"Emotional causes of ADHD"

Cortnie - posted on 04/27/2012

you go girl

Cortnie - posted on 04/27/2012

i couldnt disagree more , just because a child has adhd doesnt mean you baby them, you give them more structure, cause thats what they need. by giving them structure you are showing them you love them because you want them to succeed. giving them baby stuff just teaches them to act as a baby. it doesnt cause trauma if the punishment is within the age limit and not over done. Basically this article says i dont meet my childs needs cause i dont baby him. I take offense to that.

Shannon - posted on 03/27/2012

my son does not have add but he has many learning and emtional problems he is in specail ed he does have ocd and you are right. i have 3 other kids and our world was turned upside down when we became homless and lost everything. he has to be in control of e erything and he does start things like trying to start fights with us so then we will end up fighting. i am a very positive person i truly belive in positive energy and what you put out there is what you get back. he is diffcult he has no respect for his father and i he thinks he is our equall which is very hard . its been 3 years and we are in a pretty good place i am disabled and so is his dad but we try. i do worrie that he will forget were he is and start acting out in public the thing is when he is at school or 4 h he is the best kid its only at home so nobody see that side of him so its hard we always listen to him and try to explain things but with his ocd we can go on with theses fits for over an hour . and honnestly i am at a loos at what to do

Tania - posted on 10/25/2011

ADHD is over diagnosed. Some kids and adults have genuine cases where it is a chemical imbalance. However with that said, some kids are merely products of their family environment. If the child does not get attention any other way than to be disruptive and misbehave, then that is what the chid will do. They do not have the emotional capacity to say to a parent or caregiver, " I'm hurting and I feel alone and unheard." Parents need to listen to their kids and have special time each set aside for their kids.

Please also remember that there is more than one type of ADHD that is diagnosed. Some kids are hyperactive and some just become unresponsive.

My firm belief is that messed up parents make messed up kids. And before a diagnoses of ADHD is given, the familiy envirnment needs to be examined.

Valerie - posted on 09/25/2011

I agree thatThe use of punishment to control children is one of the greatest travesties in our world. It causes unbelievable trauma." I have used pacifiers, blankets etc as comfort tools very successfully but they do not replace the physical, verbal and emotional (eye contact, smile, comforting actions) support that must precede and accompany the physical tool...

Yalana - posted on 07/09/2011

Some people just don't understand that kids aren't all the same, esp. doctors and teachers in particular. We know our children better than anyone, yet they are the ones who are quick to label and convince us we know nothing of our own children. This is a "conversation" I had with my oldest son's kindergarten teacher:
Teacher: I'm sorry, Mrs. __, but I have to tell you that your son is THE WORST student i have ever had."
Me: How many years have you taught kindergarten?
Teacher: This is my first year, but I've been teaching 5th and higher for several years now.
Me: So how can you compare him to all the older students you've had?
Teacher: He is just the worst!
Me: Did you ever think that maybe it's because you expect him to act like all the older kids and he doesn't like you for it? Or maybe it's because he knows you are lying about him...his father told me all about the day he observed your class and saw that you let the girls run rampant while my son sat in the corner and drew pictures by himself. He also told me how you would practically scream at the boys and talk in a syrup-y voice to the girls, who listened to you even less than the boys did.
Teacher: He saw that???
Me: Yes. Don't give me this bs (and yes, I said bs and not the full word) about him being "the only one who does this in the class"...I highly doubt you have a classroom full of prim and proper children and he's the Child of the Devil...those kinds of classrooms went out back when the government started getting involved in education. You just don't like it that he doesn't sit there at his table, with his hands folded on top, halo and smile on, and acts like the other spoiled kids in your class. Kids are all different. If you can't accept that, you should NOT be teaching children of ANY age, especially kindergarten.

