Rat Race | ADHD Information

I agree with Glenn.  We have a more sedentary lifestyle now.  I cannot let my son go for a bike ride with out haveing him check in in 10-15 minutes.  It would probably do him good to work on a farm.I still have to disagree. Going to school in the early 60's, we vaguely heard of "hyperactivity" (it wasn't called ADHD), but not a lot of kids were diagnosed. Looking back, I can think of many kids who probably had it (including me, along with the bipolar), but it just didn't get diagnosed often. Heck, who went to a Psycologist? It was still considered a big deal for a child to see one. Rarely happened. Not only was ADHD rarely acknowledged--bipolar was considered an adult only disorder, autism was only the very low functioning kind and was attributed to "cold mothers" and a form of schizophrenia and even LD's weren't acknowledged much. There was no special education or I would have been in it. There is so much more knowledge now and that's great for our kids, but many kids, like me, went thru school, struggled, and were not diagnosed or helped. I don't think anything changed except awareness. OlderMom38783.820162037I am not saying adhd did not exist, but was not as prevalent.  If, in some of the milder cases of the h type, that person had more activity to do, I could see it helping.  I have recently returned to school for another degree, and since I have had to do research papers, I have tried to do them on ADHD so that I learn something useful to my life. Here's one of the sentences from my paper:
"American society is increasingly ADDogenic, computers are faster, televisions flit from scene to scene, palm held electronic games are faster than ever, even a conversation between two busy business people is a race to the point. Yet at no time in history has the ability to sit still and pay attention been so important. The Global economy waits for no one, and only the educated and focused can thrive in this environment."
This is just my opinion, but I do think that our society is an oxymoron. Our patience level is nil, but our need for focus in chaotic times is non negotiable. Sifting through loads of information is an every day issue. And THAT is a problem for somebody with an attention issue. My research shows that ADHD does exist in other parts of the world, but in Senegal, where most kids fish for food and are outside most of the day, it just doesn't present as much of a problem. So I agree, in a slower society with less emphasis on technology, ADHDers were probably less noticeable. However, we're basically talking about an Agrarian pre 1920's society here. In the fifties and sixties, schools and society were more demanding. Sports, not hoeing a field were after school activities, and we all know how much latitude is given to a kid who misses a flyball because he saw a pretty airplane overhead.OlderMom and I are close in age, and I absolutely agree with her.  I can remember when paddles hanging by the classroom door were common, and children were paddled in the hallways and in front of the class.  I look back on those children, who were always the same children, and I bet ya those kids would be labeled ADHD today.  Not only that, but I remember the classroom for the kids who could not behave, and I have an ADHD friend who was put in one of those.  He talks about the humiliation of riding the "little bus" to school and how he was the only one in his class that did not end up in trouble with the law.  He dropped out of school at sixteen.  As an adult, he returned to school and now has his B.A., but elementary and secondary school were horrible for him.  There's a reason why PL142, now known as IDEA, was passed in the seventies.  There's a very good reason.  lillian38784.261099537the whole attitude was different.  i don't about in the US but in the UK kids left school at fifteen - even fourteen with their parent's permission i think.  you just upped and out of there.

my friend hated school and the moment she could - at fifteen, left and went to work in racing stables (she was small and made an excellent 'lad').  others left at sixteen and went straight to work in the city as barrow-boys (later to become extremely flashy/loads of money 80s traders).  or got an apprenticeship at a mechanics/carpentry shop or similar.

i think it is a shame - cos they never got a chance to develop any academic skills or see whether they could shine in that field.  but also the pressure was less --- you knew you could leave.  you knew that leaving at sixteen wasn't considered a bad mark or would leave you out of a job.  my parent's friend who owned his own company would ONLY take on school-leavers - because he found them harder workers and more 'switched-on' than most university grads who had a bit of an attitude!

nowadays there is SO much pressure to have a university degree.  to the point where i heard of a guy who started temping in this firm, did really well, got promoted and promoted and then they suddenly realised he was still on a temping contract and thought they would take him on full-time themselves.  but when they realised he had no degree they said "oh sorry, mate - we can't keep you on as the sales/marketing branch division director because you need a degree for that position"

what????  he'd already been doing that job for the last year and a half!  it's bullsh*t.  there is way too much pressure on getting the academic qualifications - isn't there?  really, what are the main reasons for putting your kid on Adderall (behaviour, sociability yeah for sure but also - there's no point to deny it - grades.  grades.  grades.  grades.)

