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Q: over identification of children with attention deficit disorder ( No Answer,   4 Comments )
Question  
Subject: over identification of children with attention deficit disorder
Category: Reference, Education and News > Education
Asked by: chuck22-ga
List Price: $25.00
Posted: 29 Jun 2006 09:31 PDT
Expires: 29 Jul 2006 09:31 PDT
Question ID: 742047
Is the over identification of children with attention deficit disorder
(ADD/ADHD) directly related to teachers and school administrators who
ignore other possible methods of intervention!
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: over identification of children with attention deficit disorder
From: aussietpp-ga on 29 Jun 2006 11:20 PDT
 
Teachers thinks the child is ADD/ADHD turns out the child is dyslexic,
not ADD/ADHD.

Happened to a friend of mine.
Subject: Re: over identification of children with attention deficit disorder
From: pinkfreud-ga on 29 Jun 2006 12:09 PDT
 
The surest way for a community to suddenly acquire a large number of
students with a certain sort of disability is for additional funds or
other incentives to be made available for special programs that help
such students. Magically, if extra money or equipment or other goodies
are offered to school districts which have X number of students with a
diagnosis of "crumbled widgie syndrome," overnight there will be at
least X number (and usually more) of students who are said to be
suffering from the malady in question. There will be crumbled widgie
specialists coming out of the woodwork, and parents will be dismayed
to learn that their childrens' widgies aren't quite what they oughta
be (but can be improved with hefty infusions of taxpayer dollars).

I don't mean to imply that ADD and ADHD are not real; I'm quite
certain that they are. But I also think that the majority of the kids
who are said to have these conditions are, in fact, normal kids.
Subject: Re: over identification of children with attention deficit disorder
From: myoarin-ga on 30 Jun 2006 04:02 PDT
 
I agree with Chuck and Pink.  Even without the funding, just the
"official" recognition of ADD allows teachers to tack the name to
behavior that seems symptomatic, thereby absolving themselves and
those kids (and parents) of responsibility.
I wonder how many such "in-school ADD" children can sit glued to their
computers with no signs of attention deficiency?
Subject: Re: over identification of children with attention deficit disorder
From: thursdaylast23-ga on 30 Jun 2006 06:07 PDT
 
While you don't mention drugs explicitly, I'd say the medication
factor plays a key role in the dynamic of the problem. From talking to
personal friends (both parents and teachers) and reading occasional
articles on the ADD/ADHD issue, I think that, along with funding
"incentives" as a potential factor, there are parents who press to
have their children diagnosed so they can be put on medication; there
are teachers who press for the same thing (as happened to a friend,
who preferred other interventions for her child than a simple "drug
solution"); and there are probably medical practitioners who may
choose the diagnosis/prescription route as a way to satisfy and/or
reassure parents. And then there is an educational system that
emphasizes success on standardized tests as a primary avenue to
educational progress (additional pressure on parents, students, and
teachers to do whatever necessary to ensure that, etc.). It seems to
me like it's a complex, troubling issue that involves a number of
factors/dynamics.

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