Shocking story, but truly representative of our lives

[ukstudent]

Did anyone see Louis Theroux's documentary in April called "America's Medicated Kids"?

 

I am not suggesting in any way that this child does not have the conditions he has been diagnosed with.

 

I am just asking on a general basis.

[espadrille]

Did anyone see Louis Theroux's documentary in April called "America's Medicated Kids"?

 

I am not suggesting in any way that this child does not have the conditions he has been diagnosed with.

 

I am just asking on a general basis.

 

No but i saw it advertised.Was it talking about the numbers of kids in America who are on medications?

There are many kids who are on Ritalin for adhd here but not so many kids with Asperger Syndrome are on medication.Dont think it mentioned whether this little boy was.

[espadrille]

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors

Paxil

Prozac

Zoloft

Celexa

Lexapro

Antipsychotic

Risperidone

Abilify

 

These are some that are used but often the child with AS will not be on these generally as usually other interventions are tried first.

[bananagirl]

Do you think someone with ADHD chooses to have the impulses and urges ? or perhaps those with Tourettes just choose to shout out the random comments/ have tics and spasms just for *cough* and giggles?

 

God, you're such a plonker!

 

 

Slightly unfair I think. Schizophrenia and Tourette's are well established and widely recognised.

 

While the boy in the OP seems to me to be clearly mentally ill, there remains much skepticism regarding Aspergers and especially ADHD. Many education and health professionals regard ADHD as widely over diagnosed. While I have never met a child with Aspergers who I thought was normal - I have met many "ADHD sufferers" who were clearly the products of bad parenting.

 

We should remember that Aspergers is a "growth industry" The link in the OP's sig is one example! Aspergers still has much credibility - but the more it is diagnosed, the more it will loose this I think.

 

The intake of ADHD and Aspergers children into special schools for moderate learning difficulties has increased dramatically over recent years. They bring with them the problem of behaviour management and often unpleasant parents. There are some people who believe a good number of these children belong in a PRU (behavioural unit) as aside from behaviour, they have no discernible learning difficulties.

 

I think it is entirely fair to remain skeptical, as some parents *want* their child diagnosed with something like this - in order to excuse their lack of parenting and also in some cases for the extra money the government may provide.

[espadrille]

Slightly unfair I think. Schizophrenia and Tourette's are well established and widely recognised.

 

While the boy in the OP seems to me to be clearly mentally ill, there remains much skepticism regarding Aspergers and especially ADHD. Many education and health professionals regard ADHD as widely over diagnosed. While I have never met a child with Aspergers who I thought was normal - I have met many "ADHD sufferers" who were clearly the products of bad parenting.

 

We should remember that Aspergers is a "growth industry" The link in the OP's sig is one example! Aspergers still has much credibility - but the more it is diagnosed, the more it will loose this I think.

 

The intake of ADHD and Aspergers children into special schools for moderate learning difficulties has increased dramatically over recent years. They bring with them the problem of behaviour management and often unpleasant parents. There are some people who believe a good number of these children belong in a PRU (behavioural unit) as aside from behaviour, they have no discernible learning difficulties.

 

I think it is entirely fair to remain skeptical, as some parents *want* their child diagnosed with something like this - in order to excuse their lack of parenting and also in some cases for the extra money the government may provide.

 

I guess from your post that you are not a parent of a child with AS then, possibly working in education?

 

Asperger Syndrome, A growth industry? Have you any idea how ridiculous that is. Just see how many people up and down the country offer the service. Very few. Reason being that there is little or no money out there in services to pay for support. Why do you think that the groups that are set up are parent led groups? ...because there is no other support in some sections of the country. Whilst there is better support for some children in some areas, there is little or none for adults.

Sheffield has a general policy of integrating children with Asperger Syndrome in to mainstream schools and we have a few integrated resources but we need to be better at the support for the teachers and the children. We need more specific diagnosis from educational psychologists as many are incorrectly diagnosed unfortunately.

 

Let me tell you no parent would want their child to have Asperger Syndrome. i would certainly not wish this on anyone.I have a 20 year old with AS and one cannot imagine what life is really like, unless you are another parent of another offspring with the same issues.

[bananagirl]

Asperger Syndrome, A growth industry? Have you any idea how ridiculous that is. Just see how many people up and down the country offer the service. Very few.

 

http://www.shu.ac.uk/theautismcentre/courses.html

 

There are courses in Aspergers / ASD / etc at most universities up and down the country. This was simply not the case 5-6 years ago. More teachers are specialising in ASD than in teaching the deaf.

 

It's perhaps not the same "service" you provide? I believe there is lots of room in an ever expanding market though!

 

We need more specific diagnosis from educational psychologists as many are incorrectly diagnosed unfortunately.

 

I agree totally!

 

 

Let me tell you no parent would want their child to have Asperger Syndrome. i would certainly not wish this on anyone.I have a 20 year old with AS and one cannot imagine what life is really like, unless you are another parent of another offspring with the same issues.

 

 

I said before that I've never met a child with Aspergers who wasn't obviously ill. Sadly I have met many children with ADHD who coincidentally come from terrible families...

 

Some parents (terrible ones) may wish to have their child diagnosed with something in order to get:

1) A statement of special needs.

2) Something to blame their child's behaviour on.

3) Disability funding.

[Plain Talker]

http://www.shu.ac.uk/theautismcentre/courses.html

 

There are courses in Aspergers / ASD / etc at most universities up and down the country. This was simply not the case 5-6 years ago. More teachers are specialising in ASD than in teaching the deaf.

