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Post by Ahnemesis on Oct 31, 2003 12:54:33 GMT -5
I say teachers are not able to handle anything anymore! And I am friends with quit a few teachers. They say theyre hands are tied by rules of the school system and DFACS. DFACS. The latter can get ****** as far as I'm concerned. Let junior and missy burn off a little steam, let them play...eh gads! without there being a teaching aid to it?! Are you insane?! Just put them on the playground to play?! Yeah! That thing we use to do in school. Where teachers watched us and we cut loose and had a good time letting our imaginations run free for a little while before it was back to the books. Want to know why junior and missy are so stressed out? Too many damn rules! Too many damn tests! But until these issues are addressed...the problem will remain. And ADHD and ADD are real problems in some cases. Not trying to minimize that condition as I know a couple of kids with it. But, the school system all too often uses the drugs available to keep a calm class. Where I live...it is the most widely abused drug. Amazing.
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Post by RowanMoonWynd on Oct 31, 2003 20:39:46 GMT -5
Here! Here! I agree with you 100% m'lady! Hats off to you!!
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Post by Sharess on Nov 7, 2003 19:47:27 GMT -5
It seems to me that some of the probles many be enviormental. There seems to be more kids with ADD/ADHD that live in towns or cities then who live in the contry and have to do a lot of hard physcal labor such as farm chores. But then I could be talkinf out of my a-- again.
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Post by MrLemurBoy on Nov 10, 2003 11:25:40 GMT -5
Well, I grew up on the outskirts of a small town, with a forest and fields out back, and worked on my dad's farm til I went to university. While there, I got tested for ADD, and the tests came back inconclusive. I was told that I acted ADD but that I'd done too well on the test (which was basically a game where you had to hit a button when certain number sequences came up on the screen). I didn't go for further testing... I figured that if I cut down on the video games and practiced a little self-discipline, then I could get through just fine without and academic crutch. I may act ADD sometimes, but I figure if I can concentrate for hours at a time on a video game, I just hafta change my outlook towards whatever else I'm looking at and put the same energy into it that I do into games. I guess the point I was gettin at is that ADD can show up no matter where you come from, but unless it's a severe case, it's not that hard to live with. I was friends with 3 or 4 ADD people in university, and as long as they had their ritalin, they generally did quite well.
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Post by RowanMoonWynd on Nov 10, 2003 13:47:03 GMT -5
That's a great attitued to have! Good for you!!
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Post by LadyWinterWolf on Nov 10, 2003 19:40:44 GMT -5
Just an observation, but perhaps everyone is spending too much time trying to "pigeon hole" or label people with learning problems. Perhaps time would be better spent helping these people with different education techniques, that they can continue to use as they go on in life?
I just think it's just too easy to medicate, and forget. IMHO
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Post by Stone on Nov 10, 2003 20:31:08 GMT -5
btw i graduated high school and still cant spell or do math
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Post by ShonenSenshiDave on Nov 12, 2003 20:26:34 GMT -5
What bugs me about the whole situation is:
(a) schools don't seem to want to be bothered. they just want "peace and quiet" in the classroom. What happened to recess and naptime and all the fun stuff we did as kids?!? And when did it become so darn wrong for a kid to just be a kid?
(b) It's so much easier to medicate than provide adequate resources for juveniles in school with learning disabilies. Dump the cost on the parent, make the kid pop some pills, and that's one less TSS or Mobile Therapist or teacher's aide needed, which means one less salary to pay.
(c) When all else fails, the schools would rather dump the ADHD/ADD kids into the juvenile court system than actually deal with the problems. And the sad part is that the kids usually end up getting better resources, but the cost is a criminla record which never goes away. Great.
(d) We really haven't prepared our teachers to deal with these kids. Our older teachers probably don't have the training in child and adolescent development to know what to do, and our new teachers grew up in the pill-popping era.
(e) It's too easy to diagnose kids as ADHD/ADD today. A kid is bored? Must be ADD or ADHD. Acts up? Gee, give him some pills. Doesn't play well with others? Gee, he must need treatment. Never mind that schools generally teach to the lowest common denominator, resulting in more intelligent kids being bored (yup, that was me). Never mind that some kids are picky about their friends or just into things that their peers aren't (again, me). And never mind that some kids get teased relentlessly and have to put up with the whole "kids will be kids" crap until they finally yell at someone (me again!). Ok, none of this behavior should be constant (except maybe the boredom, there doesn't seem to be much to do there), but one or two incidents doth not ADD or ADHD make.
You know what the truely frightening part about all of this is: many child and adolescent psychiatrists DO NOT believe that it is appropriate to diagnose children and teens with MH disorders because of the fact that they're still maturing both socially and emotionally. Hence the diagnosis of "Depression Not Otherwise Specified" which is so common today. It's difficult to diagnose children and teens properly until they've fully developed, and yet we give out Ritalin like candy...
