ADD is Quite The Overused Excuse, it Would Seem...

[Lono Shrugged]

I dont have ADD, I can sit and listen to stuff that interests me for hours on end, and i can sit still all i want, But then again im 21.

Notice how you never seen any adults with ADD...Do you just grow out of it?

God no. I heard of marriages ruined by it. I was always under the impression that you need to be diagnosed with it. I was diagnosed with Dyslexia and "mild" ADD. But on the other hand I never showed any signs of ADD other than the signs that would be natural for a child as frustrated as I was. I think it can be easily mis-diagnosed but ADHD is like a fucking fizzy nightmare for some poor people. (I know it may just be called ADHD but I just associate it those two ways)

 

[Yoshemo]

I've observed over the years that anybody who exhibits a minor problem with paying attention or a small hyperactive tendency is immediately diagnosed with either ADD or ADHD.

This is just a small gripe I have, as I have ADD bad (my brother has it worse). we're talkin' not being able to sit still and listen to jack shit for more than a few seconds bad.

Whereas pretty much every kid I know supposedly has it even though they have near prefect grades and are probably some of the most relaxed people I know (off medication, mind you).

Now I'm not going to tell you all that ADD is a horrible affliction that ruins your life etc. But what I will say is that it can be... Tiring. To say the least and that it kinda makes me mad that every doctor calls every kid that wants to be loud and have fun hyperactive.

I personally think there should be clearer guidelines for ADD and ADHD.

Okay, I'm done bitching in circles now.

I'm the calmest person I know. I don't have much of a visual reaction to anything unless I get really pissed off (then I cry). When my dad bought me a car, I didn't even smile, even though I was super happy. But guess what? Doctors say I have ADHD.

 

[Sporky111]

I actually know a guy with bad ADHD. He had to drop out of school in Grade 10 because the school did jack-shit for him, and none of the teachers could pull their heads out of their asses long enough to notice that he didn't learn the way everyone else could.

On the other end of the spectrum, my brother was recently diagnosed with ADD. He doesn't have ADD. He has a case of being-a-lazy-teenager-looking-for-an-excuse-to-slack-off. He has the capability to have decent grades, and does get them often enough. He just doesn't like to put any effort into it and thinks that with ADD he can get away with it.

So yeah, I know what you mean by it being frustrating. Every kid who doesn't want to pay attention is diagnosed with ADD, probably just so the doctor doesn't have to tell the parents how they can raise their kid better.

 

[ddon]

My brother has ADHD and he is the calmest and smartest person in his class, though his teachers are pretty strange. He has a french teacher that always brags about her math PHD and yet, we alway wonder why she is not a math teacher.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

Here's a tip teachers: Get with the fucking program. No student has ever liked school and never will. Kids are for the most part, active, and sitting them down on a desk whilst reading out a fucking textbook is pretty much a recipe for disaster. Unless you involve the student in learning in an active way, they will always be very twitchy.

It's just incredible how lazy authority figures have gotten these days, isn't it? We used to teach discipline to our kids as if it was a number one priority. Now? Who cares? If he acts up in school, here are a bunch of pills and a number of diagnoses and tests because we think he has ADD when really we are too lazy to do fuck all.

 

[Jagers1994]

It's completely imaginary and drug companies like money of course it is overdiagnosed

 

[Wedlock49]

I've observed over the years that anybody who exhibits a minor problem with paying attention or a small hyperactive tendency is immediately diagnosed with either ADD or ADHD.

This is just a small gripe I have, as I have ADD bad (my brother has it worse). we're talkin' not being able to sit still and listen to jack shit for more than a few seconds bad.

Whereas pretty much every kid I know supposedly has it even though they have near prefect grades and are probably some of the most relaxed people I know (off medication, mind you).

Now I'm not going to tell you all that ADD is a horrible affliction that ruins your life etc. But what I will say is that it can be... Tiring. To say the least and that it kinda makes me mad that every doctor calls every kid that wants to be loud and have fun hyperactive.