Constance - posted on 07/08/2011

@Chasity, Some kids are just ADHD. Trauma doesn't always play a part. The only thing I would suggest is finding a clinic that specialises in behavior issues with young children. Not a regular doctor. Normally you can find the specialist clinics in big teaching hospitals. Like Duke, The Mayo Clinic. It takes awhile to get an appointment but they will do a boat load of testing before just giving a label.

That is what I have done when my 15 yr old has been diagnosed with anything.

Chasity - posted on 07/08/2011

I really do not know what to think. My daughter has not been diagnosed with ADHD yet. That is because the doctor wanted to try behavior modification first (which omg is a crock of bologna) I know she has it since she can not sit still to save her life, shes up till 1 or 2 am even when I wake her up at 6am and the constant doing whatever she feels she can which is a 24/7 struggle. The only thing is she has never been through trauma that she would need to get over unless yo count the 4 day fight when she was two when we tok the binky away, I can see where that might be traumatic. I think that a child who experiences something traumatic may have anxiety which could resemble ADHD in so many ways, it would make more since don't you think?

Angela - posted on 07/07/2011

It is true you have to become an expert at the laws etc. I actually knew more of the law than some of the school employees!

Yalana - posted on 07/07/2011

The community school my son was at wanted to put him on an IEP after his "diagnosis" of autism, which no doctor I took him to would do. I know for a fact that in Ohio it is illegal for teachers to even suggest that a child may have a medical condition, and I called them out on it. Check the laws in your states...there may be something like it on the books. Also, it may help to put in a call to your state BOE and see what can be done there. I called mine and told them of their "medical expertise" and soon after, it stopped, but they still insisted on putting him on an IEP, which I kept refusing. It's not that he doesn't like to write period, it's that he doesn't like to be told WHAT to write. He will make up stories and write them down or write the dialog for his comic books, but if you tell him what to write, he will walk away from it. I'm the same way. I like to use my imagination (something else teachers don't seem to want kids to do these days) and create my own stories. I found out in high school while taking my graduation tests that I do not write well if I follow a set format. While most of the students who had to take the written part over again claim they failed it because they didn't follow the format, I failed because I DID! The second time I took it, I just started writing and didn't stop until time was called and aced it! I can't explain it, but having a systematic way of being told what and how to write does not work for me. The logic and flow go right out the door, same with my son. I have been taking online classes for over 2 years now, and while I am supposed to be following APA format, which to me has been hard to grasp since I had MLA format pounded into my head since high school, I have had most of my teachers rave about my papers and how well written they are with very little regard to the APA format. I've only had one teacher not like my papers because I think I upstaged her "expertise" of the subject matter. There had been a lot of "I did not know that!" and "I've never heard of this before" written all through my papers, and she would give me C's. I also find the part about being punished as being "one of the greatest travesties in our world" to be false. I was punished growing up and was still a very good student. My brother was rarely punished, was diagnosed with ADHD then ADD and was terrible in his academics. I think blaming punishment and discipline for mental and emotional issues is wrong. My stepdaughters' mother was adopted within a few days after birth, never punished or abused, and was diagnosed with washer-cleaner OCD and type-A personality at only 10 years old. She has received some treatment over the past 30+ years and will acknowledge that she is OCD, but will not take the necessary steps to control it so that she doesn't let it control her. She has had 17 CFS reports against her in the past 21 years, starting back when her oldest child was born. She has had all 8 of her children taken away from her because she has abused and neglected them. If given a choice between feeding her hungry children or cleaning the floors because a crumb fell, she'd get out the cleaners and scrub brushes and tell the kids they're weren't eating that day/night because someone made a mess and the floor has to be cleaned. She's been known to bite my 5-year-old stepson on various body parts, mostly face and wrists. My oldest stepdaughter is her favorite because she looks like her mother more than her father, but doesn't want anything to do with the 5-yr-old boy or my youngest stepdaughter. CFS has already decided she isn't going to get any of the children back and my boyfriend is trying like crazy to get the girls and hopefully adopt their half-brother. He will need extra attention because he has no idea how a mommy is supposed to treat her kids. He has been taken out of one foster family because they ended up abusing him as well. It's been a terrible situation, but my boyfriend and I are just glad the girls are young enough to not have any memories of what has happened.