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Garat Jax
Peasant
"I am the Weapon Master. And I have never lost a battle"
Posts: 37
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Post by Garat Jax on Nov 13, 2003 0:44:07 GMT -5
Neither of my kids have ADD/ADHD but my wife and I have both noticed that they more behavior problems when they have eaten food like chocolate, crisps and fruit drinks with a source of Phenylalnine in them. We now dont give them any of the above except as a special treat once a week and their behavior is ten times better, less temper tantrums and better attention spans.
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Post by CosmicHorror on Nov 27, 2003 9:26:32 GMT -5
I was diagnosed with ADD when i was young (i forget) and i went on ritalin for about 4 or 5 years, ritalin is NOT a good therapy for ADD let me tell you, it turned me into a zombie in class... ugh, my marks fell and i didn't make very many friends. then in grade 6, i got an offer from a private school specilising in ADD and ADHD for a free year, i really didn't like public school and my mother didn't think it was good for me either, so we agreed.
my Grade 6 year was the turning point in my educational studies, they didn't want me on ritalin (yes i know that's wrong spelling). then when the year rolled around, and i went back to public school, i didn't take ritalin, and my marks went way up and i made some friends, but i was still... aprehensive of other people, so i didn't come off as too social. then in high school, my marks lowered a bit, and i know why, i didn't do the homework. so ya, i still passed all of high school without failing any courses, (it didn't seem that big of an acompleshment, but from what i hear, it is).
i've been lucky in having a lot of wonderful teachers (my grade 8 and 9 english teacher was a big fan of star wars, so was my grade 12 math teacher, who was also a surfer, and many others...) with my experiance, i think that students with ADD can become great learners and teachers, given the right atmosphere.
also, a study showed that children with ADD on average are smarter then children without it. i don't know if this applies to ADHD or not.
and as to what causes ADD, i was told that it was genetic, my father has ADD and i inherited it through him. my sister (half-sister) had a diferent father and doesn't have ADD, she's just moody.
oh, and about ritalin, i heard that it causes unknown side effects. so they are taking a re-evaluation of it. and i'm not sure if this is connected to the ritalin or not, but like Rayst, i experianced paranoia after a while. when i was off ritalin, i was fine, so there may be a connection there.
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Post by LadyWinterWolf on Nov 27, 2003 21:17:40 GMT -5
(only posting this for board reset, so pay me no mind)
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Anaximander
Peasant
From the city of Miletus comes the first great thinker
Posts: 5
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Post by Anaximander on Dec 9, 2003 7:55:35 GMT -5
You people do not give the psychiatrists of this world enough credit. ADD is a common occurance and it appears to be linked back to genetics, much like ADHD.
I, myself, am close to borderline ADHD. Close. I have a family member who has ADHD and trust me when I say that often medication is the most effective treatment.
I say this for both conditions because I know people who are affected by both conditions. One of my friends, unless he has his medication, forgets to blink - something unpleasent for him and unsettling to everyone else, his concentration sometimes wonders and he cannot focus well. This was what ruined his career in military intelligence. The other person who has ADHD is uncontrollable and does things for no reason other then then they thought it would be fun. Whether this be causing a scene in public by moving chairs away from where people want to sit, to harassing, manipulating and bullying friends and family. On medication both people are able to focus and while the friend has no overly negative effects from not being on his medication, the other person if not on medication cannot be prevented from doing anything.
Both people are legally adults in the country I reside in and both lead very different lives.
So I believe it is unfair to criticise and even condemn the one thing that helps these people either to better themselves in education, or help them fit in with the rest of society.
I can recommend a book by an Australian author who has ADHD himself called: 'Me, Me, Me and ADHD'.
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Post by Hussar on Dec 9, 2003 11:58:50 GMT -5
Well said.
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Post by Arcaneye on Dec 13, 2003 14:46:57 GMT -5
Im ADD and have always been ADD, but the thing is, I was taught to control myself. Yeah, I am just as scatterbrain and impulsive as I was back then, but I've come a long way. I came from teachers complaining about me staring off out of the window and doing random, impulsive things to a much more calm person I am now.
Its not because of medicine, but because ofmy parents and people around me (OMG!!! I just gave my parents praise! Its the end of the world...sorry back to the subject.)). They stayed on me and helped me learn to focus. I still forget a lot and everyonce in a while lose fll concentration and go of to LA LA Land, but I'm sure the medication doesn't always fully supress ADD/ADHD.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the medication saying that it shouldn't be used. Every person is different, but I think people nowadays want to go straight to medication when there is a problem.
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