 

It's perhaps not the same "service" you provide? I believe there is lots of room in an ever expanding market though!

I agree totally!

I said before that I've never met a child with Aspergers who wasn't obviously ill. Sadly I have met many children with ADHD who coincidentally come from terrible families...

 

Some parents (terrible ones) may wish to have their child diagnosed with something in order to get:

1) A statement of special needs.

2) Something to blame their child's behaviour on.

3) Disability funding.

 

I have ADHD. I had ADHD from before it was fashionable.

 

Way, way back, when I was just a ten month/ one-year-old baby, I was so hyper, I would not/could not sleep.

 

My parents, in desperation, had to take me to the doctors to get a sleeping draught, so they could actually get some rest.

 

A year-old child does not decide to keep his/ her parents awake.

 

A year-old child does not have the self-determination to decide "I know, I'll play mum and dad up, and not settle!"

 

I was precocious. I walked at 6 months, talked coherently at a year old. (I mean a proper conversation, not baby-talk.) I could recite the alphabet, backwards at eighteen months, I could read at two years old (and, by that, I mean read fluently, out loud, from a book I had not encountered before, not one which I learnt by rote)

 

All my mum and dad got from me was "Who? What? Why? When? Where?" it must have driven them batty.

 

Fortunately, my sister, who has autism was a "perfect" baby, as a baby-in-arms, in comparison to me. She was like a little doll. I doubt my mum and dad could have coped with a second one like me! lol. She slept 23 hours out of 24, and eve had to be woken for feeds.

[bananagirl]

I have ADHD. I had ADHD from before it was fashionable.

 

Way, way back, when I was just a ten month/ one-year-old baby, I was so hyper, I would not/could not sleep.

 

My parents, in desperation, had to take me to the doctors to get a sleeping draught, so they could actually get some rest.

 

A year-old child does not decide to keep his/ her parents awake.

 

A year-old child does not have the self-determination to decide "I know, I'll play mum and dad up, and not settle!"

 

I was precocious. I walked at 6 months, talked coherently at a year old. (I mean a proper conversation, not baby-talk.) I could recite the alphabet, backwards at eighteen months, I could read at two years old (and, by that, I mean read fluently, out loud, from a book I had not encountered before, not one which I learnt by rote)

 

All my mum and dad got from me was "Who? What? Why? When? Where?" it must have driven them batty.

 

Fortunately, my sister, who has autism was a "perfect" baby, as a baby-in-arms, in comparison to me. She was like a little doll. I doubt my mum and dad could have coped with a second one like me! lol. She slept 23 hours out of 24, and eve had to be woken for feeds.

 

 

It sounds awful, your story is fascinating. I've never said or thought that ADHD does not exist. I do think that it is, massively over diagnosed.

 

Perhaps if you bounced a pencil off my head, then told me it was "your ADHD" that made you do it from behind your hand while trying to stifle the giggles - I would be less inclined to believe you really had it. Couple that situation with aggressive unpleasant parents and I just don't buy it.

 

It has been a growth industry for the past 10 years. Plenty of people make money from misdiagnosed ADHD....

[pinkpiximama]

i have a child with as & adhd who is at this very moment driving me insane

 

its been a tough few years education wise (not statmented) so funding for extra support unavailable

 

such a sad story

 

hopefully with support things get easier and life enjoyed a little more for the family

[Plain Talker]

It sounds awful, your story is fascinating. I've never said or thought that ADHD does not exist. I do think that it is, massively over diagnosed.

 

Perhaps if you bounced a pencil off my head, then told me it was "your ADHD" that made you do it from behind your hand while trying to stifle the giggles - I would be less inclined to believe you really had it. Couple that situation with aggressive unpleasant parents and I just don't buy it.

 

It has been a growth industry for the past 10 years. Plenty of people make money from misdiagnosed ADHD....

 

Impulses affect different people in different ways.

 

I've tried to put the handbrake on my best mate's car... Whilst we were in motion...

 

I do agree that there are, for sure, some children who are, supposedly ADHD, and really, it's just that little Peregrine, or little Saskia needs to understand what "No" means. And little S and P's parents need to understand what feckless means.

 

One little boy I know goes completely bat-poop crazy if he has anything with that yellow colourant in it (is it E102/ 104? it's either Tartrazine or Quinoline Yellow, anyway?) and if he has sugar.

 

Combined, the natural progression is that this child does a wonderful impression of the wall-of-death-on-a-250-cc-motorbike across the walls and ceiling of whatever room he happens to be in.

 

When he goes off like this, feckless mum, in Semi-pathetic voice says

 

"Oh, Peregrine... Do- ooooo-ooonn't...!"

 

* she looks pleadingly at the other mums in the room...

 

"He's always like this if he has E-numbers or sugar...."

 

I want to shake mum, and say

 

"Then don't stinking well let him have access to the colourants or sugars, in the first place you useless prat!"

 

The trouble is, it's useless parents like this that give the genuine families coping with ADHD and/ or Aspergers a bad name.

 

For me ADHD is having a mind that runs in excess of 100MPH.

 

It's coping with a mind that runs like the Flying Scotsman, or the Mallard 24/7 and simply won't damn well switch off, even when you have the matchsticks on standby, and are dropping with exhaustion.

 

As a child, to get myself to sleep, I had to read, and read, and read, until I finally dropped.

 

My incessant questions wore my parents out, because, don't forget, if your toddler cannot sleep, then it's even-odds that you aren't going to get a wink, either.

 

It must have been purgatory for my parents.