Constance - posted on 07/07/2011

I have fought with teachers to the nail. My daughter is by no means stupid she just learns differently than other kids. My sister's son has difficultys and she calls me on a regula basis for help. He loves to read but hates and I mean hates to write. She battles him non-stop for hours over schoolwork. He is going into 3rd this year but last year she called me about 2 wks in to the start of school. The teacher had sent home every single piece of work for the week hat he didn't do and it was all of the work for the week. I was livd that the teacher didn't contact her that he wasn't even atemping to do his written work. That left her with 2 days to get him to do it. Which took amost a month. I did some research and e already had an IEP so i wa easier to impliment this. I ent out and bought 2 sets of microphones that he talks into and the words show up on the screen. We normally can get him to write 1 page a day but after that he just won't do it. I bought my sister a new computer just for him and the school didn't want to provide him th a laptop so I bought one for him as well for school. Now the teacers upload his work on the computer and he completes everything on time now. He knows how to write but just really hates doing it. I flew out to her to do the IEP meeting to make the apporpriate changes. It was a little bit of a fight but I know the IEP laws back and forth so it was ended quickly.

Angela - posted on 07/06/2011

The school called CPS on me also and CPS tried to tell me if a doctor prescribed her medications and I refused to give them to her it was medical neglect.
That is when I went and got my own testing done. They backed off after that. But again since when can schools diagnose children with anything? Teachers have teaching degrees (and some don't even have that) not medical or psychology etc. degrees.
I want to add their are some wonderful teachers and schools unfortunately my daughter did not get to experience that until it was too late.
It has taken a lot of therapy to get her self esteem up, but over the years she is finally happy and doing well. I blame the school system more than anything else for her low self esteem issues. They made her feel stupid and worthless. I even told them they were hurting her and predicted she would drop out of school and give up all together if they did not help her. She did drip out but I got her in a special school again...
I agree also not all kids need to be social butterflies, just because a kid likes to play alone or with a few friends does not make him autistic! CRAZY if you ask me.

Constance - posted on 07/06/2011

My 15 yr old now has been diagnosed with several disorders but the first time we had a diagnosis was when she was 9 and that was ODD. We had suspected more of ADD not ADHD but she also had severe learning disabilities when she was younger. She was in inclusion classrooms until 4th grade which was best for her. When she stated school she barely could speak and her testing revieled that she had the IQ of a 2 yr old. It took a lot of time and work but with the combination of teachers and me and my husband she learned and now is going to be a Sophmore this fall and she is in all gifted courses. She past all of her A.P. Courses with a 97 average. She acomplished it all with very little medication. She has maybe been medicated for 9 monthes in total throughout all her years.
If all teachers sat back and remembered that kids are kids then we wouldn't be told that so many kids need to be medicated. I have for the most part had very good teachers and one awesome principal. I have open communication with the teachers but I am not quiet either I push to know and I expect an answer. My kids will have good grades because they will have success. I am tired of hearing someone say that kid is never going to be anything. Kids lean the way they are taught. If you have no faith in them they won't have faith in themselves.