i mean i know it's not the ONLY reason - i know that.  and i know it is nice for any child to come out of their 'fog' and be more normal.  be able to interact and make friends and succeed and know that feeling of success.  but still i'm with coach on a certain level ---- the pressure is practically tantamount to abuse on the question of how well a child is doing at school.  it's just not worth the importance, the gravity, the stress that is attached to it.

surely it matters more that the child is a loving, giving, caring member of society with gentle aims and concern for those around her/him --- what about instilling an ethical, kindly education.  not just an academic one.  what about rewarding altruism and consideration rather than an A for neat hand-writing or excelling at sports.  are they not equally important - if not more so?  where has the balance gone?

Who knows if it was as prevalant though? I remember a lot of very hyper kids who were just labeled "bad." For those of you who didn't go to school in the 60's (I was born in 1953) you can't know how bad it was for kids who struggled. First off, parents were ashamed to take their kids to psycologists/psychiatrists so it almost never happened. Secondly, "hyperactivity" was just not diagnosed much. I don't recall anybody taking stims or acknowledging the dx. It was hippie time in high school. They took amphetimines (har, har) but not for ADHD. We've made a lot of progress in forty years, and now we can spot things we couldn't before. I know what you mean, but I just don't agree. I remember a lot of struggling kids, including me, who were hyper, fidgety, inattentive and picked on by teachers. Teachers used to grab me by the collar and pull me in front of class to make an example of me, and other struggling kids. You can't manhandle kids now, but you could then. It was a totally different place for kids and, imo, worse rather than better if you happened to be different. I certainly hated school and got no help, and it seemed to be the rule of the day. Oh, well. I'm sure that the ways we eat and the fact that we tend to live a less structured lifestyle is what is bringing the ADHD to light that and the newer demands and styles of teaching today.  It may be more prevalent slightly but then there are more kids now than there were then too so of course there will be more cases.  Also now there are more single parent and two income households and that has contributed as well I think.  When parents are really busy there is less structure.  And we all know that the less the structure the more ADHD manifests.My answer is a healthy diet, supplements, lots of exercise. Less pressure and difference schooling for people who don't fit quote fit the norm profile. School staff/GOvt. need to try and quit trying to fit a child in to 1 certain learning style. The fact is we all learn best at what sytle best suites us. Part of the epidemic is that experts acknowledge it. When I was a kid (60's) there was no ADHD, so nobody had it. The problem is, they did have it, but it went undiagnosed. The kids were "bad." I remember it well. Nobody heard of ADHD or anything else back then.

Oldmom - they did know about the worst Capital-H ADHD.  They called it hyperkinetisism is the only true difference.  They have treated it with amphetamines since at least the 1920s.  So that's not changed one iota.  They now know more about the subtleties of it and that's good though.

coach - if anything it's because we live a slower lifestyle that ADHD is being seen as "rampant" now.  In the 1930s a child would go to school - and afterwards and on no-school days would be expected to help the family farm, have a job, etc.  The excess energy would be expended on activities.  The scattered though would most likely be considered a sign of a "dim" child and they'd either use excessive and violent force to get the child to stay in line (which did work obviously to a point), or put the child in the simple category and expect less.

Now children aren't allowed outside until dark (everyone is so scared of abductors), TV and games are all around and kids are sedentary.  So now the ADHD shows up and there's no outlet for any H-hyper part of that.  And so the "epidemic" shows up.  Always there just society changes and like a chameleon on a plaid kilt now it is seen clearly.

 

I wonder how much living the Rat Race has on the issues of ADHD. Something has changed over the years. I think its multiple things that cause ADHD to be epidemic. I am sure there was some ADHD way back when but today its so wide spread. Our eniviroment must have changed and the way we live and eat has changed. Our fast paced lives with to easy and too much excitement and too much and too many pressures to perform to be better and better and smarter and smarter. People need to learn what being bored is. People need to learn to have to wait a while for things. Then they may learn how to cope better and not be so impulsive. Living in over drive as compared to the old days when things moved at a much slower pace, has changed our ability to deal with it all. The biggest thing I have noticed is how schools really pressure kids to a point that it should be called some form of abuse when it alters their brain chemical balance. In other words its not healthy for a childs emotional well being for schools to require so much, what used to be required of kids 3 or 4 years older. Kids need a slower paced life style. More is not always better , that applies to everything they do. coach138783.4522685185