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Re: ADD/ADHD People's Resolution---YUCK!

Posted by Sara T on June 4, 2000, at 21:51:10

In reply to ADD/ADHD People's Resolution---YUCK!, posted by Renee N on June 3, 2000, at 10:05:25

> Dear Sara and everyone,
> Have you read their resolution? I don't like it.
> These people have a real problem with school personnel . I believe school staff can be very helpful in identifying children with a variety of physical, mental, and emotional "challenges". Children in school are trying to learn academic and social skills in an enviroment that is not shared by parents or non-school professionals. Teachers and other education professionals have a unique and important view of the child where he/she spends a huge portion of his/her day. Of course no one knows a child as well as his/her family, but no one knows a child the same way as his /her teacher/classmates either. We need to try to work as a team with as many people as possible who have knowledge that can help our children.
> The resolution Bob Seay and About.com authored also seemed to pretty anti meds in tone. I tried ADHD meds with my son for a year, then took him off to see the difference. The meds made him nervous and not noticeably better. When he went off the meds, he wasn't nervous and his ADHD symptoms weren't worse, so he no longer uses the meds. I am still experimenting with ADHD meds for myself with the help of a psychiatrist. I am happy to have the right to decide what's best for myself and my child with the advice of others.
> I have known and/or worked with many children for whom ADHD meds made wonderful differences in their social and academic abilities, and consequently in their self confidence and capacity to like themselves. I wouldn't sign any resolution, petition, or document that could possibly make it more difficult for people who need any kind of medicine to improve the quality of their lives to get that medicine.
>
> Please read carefully before endorsing anyone else's ideas!!!
> Renee N

Renee,
I'm not in agreement with you about the "anti-meds" tone of that resolution. I think that most of the posters on that site enndorse meds for the correct uses. What they want is better insurance coverage for multi-modal therapies and I think they are worried about the "overdiagnosis" of ADHD by persons who are not qualified to make diagnosises (although in my experience that hasn't happened, I have heard others complain about it) and the subsequent backlash.

What has happened to me along those lines is that once I got a diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome (an autistic spectrum disorder) for my son, at his IEP meeting the school psychologist was very dismissive of the eval report and said that the Asperger's diagnosis was another "flavor of the month" diagnosis. And he hadn't spent any time at all with my son. As a matter of fact, my son was coming home from kindergarten saying he was going to burn himself up and bury himself, and not once did the teacher tell me anything. It wasn't until I went to the school counselor and told them that we needed to do something! The same kindergarten teacher was asked 3 times to fill out a Conners Teacher's rating so my son's psychological evaluation could proceed. She never did send it. And this year my son's Special Ed teacher won't even fill out a behavior report so I can track my son's meds better, in spite of repeated med changes, she sees nothing to report. My son has also had excellent teachers in this school, whose talent and dedication are unfortunatley buried under too many kids and no aids.

So, yes, there probably are more than a few people on that site who are frustrated with school personnel. And it is a shame that there isn't a better partnership between schools and parents. We should be a team.

I did not put up that post, however, to endorse anything. I thought it might be of interest to some of the people who have ADD who post on this site. I do agree, though, that person's affected with ADD, or any other hidden disability need to have their voice heard by their legislators to get their needs met in the larger community.

Respectfully,
Sara T.



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