As an adult who struggles daily with the very real, and often extremely frustrating, effects of ADD, I do not diminish the legitimacy of the diagnosis...only the frequency of its convenient MISdiagnosis. I have dealt with it both with and without medication, with varying degrees of success, or lack thereof. I also work with a lot of troubled kids, more troubled than would be expected in a random sample, so there is to be expected a somewhat higher percentage among that population of what might logically be considered psychological pathology, than that among the general population. Still, even among those kids, drugs are all too often the first line of defense when what the kid really needs is boundaries, consistency and discipline, as well as positive feedback for good behavior. These kids also learn from an early age to use their "conditions" as an excuse.
In the late 1960's early 70's I didn't even know what my condition was LOL. When I was 36 and the the condition had gotten to a point I couldn't function in a work enviroment I still didn't know. Nor when the shrinks half kiled me with SSRI's either. I posted this is another thread but a book linking what was ADD ADHD, certain Dyslexic symptoms, visual and auditory processing troubles, and even TMJ {a jaw disorder which I don't have} to my medical history I learned enough to take charge of how my doctors were treating it.
I had learned somewhere in my early adult life from my parents I was thought to have had ADD ADHD. I do believe in discipline and I got my share of it :>} even at a rehabilitation school for learning and physical impairments.
You've probably seen kids I'm about to describe. This is some tell tale signs. Playing baseball they have a delayed swing or will simply dodge the ball. The brain doesn't see a baseball it see's an object a danger and responds to it. Kids that when you call their name and talk to them they seem not to hear you or say huh. You tell them something an oral instruction and they ask you to repeat it then half way through the second or even third time they suddenly understand. Have them look straight at you when you give instructions as they likely are reading your lips while listening. Look at the gait & how they walk. Look at their shoes. See if they break the sides over. That means not walking balanced. Give them 3 words to remember. Have them to start another task after that. In a couple of minutes while they are doing something else ask them to say the three words. You will likely see some frustration come from it as this effects memory retrieving capabilities.
They can pass with flying colors a standard hearing range test. They aren't deaf they can't process like others.
On a acedemic level it can vary. Look at reading capabilities first. Note if they skip lines reading. If they copy something that can be a real problem trying to trasnpose. If they try to correct mistakes it can take several times because the brain will make the same mistake again. Their concentration and learning window per day may be as short as 15 minutes or up to 4 hours likely tops. Schedule hard classes first. No scolding will change that it is a neurological limitation.
Now look at what I wrote. I did not use spell check. I proof read it once. Note the mistakes. All my other post in this thread I did spell check and proof read several times note the mistakes there as well. This is what C.A.P.D. is and it's many symptoms.
I quite agree, but the fundamental reality is that the human resources to provide "boundaries, consistency and discipline, as well as positive feedback for good behavior" for all these kids just don't exist. These are very labor-intensive remedies, and most of these kids have parents who either don't really want them or are pretty messed up themselves. It would be helpful if the public (and private) schools in this country provided these things), though it's of limited use if the kid is going home to a chaotic situation every day. Plenty of kids from lousy homes aren't functioning well in school -- academically or behaviorally -- because they rarely get enough sleep at home. Neighbors in apartment buildings or closely packed rowhouses, and often the kid's parents or mom & boyfriend are blasting stereos at all hours, and having raucous drug and alcohol fueled social gatherings, not to mention putting no time restrictions on the kid's activities or bedtime.
Unless we start confiscating all these kids from their parents, and putting them all in military-style boarding schools (and who would staff such schools? look at the hellholes that foster kids often end up in for "homes"), often a pharmaceutical measure is the best available option. Certainly for a doctor or counselor, who are no position to reform the school system much less the home, the best they can do is to recommend/prescribe drugs. For a kid who doesn't have ADD, but has no way of getting enough sleep, Ritalin will indeed provide a boost and enable more academic achievement than would otherwise occur, improving the chances that the kid can set up and maintain a civilzed home when s/he grows up.