I personally think there should be clearer guidelines for ADD and ADHD.

Okay, I'm done bitching in circles now.

I have ADHD myself and know it can be very taxing! Howevrr I controll mine without medication... i'm not a fan of what ritalin does to people... so I just keep myself collected, I used to meditate when I was younger and it really helped me learn to controll myself, I spend a lot of time keeping myself focused and then let myself loose every now and then before I explode.

 

[rekabdarb]

it is quite annoying when people say they have it... despite having no meds for it

 

[Pariah87]

No one seemed to have ADD when I was at lower school. I'm sure some did have it, but for the most part if we misbehaved at school our parents were informed, thereafter we got a hiding.

My cousin shows all the signs of having it, even though doctors don't believe he does. His parents have never disciplined him in the manner that I'm used to which seems strange because I firmly believe if he'd been smacked on the ass a few times when he was younger, he wouldn't be the way he is now.

Infact, iirc, ADD/ADHD never became a big thing untill smacking children became a socially unnaceptable thing to do, at which point every kid suddenly seemed to have it.

 

[Irridium]

I was once thought to have ADD because I didn't keep my stuff organized.

Which was bullshit since I knew where everything of mine is.

I have no doubt ADD and ADHD is serious and people have it, but I doubt a lot who are diagnosed with it actually have it.

 

[Cody211282]

Yea ADD and ADHD seem like a nice way for most parents to have an excuse for being horrible, hell I think that if more parents were to discipline their kids you would see the number of cases go way down.

 

[NotAPie]

I have ADHD, if you met me you can tell just by the way I act.
Edit: I never used it as an excuse though, my teachers knew I had it and I always had to take a pill before school, if I didn't do my homework I didn't use ADHD as an excuse, Why? Because I should be able to do my homework when I have my medication, same goes for everything else.

 

[MinishArcticFox]

They test for it at such a young age that it seems like everyone has it because little kids just can't sit still. I also hate how some people are diagnosed with it and then use it as an excuse. I understand that some people do have it and it does interfere with some activities but I hate it when people over use the excuse.

 

[carpathic]

Well, there might be something there in extreme cases, but, for most people it is a problem that can be mostly fixed through good therapy and a drug regime.

 

[KaiRai]

I was labelled 'potential ADHD' as a child.

But I know better. English is shit and boring, tipping chairs is fun. I just have a naturally low attention span. They're using ADD now as an excuse for not listening the same way they used asthma a few years back to explain obesity in children. No supported fact, and makes life difficult for those who actually have it.

 

[Eggsnham]

It's completely imaginary and drug companies like money of course it is overdiagnosed

It's not completely imaginary, on meds, I can focus so much better and actually get shit done.

Without meds I couldn't sit through more than two minutes of conversation without daydreaming about something completely unrelated.

It's just that doctors and parents think that when kids get one bad grade or want to be active that it's immediately ADD or ADHD.

There needs to be a standard for how unable to focus and do shit you are before doctors prescribe amphetamines to whatever kid they like.

 

[Con Carne]

lol, ADD didn't exist back in our parents day. If you couldn't pay attention or sit still, you got a slap to the back of the head or you get your mouth cleaned out with soap......and guess what, you didn't act up and you worked just fine. Know what else that sounds like? Nintendo. Are you seeing a trend here.
You can't slap consoles anymore, it'll mess up the disc and the insides, same thing essentially happens if you slap a child now a days. Things were made with higher quality standards back in the day....children included.

The real question is, "What do you do, if your kid Red Rings?".

Call technical support (mom) and send it back to the manufacturer...because at that point its her kid. lol

 

[Wordslinger]

Many parents just don't seem to want to believe that their 7 year old child is normal. "But Doctor, I don't think you understand, HE HAS ENERGY, LIKES TO PLAY, AND DOESN'T ENJOY LISTENING TO TEACHERS! THE ONLY EXPLANATION IS THAT HE HAS ADD!"