Yalana - posted on 07/06/2011

I had an acquaintance whose parents were bullied into medicating him when he was in school. The school had actually told his parents, "Put him on ADD medication or we're kicking him out." I haven't heard that...yet...but I have been fighting tooth and nail to keep him from getting this stigma of "Oh, he's not like the others...something's wrong with him." I had a former friend call CFS on me because she thought it was wrong of me not to drug my son up. I told her where to go, and said when they start making drugs to keep kids from being geniuses (like hers), then I MIGHT consider putting my otherwise intelligent, friendly, lovable son on something...but don't hold your breath." The community school I had him in for 3rd grade was THE WORST!!!!! The bullying was atrocious, and it wasn't just the students who would do it in front of the teachers...the teachers and the assistant principal did it, too. They gave me all kinds of surveys to fill out and had me take him to doctors to get him diagnosed as autistic or Asperger's. I found the surveys to be an extremely inaccurate way to determine what was "wrong" with him, because most of the questions pertained to his birth and his toddler years...stuff a 3rd grade teacher cannot possibly know about unless he or she is actually related to the student. He wasn't premature, the only problem with the pregnancy was on my and my doctor's end (labor stopped by drugs meant to speed it up, doctor underestimating his weight...grossly), but otherwise, he was born just fine. Same with my other 2 sons. I raised him to be respectful, polite, helpful...things that seem to freak the younger generations out today. He didn't act like a spoiled brat and I still won't let any of my kids act that way. He doesn't need a million friends...he has some very good friends that have stuck by him, and that's enough for him. Too many kids are all, "I'll only be your friend if you have the latest video games and console, or wear the latest basketball star's jersey, etc." Too materialistic. My son doesn't have any game consoles or video games, but I do let him pick out the clothes that he will wear to school. He picks what he likes and what makes him comfortable. He loves to draw and is a Star Wars fanatic. Most boys think he's weird for liking Star Wars. To him and me, it's just like being obsessed with the latest Grand Theft Auto game or Tinkerbell game. When we lived with his father, he would play some games on his dad's old N64, but I had to take that away from him because he stopped focusing on his school work. School comes first in our house. I have a hard time in knowing what to do with him because I was an A-B student and was raised that the only option there was in life was to do the work. His second grade teacher did the writing part of his work for him just so she could give him some credit for doing it...and now, 4 years later, he still believes that the teacher should do his written work for him. She was the reason I pulled him out of his first school, along with the principal labeling my son the school bully when I would witness 1st graders tormenting him on the playground behind his dad's house. He sort of started to straighten up in 4th grade at another school, but as soon as his dad got laid off from work and was home more, he started slipping again. His dad is trying to say that it was him being home more that helped him...it wasn't. I have the report card to prove it. His dad never really helped him with his homework, and the one time he "tried", it did not end well after only a few minutes. I don't like the term "special needs". That's being thrown around too loosely, as well. My son doesn't need "special" attention...just a teacher who realizes that kids learn differently and that it doesn't make them defective. I wish my sons could have my kindergarten, second and fifth grade teachers...best teachers ever! My 5th grade teacher knew that each of us were different and would teach her lessons on both levels. She read from the book, but "illustrated" it through verbal and almost acrobatic presentations. We only had one student get held back that year, but she (the student) just didn't care anyway, so it was basically all her own doing. I still talk to 2 of those teachers on Facebook. We need more teachers willing to accommodate kids' learning styles than to just insist we drug them to make them easier to "handle'.

Angela - posted on 07/05/2011

OMG so glad some parents see what I have seen for years! One of my now young adult children was labled ADHD and let me tell you it was the school and teachers that pushed it!!!! Since when do teachers an schools have medical degrees? Now the new thing to label children is Autism of some sort or another!
I want to say I do think some children/adults have these disorders but I do not believe so many do and are being unfairly labeled! This label sticks for life.
I say if your school is pushy push back if you don't agree. My daughter who they said had ADHD did not . I went and got her througly tested at Universtiy of North Carolina, come to find out
A) she was born at 28 weeks and it was not uncommon for preemies to be less mature in the early school years.
B) she had a short term memory deficit
C) she also had mild dyslexia.
D) her muscles were not devloping at a normal rate so she was weaker than most kids her age, thus why gym was so hard for her.... they said she would refuse and act up.
What made it worse was they would not give her special education! I had to fight for it. She was one child that needed special edcuation. By the time I fought it and go it she was in grade 6. She already hated school and her self esteem was shit. They kept telling me I was shit because I would not medicate her!
I finally put her in a private school, I had to work there for free part-time to afford it so she could get the attention she deserved.
I want to say now at age 22, she is happy and studying to be a hair dresser. She is also a model, has her own place even. She still gets help because of her disabilities but it was never ADD/ADHD.
I strongly suggest taking a child for a full work up of testing before you go with a school's and one doc's recommendation of ADD/ADHD. Many doctors just look at the check list and prescribe meds.
If I did not listen to my gut and do my thesis on the subject I may of fell for it too.... I was lucky to have done the research. If I had fell for the ADD/ADHD lable my daughter may have never gotten the proper help she needed for her disabilities!
Having a short term memory deficite is very hard to deal with. But her teachers would say she was not trying... she did the math yesterday but today she says she does not know how to do it. Well she was telling the truth and then when they punished her she acted out.

