Week 4

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

         

I found the article “The Great A.D.D Hoax” very interesting, and would like to make some comments regarding this article. The author David Keirsey, clearly states that attention deficit disorder is nothing but a mere hoax, although I agree with the majority of what he has to say on this topic, I still think more research needs to be done in order to rule it out altogether. David points out the list of “Causal symptoms” of A.D.D that are listed in the DSM IV manual and states that they are pretty much ridiculous. When I read through the list of symptoms, I could not help but wonder why these symptoms are not more defined, to me they seem to be more of list of what a lot of “Normal” children experience on a day to day basis, some more than others but still could be addressed without killing our children’s brains with such things like Ritalin (known to cause growth stunt, brain atrophy, and loss of muscular movements). I would ask the author what suggestions he has for ruling out the disorder altogether. Far too often parents look for a magic cure to calm their children down, and they think by giving their kids medication, it will solve the problem. I learned by reading this article that we as parents should be playing a more active role in finding other ways to help their kids succeed with overcoming learning disabilities by exploring other methods of treatments other than stimulants and brain altering drugs. The author has some very interesting ideas on how to teach a child to deal with his/her own consequences, David has written a paper entitled “Abuse it-Lose it”, I would like to hear more about what he has to say in regards to teaching your children, rather than medicating them.

This topic about ADHD is very interesting to me as my own daughter was diagnosed with it in High school and we as parents were so torn with treatments for her. Looking forward to reading more about it.