Posted on 07/11/2014 2:15:56 PM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
The Centers for Disease Control tells us that in recent years there has been a jump in the percentage of young people diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, commonly known as ADHD: 7.8 percent in 2003 to 9.5 percent in 2007 and to 11 percent in 2011. The reasons for the rise are multiple, and include changes in diagnostic criteria, medication treatment and more awareness of the condition. In the following post, Angela Hanscom, a pediatric occupational therapist and the founder of TimberNook, a nature-based development program designed to foster creativity and independent play outdoors in New England, suggests yet another reason more children are being diagnosed with ADHD, whether or not they really have it: the amount of time kids are forced to sit while they are in school.
A perfect stranger pours her heart out to me over the phone. She complains that her 6-year-old son is unable to sit still in the classroom. The school wants to test him for ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder). This sounds familiar, I think to myself. As a pediatric occupational therapist, I’ve noticed that this is a fairly common problem today.
The mother goes on to explain how her son comes home every day with a yellow smiley face. The rest of his class goes home with green smiley faces for good behavior. Every day this child is reminded that his behavior is unacceptable, simply because he can’t sit still for long periods of time.
The mother starts crying. “He is starting to say things like, ‘I hate myself’ and ‘I’m no good at anything.’” This young boy’s self-esteem is plummeting all because he needs to move more often.
Over the past decade, more and more children are being coded as having attention issues and possibly ADHD...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Can the kid sit still while playing video games or watching TV? No problem except a lack of discipline.
Still can’t stay still? Send him outside to play...
I never said that. I just said that ADHD was unheard of in my day, and the schools handled restlessness differently. I think that too many children are diagnosed (and drugged) for ADHD. I never said that measures weren’t necesscery for those who are truly ADHD. I just think that more unstructured time on the playground would take care of the matter for most of the kids.
I had some serious ADHD or OCD or something. Citalopram changed the world.
As for the lack of physical coordination, I’d throw in that the teachers’ unions and lawyers/judiciary have more to do with both lack of exercise and absolute boredom in the curriculum."
But, but, but Nevada has the lowest ADHD rate and the highest gambling rate, so...isn't this how research connects dots? Maybe I should have said "strip clubs" prevent ADHD? Mob affiliation?
But, definitely I agree that lawyers are to blame in the high states...they are to blame for almost everything.
I'm reading the intelligent replies from freepers.
Why is it all of us lay people can respond to this question quickly, correctly and intelligently....when the pointy-head, highly-trained, high-priced therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists and their ilk are all screwed up for answers?
(....rhetorical question, of course.)
Leni
I remember when a mom working at home and raising her kids was considered normal too.
My apologies. I guess I was ranting in general and not necessarily at you personally. I shouldn’t even click on these threads because I get so worked up. Some FReepers can get really nasty on this subject. They seem to lump all issues into discipline and home environment. Well my husband and I were married for five years before the first came along, we carry no debt, our parents are still married to their original spouses, we both grew up in God fearing households, and with our work schedules one of us is almost always home with our kids (who really look forward to our in home babysitter once a week). I cook, we don’t eat fast food, and we have a huge garden. So I’m not a welfare queen looking for a handout, like many FReeoers want to lump all ADHD parents into. ADHD is an actual issue, and when people discount it as a discipline or environment problem, they are no better than those who scam docs for false ADHD diagnoses.
Me too. And thank God for that.
It was called “having the nerves” when I grew up. But you woulld never dream of forcing the children to take such drugs as they do today.
Because school is boring. Being geared primarily towards not leaving kids behind rather than challenging kids makes it impossible to keep kids attention. Make school harder, let the dumb ones fail, keep the smart ones engaged.
Yep. We walked TO school, home for lunch, and back to school, then home again.
Oh, and recess in the morning and afternoon. If it rained, we played dodgeball in the gym. And actually HIT each other with the balls. Survive or wilter. Or become democrats.
Because they have no chance to run around and get "the wiggles" out of their system.
When I taught the beginners in Sunday School I always had some very active songs for them to sing. They waved their hands, clapped, jumped, bobbed their head and spun in circles for ten to fifteen minutes before I had them sit down for a drink of juice and the lesson.
The class was very well behaved (ok for the MOST part). Kids need to move. Give them ten minutes an hour to be active and they will give you their attention the other 50 minutes.
In elementary school, we walked to and from school twice a day because we had to go home for lunch and walk back again. In addition, we had 15 min. of recess in the morning and 15 min. of recess in the afternoon.
In Jr. High, we had one hour for lunch - after we ate lunch we could go to the rec room and dance or listen to records or play ping pong or just hang out and talk to our friends. Or we could walk up to the avenue and buy doughnuts and junk in the bakery. We had a full 10 minutes for passing time. Same thing in high school. We could drive out to Burger Chef if we had a car during lunch. Kids have 20 minutes for lunch now and about 5 min. between classes. We had lots of time to recreate and decompress. Not so anymore.
Wife been saying this since the 90s when our kids were in grade school. Bears repeating though. Anyone with kids currently in grade school should check out your school's recess operations in case your kid gets an adhd warning.
“Can the kid sit still while playing video games or watching TV?”
A teacher with decades of experience explained that the problem is connected to the fact that many children’s attention spans are the length of a TV commercial.
How creepy is that?
“So I’m not a welfare queen looking for a handout, like many FReeoers want to lump all ADHD parents into.”
Are you confusing this with the “autism spectrum” scam?
ADHD is part of the autism spectrum.
Did you have recess when you were in school? Kids need recess, especially active boys. Today the punishment for not sitting still is denial of recess.
These are “educational professionals” doing this.
“ADHD is part of the autism spectrum.”
That’s a new one to me; ADHD parents should sever that link. Autism and ADHD are very real and clearly definable; “autism spectrum” is a scam with vague symptoms.
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