Daily Mail take on ADHD - 'badly behaved boys need discipline not drugs'

[tortoiseshell]

Article here - I'm posting the link a little tentatively, as it is not a good article - typical DM bile I think!

The bit I quoted wasn't clear. The poster was saying she'd seen cases of the parents overdoing the dosage of drugs.

Daftpunk and how your name suits you, what do you say to those of us who have twin boys, one of whom has ADD and one who doesnt. Oh I know, I let one of them climb trees and run along the beach whilst I locked the other one up. This actually would not have been that difficult to do as the one who has ADD is not hyperative at all, he is very innattentive,distractable restless/fidgety but extremely well behaved . He has been on Equasysm( same as Ritalin) for about a month and his concentration has improved a lot. I am sure there are some children who are taking ritalin when they shouldnt be although I am sceptical about how much over subscribing is actually taking please. Please dont assume that every child who is taking ritalin is badly behaved and is the product of poor parenting because thats quite simply nonsense

riven, are you directing that at me?
she does work in a s/n school

There was a piece about this in The Times this morning as well by Melanie Reid saying that parents doped their kids with ritalin because it was just too convenient and they wanted their kids "compliant" to enable then to continue working long hours

The same peice then congratulated Ruth kelly for packing in work to look after her kids and said other should do the same.

Personally I have zero experience of parenting a child with ADHD (at the moment at any rate) so don't really feel qualified to comment. Sadly others in my position don't feel the same.

I was replying to when you said your friend says some of the teachers disrespect the parents. I'd hate to leave dd in a SN school where teachers behaved like that. Least at mainstream they have to watch their tongues because dd's friends can speak.

We're not trying to offend you, Harleyd. I'm not getting defensive either. I don't have a child with ADHD.

The point is that your sister just doesn't know what happens at home. Even if a parent says "X was a bit hyper last night" it can mean anything. I've often said to people in passing conversation about ds2 "Oh he's a bit hyper today". Ds2's level of "bit hyper" is probably the equivalent to a more typical child who's just eaten 6 boxes of the old-style blue smarties and is currently bouncing off the walls.

It's the same when I say "He didn't sleep very well last night". Other people might assume I meant that he'd woken up 2 or 3 times in the night when really he'd been wide awake until 2am and then woken up every hour until he finally got up at 6am.

Dh works with kids with various educational support needs - autism, adhd, etc. He would be horrified by people claiming these conditions are 'made up'. I'm sure there may be a tiny, tiny amount of kids on medication needlessly, but the vast majority need their meds to function. Most of them come from lovign homes and have siblings with no problems whatsoever.
Utter DM clap trap.

I medicate dd at night sometimes. She gets terrible muscle spasms and will scream from 10pm to 6am. So she gets a drop of benzo.

paranoid2...

listen, i explained earlier, of course i don't have all the facts about adhd, i was just giving my opinion on what i know about it.

i would never class adhd in the same catagory as autism or any other sn..i just wouldn't, i can't explain why. i'm sorry if i've offended anyone....that is never my intention.

daftpunk - why don't you just go and jump in the hole you've dug yourself and Go Away?

There's a dear.

Just wondering what qualifications and special research you've done make you such an expert, daftpunk, to decide what is a valid SN and what isn't?

I think it was Riven who said earlier that socio economic factors are involved here - and I think she's absolutely right.
Children in care, who are often from impoverished backgrounds, are disproportionatley medicated.
It's so much easier and cheaper for the State than supporting those children.

Should also say that sometimes for the professionals involved it's very hard not to comment on the parenting.
Sometimes the whole team will be working their arses off to work towards positive outcomes for these kids and the parents will just undermine everything you do.

lol thesuburbandryad..no, i haven't dug myself a hole..i've just got an opinion that differs from your's....god forgive me.

but you carry on being a patronising pain in the arse... i wonder is that treatable??

You have an opinion which does not appear to be based on any facts whatsoever.

Oh, and you're talking absolute B*llocks. "i'll let my son climb tress..run on the beach...get him into sport..anything rather than drug him. " Snort! Yes, that works for an overly boisterous NT child, it won't help an ADHD child concentrate!

Friends ADHD child on medication: Away with the fairies, poor impulse control (hits out)
On medication: can concentrate and has the change in school results to prove it, calmer in his behaviour.

It's not all about children bouncing off the walls.

Actually, stupiddaftpunk, I have been on a stream of medication for mental health issues, which is perhaps what irks me when people like you come along and insinuate that mental health issues are made up, and that people use medication for these issues because they're too lazy to pick themselves up or parent their children adequately.

I have no idea why some people go on to teach SN if they aren't sympathetic towards it
Like when DD's SENCO asked her if she needed glasses because she couldn't throw a bean bag into a hoop, the same SENCO who was at that precise moment monitoring DD for Dyspraxia

none of the kids can speak in the SN school dd was at for a while.

that should be CAN'T
am losing my wotists here!

thesurburbandryad....you'll be pleased to hear i have to go now, so i'll be quick ...i had no idea about your medical condition..i don't think iv'e ever spoken to you before?

i was commenting on adhd in children...not mental health conditions of adults..dispite what you may think of my views..i'm not the only one that has them..on this thread maybe..but not in rl.

even though you'll come back hurling insults..i'm still sorry if iv'e upset you..and i hope you accept that apology.

I think we have to accept that some people really have no idea. They have no real persoanl experience but are arrogant enough to assume that they know about a child's homelife and therefore are qualified to judge their behaviour. Their 'knowlede' about behavioural disorders is based on the mass media which is infamous for inaccurate and sensationalist reporting and thus not actually backed up by any sceintific evidence whatsoever. In my experience there is very little point in trying to reason with such people as they simply do not want to hear. Thats why i usually avoid threads like this but today I got sucked in

Of course, I accept your apology, and thank you.

But it is very difficult to have a serious conversation with someone whose opinion seems to be that mental health issues (in children) are pretty much made up and nothing that a run on the beach and clambering up some trees wouldn't solve.

It's not too much of a step from there, to, "All people with depression just need a kick up the arse and to get a job and stop feeling sorry for themselves," and, "People with ME need to get out of bed and stop being lazy."

Now, I know you didn't say that, and I apologise for putting those words into your mouth, but discrimination against people with mental health problems is something that I - and many others - have faced for a very long time, and it incenses me when people do it to kids.

Ah well Daftpunk at least you have admitted by saying you cant explain why you dont view ADHD as a SN that you havent got a clue about what you are talking about. Yes you are entitled to a view but so are the rest of us and because most of us think you are talking crap maybe its time to take yourself and your unfounded opinions off somewhere else