Yalana - posted on 07/05/2011

Because more parents today are making a bigger deal out of being popular and accepted than being smart. I grew up with kids who were friends with everyone, but not a lot of smarts. Those parents didn't amount to a hill of beans. In fact, they made fun of those who were smart and have made something of themselves. Half of them ended up pregnant before graduation. I have former classmates who have kids graduating from high school and starting college in the fall, and we've only been out of school 16 years!!!!! I thought I was old having an 11-year-old...one friend of mine has a son in his second year of college! Most people don't start forming lifelong friendships until around puberty, anyway. Most of my closest and dearest friends came from high school and college, not grade school. I had been stuck for 9 years in the same building with them, and couldn't wait until high school to get away from them! Most of them have grown up since school, thankfully. Some of them have seen or heard what I have been through and have expressed their pride in me for having the courage to get out and talk about it. Some of these people did not experience trauma growing up, unless you call being spoiled "trauma". I didn't have a lot of friend sin grade school, but my teachers wished they had more kids like me in their classrooms. They didn't want the smart-mouthed, spoiled brats they had. Now, they want those kinds of kids! I had one of my son's teachers tell me that if he acted more like the kids in his class, he might have more friends. I stared at her for several seconds and replied, "I'm sorry. I don't spoil my kids for several good reasons. I like the way he is, and I am NOT about to spoil him so that he can have friends. If being a brat and having material things gets him friends, those kids are NOT worth his time."

Constance - posted on 07/05/2011

I have to agree schools are way too concerned with kids making friends. My oldest doesn't get along with a lot of kids but she does have 5 really good friends. That she would only hang out with in and out of school. He teachers kept telling me if she would branch out more than she would fair better. Really? Last time I checked even as adults most of us have 1 or 2 really close friends that we confide in and do our craziest things with. Then we have friends we enjoy having a cup of coffee with and then we a numerous accaintences. If we can survive on having a couple really close friends then why can't our children?

Yalana - posted on 07/05/2011

Angela - I feel the same way. Too many people don't want to deal with kids who have these "issues" and want to label them and put them on drugs so that they are easier to deal with. My oldest son has been in this boat since he was in kindergarten. I even had one school try to get me to have him diagnosed as autistic! His doctor laughed a good one and then said, "When they get their medical license, have them call me." They wanted him to be diagnosed as autistic because he wasn't making friends...nothing about his failing academics. To me, academics are way more important than how many friends you have. I hated most of the kids I spent 9 years of school with, and didn't really make any friends until high school. Having friends did not get me into college...my grades did. My son is not ADD, ADHD (I know...my brother was so hyper as a toddler he wouldn't even sit still long enough to potty train), autistic, or Asperger's...teachers want their jobs to be super easy, and any child who does not fit the criteria is automatically labeled. I even had a teacher tell me, "We don't want him to be labeled." Um, obviously you do because you already have. Teachers need to learn the same thing that doctors need to learn...not everyone is the same. Doctors think that everyone will react the same way to things, and teachers (not all, but most of the ones I have encountered) believe all kids learn the same. They do not. I am book smart. My boyfriend is both book smart and street smart (as they call it). My brother learns by just doing it. Just because a child does not learn the same way as everyone else should not be cause to label him or her as anything but a child. They are not "learning disabled". I had someone try to tell me that because her son is a borderline genius, he is handicapped...seriously? He is borderline genius and you want him to be given a negative label? Why? We all are imperfect. We learn how to deal with it and move on. People are too quick to label what they don't understand or won't understand.

