by beags on Jul 17, 2011 8:34:42 GMT -5
Hi Tiger. I've read all kinds of books on the subject of attention deficit. I remember that one as well. It's been a long time, though, since I read it.
I also attended classes trying to figure out what was going through my child's head. It all helped and I was able to be a better parent for it. I mean if you can't understand your child, how can you relate to them?
My daughter was diagnosed with ADD inattentive type . .. . which means she's a daydreamer. lol She doesn't pay attention to that of which is around her. She misses key words in conversations and misses out on a lot of social cues in public. We've had to work on that a lot.
what I have found is that most of your ADD children are intelligent (which is why they get distracted, they are bored), and they're minds are constantly going. (which is another reason they get distracted . . . it's like a super highway in their heads many different thoughts at one time.)
Most of them will do well with individual sports rather than team sports. (meaning track, wrestling, martial arts, swimming, etc. vs. football, baseball, soccer, basketball, rugby, etc.) Now I realise that I just mentioned team sports. But the first group you are out there by yourself in the event that you are in. IN the second group there could be five or more of you out there at one time trying to work together.)
Some of your attention deficit do well in the creativity activities . . . writing stories, acting, music, art, etc.
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Post by tigerpause on Jul 18, 2011 1:11:19 GMT -5
Hi beags I know kids and adults with ADD/ADHD and when I read up on it, it made me understand them and ADD so much better. I've heard that book referred to as 'the ADD Bible'. Another book I read that helped me understand it better is 'Scattered Minds' by Gabor Mate and there's another one, 'ADHD' by Paul Wender M.D. One of those authors said it's not really a 'deficit of attention', it's rather an 'inconsistency of attention'; I also read AD/HD was described as being like 'a traffic cop in the middle of a busy intersection trying to direct traffic' or something like that, and they get bored very easily with things unless they are really interested in something, and they are quite intuitive with things. It's something to do with them being more right-brained & they think in images and rhythms more than in words. Maybe they develop a higher level of intuition as a way to deal with the inattention, etc. At one time I used to think that 'only little boys get ADD' and 'they grow out of it' but little girls get it too, and something like 50 percent of kids do 'grow out of it'; and apparently many are either left-handed or ambidextrous also. I have a friend who's son has ADD and he makes a big scene about doing his homework (he says it's too boring!), but he is brilliant when it comes to computer stuff! If he's not interested in something he just about hates it, but when he really likes something his full attention is on it because he loves it! Beags I don't have kids (though sometimes I still think I am one, lol) but I saw your post & wanted to comment & pass on some of the books that helped me to understand ADD. |
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moxie
Not so new Crapster
SF Shades of Blues
Posts: 205
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Post by moxie on Jul 27, 2011 21:58:07 GMT -5
Structure is so important for kids who have ADD/ADHD. I had a student who was ADHD, couldn't focus/concentrate, VERY antsy...struggled as a student, but had the drawing ability of a college student. He was a sixth grader. He would now be 43 (I taught him in 1980, my first teaching job at 22 and he was 12). He lives in a community not too far from me and I keep thinking about looking up his address, knocking on his door and seeing how he is doing as an adult. He had a rough childhood and I have always wondered if he used his art talent to become successful to some degree.
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Post by beags on Jul 28, 2011 13:06:07 GMT -5
yes, ADD is like a super highway in the head. They are very smart kids also. Most people do not realise that. Their IQ is usually at genious level or extremely close to it.
My daughter could write with either hand and still can. BUT the teachers corrected that, and made her mostly right handed. (I had one teacher tell me that my daughter was learning disabled because she could write with both hands . . . I basically told the teacher to show me the proof of that or shut up.) The teacher never came up with the proof.
My daughter can function without medication. I think most of them woud be able to, but the school's really push the medication. (to the point where they start playing games with the child's grade and other things if you don't medicate . . . been there, and got the teacher repimanded who done so. We had PROOF that the grade was a lie.)
Anyway, the school system can be the worst for children with ADD. On the other hand, if you get one that will listen and do what is supposed to be done, it is pretty nice. Within our district one of the schools was horrible with our daughter . . kept playing games with us. The other one we had no problem with . . . the difference was like night and day. I no longer had to beat my head against the wall to get my kid the services she needed . . and the second school didn't care that our child was not medicated . . they did what they were supposed to do anyway.
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Post by starlight07 on Aug 2, 2011 7:25:09 GMT -5
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Post by soflamom on Aug 8, 2011 7:50:53 GMT -5
Great thread Beags!
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Post by Forever Sunshine on Nov 8, 2011 20:49:58 GMT -5
Children with autism have many more brain cells than typically developing children, researchers have found, supporting previous research that suggests that autism may be caused by something going awry before a baby is born as opposed to something triggering autism in a toddler.
