ADHD or Just Naughty kids "the Star"

[mrseggy]

Many of the recent posts on this topic are, in my view, missing the point of the OP. I don't think anybody is saying that autism is a myth, or that severe behavioural disorders in children can be universally categorised as 'naughty' behaviour.

 

What I am saying (and probably most other posters too) is that it has become too easy to categorise badly behaved kids as having some kind of medical condition, i.e. to label them as having 'ADHD' or 'Aspberger's syndrome'. This helps no one, and perhaps especially not the genuine cases.

 

But that's just it, its not easy label a child (at least its not with Aspergers i have no experience of ADHD to i cant comment), the diagnosis procedure is a long drawn out process, the child if observed by many professionals in different enviroments the final diagnosis has to be signed and agreed to by 3 doctors. I understand that there will be some idiots that will indeed claim their child has some sort of special needs in order to excuse their poorly parented child although why anyone would do this is beyond me , when my daughter was first referred to Ryegate i would have give my left arm to have been told i was just a crap parent!!! do this course and she'll be fine!!

 

Exactly so. It also doesn't help when people try to claim famous or worthy people could have been autistic when theres no proof. Its just supposition and doesn't help people now.

 

Why? i think it does, if helps boost the confidence of the kids with ASD surely it aint a bad thing? and anything that raises awareness in a positive light is all good in my book .

Edited February 13, 2011 by mrseggy
typos

[discodown]

Why? i think it does, if helps boost the confidence of the kids with ASD surely it aint a bad thing? and anything that raises awareness in a positive light is all good in my book .

Because it only ever portrays people who did something good or worthy and thats not the whole picture. Not everyone with autism/aspergers/ASD is a plucky little angel battling adversity. Some of them can be vile.

 

Besides which its now getting ridiculous i've seen something pointing out which fictional characters could be autistic or have aspergers. It doesn't help because theres no proof. You could say anything you wanted but in practical terms its of no use whatsoever. Saying Isaac Newton could have been autistic doesn't mean every kid with autism is going to be or can be a great physicist.

[spinac]

I understand that there will be some idiots that will indeed claim their child has some sort of special needs in order to excuse their poorly parented child ...

 

Yeah, like ... just because there's a problem with their nature, it doesn't also mean to say there's not a problem with their nurturing.

 

As parents we're not necessarily up to the job. I look back and can see many areas where I've failed to prepare my kids for the real world.

 

It's getting harder and harder for parents and teachers to enforce discipline, but there comes a point when boundaries are crossed and kids need figures of authority to keep them in line rather than a well meaning but weak person they don't respect.

 

It's not easy being a parent of "normal" kids. Where there are medical conditions affecting a child's behaviour, the parent's job becomes many times more difficult and anyone in that situation has my sympathies.

 

The problem that worries me is all the "normal" children who are molly coddled and excused for their behaviour in ways that ultimately are not good for them. I see it in the kids I've mentored, in the schools I've visited, in my friends kids, and I now recognise that I've been guilty myself of offering too much love and not enough discipline.

 

i would have give my left arm to have been told i was just a crap parent!!! do this course and she'll be fine!!

 

I know it must be difficult - maybe beyond my imagining, but the situation is surely not beyond some measure of control? I'm guessing you are a very good parent of an ASD child and have learned things you could teach others ... to help them cope and raise their child better.

 

Oh and ... who doesn't need a parenting course?

 

How many of us are natural parents and know how to inspire, give hope, raise expectations, encourage talent, teach youngsters how to fit in, to learn from others, respect elders, accept personal responsility and ultimately to become respected members of society themselves?

 

Oh, and ...

 

There's an article in today's paper about Jamie Oliver's Dream School coming up of Channel 4. In it he says about the teenage kids he's mentored to be chefs "You want to love them, be their chum. But what you've got to get right is the strictness. The balance between love and discipline is what Dream School is all about."

All this talk about respect and strict discipline. Jeez who have I become? I'm not the wet liberal I once was ...