Angela - posted on 07/05/2011

I do not have time to read all the post at the moment....but I did my thesis on ADD/ADHD. Their is not any medical proof it even exists. ( IE being born with it). It is just behaviors that one does a check list and thus you have it or not.
Any one will concentrate better on stimulants! So when you medicate children with ADD/ADHD and the;y concentrate better it simply maybe the side effect of the drug not that it is treating any condition. BTW give some one cocaine, coffee they will say the same...
My feeling is that if children have troubles that are described as ADD/ADHD their is much more to it than giving drugs and calling it a day.
In fact I would never give my child any drugs for ADD\ADHD after doing the research I did. I think cognitive therapy for children helps in bad cases and yes parenting.... Also look at the social situations of school rooms, over crowding, dangers, drugs, guns, violence,.... I would be distracted. I read once that the average time a teacher has per child is 1.5 minutes... I just feel ADD?ADHD is far to commonly labeled on children...Their may be a condition of it but I think it is very rare vs. how common it is today.
Also remember the number one selling drugs are for ADD\ADHD!
So I agree with the article to a certain extent.

Yalana - posted on 07/04/2011

I can understand that with my stepson, who is 5 and was abused by his own mother, but my oldest did not start acting this way until he got to school. I have had several doctors, therapists and parents say that he would do better if he were homeschooled. He's had teachers who have been more woried about his socialization than his academics (when having friends can get you into college or a full-time career, then maybe I'll listen...until then, it's the grade that gets them in). I do blame his dislike of school and his distrust of teachers on his kindergarten teacher, as she was the biggest bully. I agree that this may have been traumatic for him, since he had been so excited to go to school. I've never stifled his expression. In fact, he expresses himself quite artistically in his comic books that he writes and draws himself. He's happy and fine outside of school. My brother was ADHD for most of his childhood, then outgrew the H part in high school. He never experienced any trauma in his life until he was much older and some of his friends started dying in high school. I've heard that ADD and ADHD are passed on from mother to son. My mom believes she may have been ADD as a child, but no one had ever heard of it back then to diagnose her. I am not ADD. I have always been able to focus and I did very well in school. I'm finishing up a second degree in two weeks after being in school for 26 months straight. My son knows the work, he just doesn't like to do the written part. He's always been very verbal and was speaking in complete sentences at 15 months. My second son was 19 months when he finally spoke and did extremely well in kindergarten this past year. My third son didn't speak until he was almost 2. I have no idea what the future holds for him. I also do not believe in this "Summer babies are always slower because they start school younger than the others" shpeal...my middle son is a summer baby and has done a hundred times better than the oldest and possibly even the youngest, my 2 winter babies.

Alahnna - posted on 07/02/2011

I agree with Dyan. Trauma can cause some of the symptoms of ADHD, but I do not believe these things cause ADHD. My son has never suffered from any trauma, he has not been forced to suppress his feelings, he was a breastfed baby who was fed on demand, slept in my bedroom until he was 8 months old and I always encourage him to express his emotions in appropriate ways. His father,like Dyan's, was very similar and I truly believe it is just the way he is wired.

Rosie - posted on 07/02/2011

my oldest child has ADHD and the article had me freaking out for a second or two. i thought what on earth could've traumatised him when he was younger?? then i snapped out of it, and realized that he is the way he is because of genetics and how his brain functions. his biological father was EXACTLY the same way. it's almost frightening to me how similar they are having never met, but handful of times all under the age of 2.



while i don't discredit that trauma could cause hyperactivity that could be mislabeled as ADHD, i don't feel it is the reason for REAL ADHD.

