is anyone else listening to Oliver James being an arse on R4?

[unclefluffy]

He says that ADHD is caused by imperfect love from mothers. He dismisses any genetic argument. He thinks you can't help the child without re-educating the mother.

What about dyslexia? Clear genetic element. But that doesn't mean everyone gives up on th kid. It makes everyone try harder to help kids with dyslexia.

Sorry - not well explained. He is too annoying.

Yep. Thought she did remarkably well considering she was basically under personal attack.

Oh, he is such a twat.

I hate him, with his cat's-bottom mouth and his pink angora jumpers.

Very annoying - and the fact that it came out as a personal attack was seriously shitty.

He should have had a separate slot because I thought he was interesting but was so angry for the mother that I couldn't listen to him properly.

God I caught the end of it! Poor woman. He was so adamant and aggressive. I found it hard to listen to.

I get the feeling that he hates women.

I thought the presenter was offended by his statements too.

good, he IS A TWAT.

i feel the same as you Snaf.

I'm REALLY angry now

Yes, seeker. I think you're right. I was too annoyed by the head-to-head aspect to really listen to him. He clearly has some interesting ideas (he's suggesting that a cure is possible, for a start) but pitting him against the mum like that made him incredibly, unnecessarily aggressive.

Is he the guy who writes for the Guardian? He DOES have a mouth like a cat's arse!

the mother? so the father plays no role in this then?

i actually agree that food contribute to adhd but having dd1 who is banned from any sweets other than plain chocolate and cannot have anything with eccesive e numbers in and dances three/four hours a week etc and is still hyper and uncontrollable at times then i am i am more than aware that it is also genetic.

ADHD is the mother's fault? ok. Why the mother and not the father then?

Twattery 1 - it is a genuine condition
Twattery 2 - it is woman hating shite

He's the guy who blames adult mental health problems on the mother suffering from PND.

Like, that's gonna make everyone feel so much better . . .

It's all women's fault obviously . .

Have come on Mumsnet to discuss this! I emailed the ADHD organisation to congratulate the spokesperson for keeping her calm.

Oliver James clearly didn't understand when she said that the high rate of prescriptions from GP's was because they were giving repeat prescriptions, not because they were giving a diagnosis themselves.

And when he said people in schools know nothing about ADHD because they are only paid to teach! (or words to that effect) Do Sencos know nothing about ADHD? Do Ed Psychs know nothing about ADHD?

I didn't have an opinion one way or the other about ADHD before listening to him, but whatever argument he was trying to make, he certainly made himself sound like a complete idiot.

And another thing!

According to OJ there is 'conclusive' evidence that ADHD has no genetic element, but there is evidence that women who are 'anxious' in the final stages of pregnancy are more likely to have children with ADHD. Is there a conclusive, scientific method to judge anxiousness levels amongst women about to give birth?

DD1 has dyspraxia.

So does her father, her father's brother and her paternal grandfather. They all also have dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia.

I'll gladly tell anyone who tells me there's no genetic component to this to fuck right off.

I can only speculate that JO doesn't consider the father to have a role because he assumes that most fathers spend zero time with their kids except when they are thrown together for 'family' photo shoots for cookery spreads... Rest of the time Dads are surely running around opening restaurants, promoting books, making telly programmes...

Absolutely livid - can you tell???

MadameP

"According to OJ there is 'conclusive' evidence that ADHD has no genetic element, but there is evidence that women who are 'anxious' in the final stages of pregnancy are more likely to have children with ADHD. Is there a conclusive, scientific method to judge anxiousness levels amongst women about to give birth?"

Yes, and even if there was a good scientific method of measuring anxiousness levels in pregnant women, does this conclusive evidence also rule out the possibility of parents who are genetically predisposed to ADHD also being more likely to be anxious?

Lulu I think you're getting Oliver james mixe dup with jamie Oliver.

Rozzed. Bit disappointed it isn't Jamie Oliver - I loathe him... Slinks back to work which was supposed to be doing in first place...

Quite, Upwind. I HATE this fuzzy use of 'evidence'. That's why I love the Bad Science column in the Guardian.

Would have been hilarious if it had been Jamie Oliver: "Bish, bash, bosh - just add a glob of cuddles and a handful of eye contact and you're done."

LuluMacGloo- remember it like this

Oliver James - cat's arse mouth

Jamie Oliver - baboon's arse mouth

If I had someone telling me that I musn't be anxious in pregnancy or my child might get ADHD I suspect my anxiety levels would go off the scale!

He's the complete misogynist Jamie Oliver is just the tosser

I also thought it was Jamie Oliver and thought 'Is he taking on ADHD now as well as school dinners?'
Sounded very unlike him, and am pleased he was not being woman hating.
And isn't pregnancy synonymous with anxiety

OJ pretty much dismisses any genetic or innate component to anything, and makes out that everything about personality is to do with parenting.

I had two calm, easygoing children, and didn't have a problem with that view. And then I had dd2, who came hardwired with a completely different operating system.

He obviously hasn't had enough children of his own to discover that easy child/difficult child is down to just sheer luck. Obviously there are ways of handling either type of child that will stack the odds in your favour, or against you for that matter. But the child's basic personality type and way of perceiving the world is not in your gift.

I heard this too. He is vile.