ADD/ADHD does anyone have it or know much about it?

I am a teacher in an SEN School, If you need any references to any good literature or a chat, feel free to get intouch.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Raf

OI! There shall be none of that flame war here thank you very much. Stick to the subject.

Kid types homework in vi, how cool is that!

Anyway, please continue on the subject folks.

Why can't he flame vi it's hardly a personal attack on say, someone's son or anything.

ADD/ADHD is a poor excuse that people use for their own failings. I've worked with kids that have been diagnosed as ADD and ADHD and the truth of the matter from where I was standing is that the parents have no control, no respect for authority, no responsibility and let their kids just run riot. When their running riot is addressed, the parents will push every button needed to have their kid labelled as 'different' as if to give them an excuse for their own bad perenting.

We had kids who were supposed to be on meds to control their ADD/ADHD, but they never took them and their parents would always send them in to us with a bag full of snack foods full of all the E numbers that are supposed to be kept out of their diet.

There's only one solution, ban the use of the terms ADD and ADHD and threaten to put the 'sufferers' in front of a firing squad at the third offence. I'll bet you'll find an awful lot of these stupid terms and conditions would magically vanish overnight.

I'm sorry, but I can't see the point in wasting time and money on counselling, medication, and special needs teaching facilities for these types of kids, when a quick hard punch in the face(*) at an early age would have done the job.

Let's spend that money helping the kids with real and proper learning difficulties, like dyslexia, dyspraxia and suchlike.

(*) And one for each parent too.

From my experience, it (and many other terms) are over used. However, ADD and ADHD are very real conditions and those that do have them are very frustrated individuals who need a lot of patience and support to give them the life skills and education to get by after school.
Society needs to be more accepting of those who need such support. Doctors need to stop giving the incorrect diagnosis so quickly, and irresponisble parents need to give their children a better start to life rather than screwing them up by filling them full of rubbish and not setting clear boundaries.

Hmm interesting thread, interesting posts. My daughter is five and in a SEN school and I have to say her progress is fantastic. I agree with a lot of the comments previous and have some very strong views on the subjects raised but far too damning and certainly not to be posted here.
My daughter is Autistic, beautiful and a Daddys girl. She loves to greet me from work and likes to climb on my SV mumbling motorbike motorbike which really makes my day. I really really struggled at first with the Autism and almost threw in the towel and left, a lot of fathers do. But I stuck it out and my wife has battled the authorities gained a statement and access to a decent school.
She is unable to communicate with us, just plays with her toys happily 90% of the time. But we spend a lot of time with her playing and encouraging all the time. We dont go anywhere without her and this personal attention all of the time has developed our autistic girl into a well behaved child who is far better behaved than most `normal` children we know. Just a trip to the supermarket each week highlights this point.

Rant - Pay attention to your children, they have needs. Some more than others but with enough love attention and sheer determination they will improve and its so so so satisfying to see them improve.

Originally Posted by SV-net

Hmm interesting thread, interesting posts. My daughter is five and in a SEN school and I have to say her progress is fantastic. I agree with a lot of the comments previous and have some very strong views on the subjects raised but far too damning and certainly not to be posted here.
My daughter is Autistic, beautiful and a Daddys girl. She loves to greet me from work and likes to climb on my SV mumbling motorbike motorbike which really makes my day. I really really struggled at first with the Autism and almost threw in the towel and left, a lot of fathers do. But I stuck it out and my wife has battled the authorities gained a statement and access to a decent school.
She is unable to communicate with us, just plays with her toys happily 90% of the time. But we spend a lot of time with her playing and encouraging all the time. We dont go anywhere without her and this personal attention all of the time has developed our autistic girl into a well behaved child who is far better behaved than most `normal` children we know. Just a trip to the supermarket each week highlights this point.

Rant - Pay attention to your children, they have needs. Some more than others but with enough love attention and sheer determination they will improve and its so so so satisfying to see them improve.

been there mate.Keep up the good work

Hey GID we did have discussions a while ago mate I remember.
You too mate, seeya.

I find it interesting that the parents of children who genuinely have these problems are the ones that state that they spend a great deal of time, and effort into researching and getting the best facilities and help for their kids in order that they may live a full and normal life as much as is possible dependent on their level of disability. These are the kids who people don't see out on the street alone, or in gangs, and who mostly close family / teachers / friends are the only ones to witness issues.

It seems to me, though, that it is a large proportion of younger parents (not exclusively, mind you!) - who have maybe not had great parents themselves to act as an example - who watch too many daytime tv shows and would prefer to turf their kids out on the street to terrorize the general public who fall back on these "conditions".

I find it hard to believe that a 2 year old can be accurately "diagnosed", especially when it is the same two year old screaming and having howling fits that can clearly scream "ICE CREAM"! It is the same child that becomes a waster, as the parents had a ready excuse for any bad behaviour.
I don't think I'm alone in thinking that these people deserve stoning for their complete and utter lack of respect to what real parents go through and deal with on a daily basis. It's thanks to them that money is wasted, experts and other help aren't available and people with genuine problems end up waiting in fear of being written off as another lazy parent.

Rant over!

When the wife used to do SEN with an Austic child there were 2 ADD kids in the class, Both were the eldest children of large familys whose fathers were in nick and the mothers were struggling. As computers in the class room were new at the time some of us parents were helping out and made the decision that they had to behave to be included in the computer use. After a few weeks they could see what fun the other kids were having with working on the computer and wanted to be a part of this and afte a few tantrums settled down to work and improved until they got their chance on the computers.
After this their behavior improved no end and they enojoyd what limited time we could give them on the computers and actually became noraml kids. I think the label is now giiven to bad children too easyly as with a bit of encourgement it can be taken out very easily for most of the problem kids

[Binky]

How many ADD kids does it take to screw in a lightbulb???
















...Who's up for skateboarding???

On a more seriuos note, i was diagnosed with a mild form of ADD and feel that my education definately suffered a little due to my inability to revise properely. I was never pecribed anything and feel i am coping ok with work etc now.