ADHD !!! YET ANOTHER BULL$H!T LAY BEL GIVEN TO A NON EXISTENT CONDITION !!?

Thank god we have a name for hyperactive , naughty behaviour from infants and early age children (ADHD). The thing is that for generations constructive discipline for children wasn't working, i mean look at the total lack of respect and public displays of tantrums and hyperactive behaviour from the 1930s to the mid to late 1990s.

Parents could not control their children, Schools did not know how to discipline their students, and social workers did not know how to advise the fore mentioned on how to tackle such children.

Thank god for the diagnosis of the term ADHD, now all parents, teachers , social workers , have an excuse and label for their downfalls of discipline and guidance of difficult children without guilt.

All hail the naughty step ! ( that's where all children grow into all rounded self and other respecting adults).

Thank you to the Great British Government for helping this nation breed a whole new generation of non social educated people by labelling ordinary behavioural problems with new titles thus depriving them of proper learning and social values.

Any views ?

Its not my intention to offend or discredit people with genuine learning or even behavaral disorders but by authorities always over generalising conditions has inturn provided a jump on the band wagon disorder.

I feel that ADHD is a perfectly legitimate mental exceptionality, but that it is also a term that is *heavily* thrown around without much regard for what it actually means.

In America, we have something called IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) that classifies exceptionalities dealing with education and allocates federal spending towards those populations. ADD/ADHD do not have an *actual* classification...and you can understand why from a financial standpoint.

That being said, it *is* a legitimate exceptionality. It's not just about being "naughty" or "annoying". In many cases, the children do want to learn, and are frustrated because their brains are too hyperactive to allow them to focus. It really falls on the professionals who classify these children to understand whether it is poor parenting or poor teaching versus an actual diagnosis of ADHD.

It takes a team of professionals, educators, and the parents to come to this conclusion. In many cases, people see ADHD as an "out," but in that sense they're using it wrong. It's not a nonexistent condition, and the people who misuse it are doing those who actually have ADHD a disservice.

For the record, I do not have ADHD. Just to clarify, in case someone thinks I have a personal agenda here.
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Yeah, jump-on-the-bandwagon disorder indeed. Nowadays, society has become more of a label-oriented entity, and if parents feel that something is wrong with their child they want to know what IT is despite the fact that it could just be parenting/teaching style. ADHD fills that IT gap quite nicely for a whole bunch of people, but like I said, it's really up to the professionals to make a valid assessment of the child, including all factors like socioeconomic status, cultural background, academic ability, etc.

Ugh i get so annoyed with people like you. You probably don't have a problem with the disorder ADHD, sounds like you more have a problem with how parents deal with their children. ADHD is a real disorder and yes is it very highly over diagnosed. I agree that a lot of time parents don't want to deal with a child who has energy so jumps to that conclusion. If you do not believe this is a real disorder you should spend one day with a child who has it.

I only agree in some aspects.
I think many people use ADD ADHD as an excuse in school or say they have it when they don't.
But, until you've suffered from any illness, you cannot judge it the way you are.

Despite the fact I kind of make a living from such delightful young people, I do often find myself wondering why we use the term ADHD when what we really mean is irritating, unemployable little f***ing tw@t.

I suspect we agree on this issue.

You are so right. Its all a bunch of bull.

wow, i hope you dont grow up to have children who may have this illness

It's actually called Hyperkinetic Disorder in England and isn't largely diagnosed, less than 1% of people are diagnosed in this country as oppose to 7% in America. Largely, parents will claim that their child has AD HD without an Official diagnosis. In UK the treatment of Hyperkinetic disorder is mostly giving therapy and parenting advice and medication is often rejected. The media enjoys telling individuals that ADHD is this and that , but in reality many of the reports are based on American statistics and not UK . There is neurological indications of Hyperkinetic disorder as well as the emotional , enviromental factors.

The problem is many people expect because there is a disorder , that things like socio economic class, education, nutrition and parenting style are not taken into account when they most certainly are. The point about the naughty step, this doesn't work on all children, and this is important because a naughty step for a child who has problems with attention is probably the worst thing. They need to be stimulated and talked to rather than left, if left they just don't learn and play up more.