Lissa - posted on 07/02/2011

At the moment I have no idea about the link to these conditions, ask me again after a couple of years as a support teacher!
The article in itself makes sense about the things that will upset children and the fact that many parents expect children to fit in with them.

Constance - posted on 07/02/2011

I also agree with you Jane. It is a behavior issue. As a society as a whole we are too quick just to medicate instead of actually address the problem. Yes some kids are very hyperactive and it can e the only means to take control.
With having my 4 children, I only have medicated one. She is the exception but it isn't just ADHD that effects her. She hasn't been medicated for year just in times where she has no control and we can't find a balance. Once we have balance then she comes off them off again.

If we don't address anything in our children then they will never learn to cope. I also bbelieve that we have to do this as a whole society and not label children bad just because they can't sit down and not move. It takes patience sometimes more than others but we need to exhaust everything else before just sitting back and saying that meds are the only thing that will control them.

Ashley=) - posted on 07/02/2011

I Agree 100% with you Jane.I could not of said it better myself.:-)

Jane - posted on 07/02/2011

Having dealt with foster children and kids in our school's special ed programs I can say that yes, many of these kids have seen trauma, experienced bad parenting, and show hyperactivity. However, I have also seen children who are greatly loved, protected from trauma, and who have parents that do tend to their needs, who are very clearly hyperactive.

Hyperactivity is a symptom, not a disease or disorder by itself, It is the result of several causes. Some hyperactive kids are indeed victims of unhealed trauma. Some have sleeping disorders that keep the child from getting enough sleep. Some hyperactivity is because parents never imposed limits or boundaries so the child has never developed controls on their own behavior. But some hyperactivity is an indication of ADHD.

Just as a person may suffer hallucinations for more than one reason (schizophrenia, influenza, medication, head injury), kids display hyperactivity for different reasons. Some of these kids have classic ADHD and respond well to ADHD medications. Others are hyperactive for different reasons.

The term "hyperactive" is NOT a synonym for ADHD. It is a behavioral symptom that tells us that there is something wrong. The cause of the hyperactivity is what needs to be addressed in each child, and different causes require different solutions.

Unfortunately, kids who have experienced trauma often have parents who have either caused the trauma or allowed it to happen. These parents are not particularly involved in caring for their children and so don't work with schools and doctors to determine the cause of their child's hyperactivity. Thus, the label of ADHD is not opposed or investigated.

If a child is labeled as having ADHD but does not respond well to ADHD medications, then alternative causes for hyperactivity need to be addressed.

ADHD is a real disorder. Hyperactivity is a symptom of ADHD as well as other disorders. The trick is to distinguish between the two.

Liz - posted on 07/02/2011

*Hunger, thirst
*Being separated from mom or dad before they are emotionally ready
*Sleeping alone before they choose to on their own
*Being forced into substitute care before they choose to be separated from mom or dad
*Suddenly being removed from a learning situation before they were ready to quit
*Suddenly being removed from a warm, nurturing interaction
*Having their needs disrespected by someone they are talking to or interacting with
*Being forced to obey a rule they don't understand

I agree with everything there.

But I don't know about the connection with ADHD. I mean, it sounds like pure speculation -- plausible, sure -- but not researched.

I think kids have too many toys -- especially loud electronic ones which aren't open-ended. Then there's TV and the Internet and video games. It's just too much. None of those things teach focus and concentration. (Well, I suppose video games do in a way.)

JuLeah - posted on 07/02/2011

I will write more later, but yes. I agree! I worked as a special ed teacher .... can't tell you have many kids I worked with labled ADD or ADHD ... and how many ACTUALLY struggled with the condition.

The behaviors of kids who have seen trauma are like the behaviors of a kid with such a label ... easier though to label em and drug em then deal with em .....

So many many kids wish such a label also had great trauma in their past ... or parents that were .... well, I'll write more later ... not saying ALL kids .... not saying ADHD is not a real thing ... not saying if your kid has been so labeled you are a bad parent ... but am saying there is truth in the above article