Scientists studied the brains of 13 boys and found those with autism had 67% more brain cells than typically developing boys. They specifically looked at the part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex because it's the part that's responsible for social, emotional, communication and language development. Having too many neurons or nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls the very features that children with autism struggle with may explain the origin of autism, the study suggests.
thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/08/new-study-suggests-autism-starts-in-the-womb/?hpt=hp_bn10
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Post by starlight07 on Nov 9, 2011 7:29:22 GMT -5
Children with autism have many more brain cells than typically developing children, researchers have found, supporting previous research that suggests that autism may be caused by something going awry before a baby is born as opposed to something triggering autism in a toddler.
Scientists studied the brains of 13 boys and found those with autism had 67% more brain cells than typically developing boys. They specifically looked at the part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex because it's the part that's responsible for social, emotional, communication and language development. Having too many neurons or nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls the very features that children with autism struggle with may explain the origin of autism, the study suggests.
thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/08/new-study-suggests-autism-starts-in-the-womb/?hpt=hp_bn10 Wow, thanks for that information, Sun. |
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Post by beags on Nov 15, 2011 22:26:47 GMT -5
Starlight, in answer to your question, I think it's a little of both. Add/adhd is only supposed to affect 3 to 5 % of people. Why then are there so many more than that being diagnosed?
When you have a child that truly has it, you will understand. Until then you will always question whether or not it exists. Neither of my children have ever been a behaviour problem in school. We actually disclipline our children. So they aren't running wild and only being drugged because we want to be lazy and not have to deal with them. (that is the case with some of them . . not all)
Actually only one of our children has the add. It's our daughter, and she wasn't medicated until she asked to try it her junior year of high school. She stayed medicated through her senior year, because she needed it to stay focussed. this year, her first year of college, she seems to be doing well without it again.
It helps, if you can, to give them a medication break when they are on the meds. YOu know during summer break. It teaches them to try to cope with their learning difference without the meds masking it. If that makes any sense. For some it's just not possible. I am a firm believer in trying it. Why? because when the children come off of your insurance and have to pay for these meds themselves, what's going to happen? Will they be able to afford the over $100 these meds cost without the insurance? That's a monthly cost btw, some of those meds are upwards of 300. What happens then? They can't afford them and they have never learned to cope without the meds. Who were you helping if you never tried a med break when they were younger?
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Post by misstequila on Dec 10, 2011 20:59:58 GMT -5
Starlight, in answer to your question, I think it's a little of both. Add/adhd is only supposed to affect 3 to 5 % of people. Why then are there so many more than that being diagnosed? When you have a child that truly has it, you will understand. Until then you will always question whether or not it exists. Neither of my children have ever been a behaviour problem in school. We actually disclipline our children. So they aren't running wild and only being drugged because we want to be lazy and not have to deal with them. (that is the case with some of them . . not all) Actually only one of our children has the add. It's our daughter, and she wasn't medicated until she asked to try it her junior year of high school. She stayed medicated through her senior year, because she needed it to stay focussed. this year, her first year of college, she seems to be doing well without it again. It helps, if you can, to give them a medication break when they are on the meds. YOu know during summer break. It teaches them to try to cope with their learning difference without the meds masking it. If that makes any sense. For some it's just not possible. I am a firm believer in trying it. Why? because when the children come off of your insurance and have to pay for these meds themselves, what's going to happen? Will they be able to afford the over $100 these meds cost without the insurance? That's a monthly cost btw, some of those meds are upwards of 300. What happens then? They can't afford them and they have never learned to cope without the meds. Who were you helping if you never tried a med break when they were younger? Hi..I'm new here but I think I can shed some light on the higher number of children diagnosed with autism. My daughter has global developmental delays (no known cause and I've had to her a geneticist, developmental pediatrician and various other "specialists"....when she was three a psychiatrist diagnosed her wtih PDD-NOS (on the autism spectrum). I had just had her to our developmental pediatrician who specializes in ADD and Autism and he assuired me she was not autistic. She meets a lot of the criteria because of her delays, but her delays are cognitive. She doesn't meet any of the social delays. When I questioned the psych he told me that it was to my benefit to accept her diagnosis because autism was the "hot" topic at the moment and there are tons of programs available to children falling on the spectrum. I called her dev. ped. and he agreed, that looking strictly at the criteria she would fall on teh spectrum, but he assured me that any child with significant global developmental delays would fall on the spectrum, even though they are not truly on the spectrum. Since I want what is best for my child, I accepted the diagnosis and got her as many services as I could. Years later, the diagnosis was taken away because she no longer met the criteria (in larger part because of the services we received due to a bogus diagnosis!). My daughter has MR but she does not have autism. I'm guessing it has become common practice to diagnose as many kids as possible with autism so they can qualify for the same services. Keep in mind, the services benefit kids with any kind of delays, but the programs are only funded (at least locally) for kids with autism. |
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