It was bloody awful; mood swings, etc. And then you looked at their siblings, and one could quite readily determine, but never openly opine, that the problem with their "autistic/add/adh" child was really more a parenting problem than there actually being anything amiss, physically, neurologically, with the son(s).
The art of good parenting continues to lose ground among the terminally aggrieved through some danged excuse or another; and the children get further damaged by the labelling and the treatment.
Good parenting. People seem to forget that before the whole "add/adh/autism" jazz began, there were at least two decades of people, and media, and culture BASHING parents. That parents were evil and oppressive. So fast forward to these times, and people are either confused about what parenting is, what it means, what it involves; or they better fear the state; or become a bone-fide supporter of the state.
But raise your children with the time-honored standards you may have received growing up? How ANTIQUATED! How possibly... ABUSIVE.
When I've met very non-add/adh/autistic children but labelled add/adh/autistic, yes, I've wanted so badly to shake that parent to wake up!!!
When I was a Cub Scout den mother of 8 boys in the early 70's, including my own son, not one other mother would volunteer to help me.
The wildest of the bunch were two brothers, who were on Ritalin. And it was their mother who always, without exception, "forgot" when it was her day to send refreshments. So, I made sure to have something on hand. (Beware, though, never top anything with a marachino cherry.)
Finding the right games for them to play was a test of my ingenuity. If you find yourself in this postion, try tying blown up balloons to the back of their waists, give them rolled up newspapers, and let them swat away!
I guess today that would be called abusive. Then, it was just plain fun for everybody.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
There are at least ten different neurological functions that could be impaired in the fetus of women who are vitamin d deficient. It is certain that a greater number of people of equatorial genetic history (darker skin) will suffer impaired neurological functions in their children when they reside in the higher latitudes.