Someone claiming Higher DLA for ADHD?

[happyhippy]

Is there really such a thing as ADHD, or is it just a term used to justify badly-raised kids?

 

There was an interesting article in one of the broadsheets a few months ago suggesting the latter.

 

Funny how ADHD kids rarely seem to come from well-bred, intelligent and educated parents, isn't it?

 

In a spectacularly rare moment of concurrence with you Slarti, I find myself thinking the same.

[happyhippy]

In actuall fact a lot of kids with hyperactivity according to a report I saw not so long back are very intelligent overall, it's just that the child is not percieved as intelligent simply because of there hyper active behavoiur it wasn't excusing acts of arson or vandalism etc. Just stating generally that kids who are hyper active tend actually to be clever.

 

True many are clever, and very frustrated. So (admittedly making this somewhat black and white), my inference is that channelling the intelligence of these kids to calm them down is infinitely more useful than giving out medication.

 

Given that, this leads me to believe that these particular children aren't 'ill', are not 'hyper active', but badly behaved, through no fault of their own.

 

For God's sake, the first two words in the 'illness' say it all for me. 'Attention Deficit'. By definition, it would seem, the solution is to pay the kids some (more).

 

Of course, however, there are kids who really do have problems, and I certainly don't want to demean them, or their parents.

[beansforyou]

The Attention Deficit doesn't mean they don't get enough attention, it means they have difficulty in concentrating on anything for moderate lengths of time.

 

As for the 'type' of family children with ADHD come from, I think you'll find that most families who have children that have gone through the long and often emotional process of having their children correctly assessed, are hardly the type of family that don't give any thought about their children.

 

There are however people out there who abuse the term ADHD without actually having any medical assessment, just to cover up their bad parenting skills - it's easy to blame the child rather than look inwards.

[happyhippy]

The Attention Deficit doesn't mean they don't get enough attention, it means they have difficulty in concentrating on anything for moderate lengths of time.

 

Thanks for that

 

As for the 'type' of family children with ADHD come from, I think you'll find that most families who have children that have gone through the long and often emotional process of having their children correctly assessed, are hardly the type of family that don't give any thought about their children.

 

In the main, but I think you can say that for most parents. I'm lucky in that I've never had any hassle with my three girls (yet), but from day one, with all of them, they've had loads of attention from Mum and Dad. I honestly think that some of it is down to the fact that people are more inclined to leave small ones to their own devices and stare at the tv for a few hours.

 

Not that they don't love their kids, not that they don't care for them, not that they want for anything, but they're so used to gadgets for kids instead of talking, reading and playing with them, kids grow up thinking that they can go from thing, to thing, to thing, when they want. Because that's precisely what they've been allowed/left to do. I suppose what I'm saying is that perhaps, sometimes, the deficit in their attention span might have something to do with the deficit in attention given by the parents.

 

There are however people out there who abuse the term ADHD without actually having any medical assessment, just to cover up their bad parenting skills - it's easy to blame the child rather than look inwards.

 

Absolutely, and I believe it's increasing.

[Rich]

Um, you do know that ADHD is a mental condition on teh autistic spectrum right? There are several sites with information on teh subject, Google knows everything about everything so ask it.

 

And it is in teh public eye, Neighbours did a storyline on it last year, apparently Scott "Stingrey" Timmins has it, the character, not the actor who plays him.

[happyhippy]

Um, you do know that ADHD is a mental condition on teh autistic spectrum right? There are several sites with information on teh subject, Google knows everything about everything so ask it.

 

And it is in teh public eye, Neighbours did a storyline on it last year, apparently Scott "Stingrey" Timmins has it, the character, not the actor who plays him.

 

Yeah Rich, I do. What I'm trying to say is that I honestly don't believe that a large number of people who say they have/are told they have ADHD, really do. Of course, this means that help for those who really need it, is diluted.

[willman]

Is there really such a thing as ADHD, or is it just a term used to justify badly-raised kids?

 

There was an interesting article in one of the broadsheets a few months ago suggesting the latter.

 

Funny how ADHD kids rarely seem to come from well-bred, intelligent and educated parents, isn't it?

 

 

you know my opinion on ADHD, which concurrs with yours of course.

[willman]

it is strange though how cases of ADHD have been cured successfully simply by changing the childs diet - in quite a number of cases actually.

its just a return to the E number issue of the '90's.

[willman]

i know this may be pedantic to but do you claim the higher amount or are you awarded it.?

both my father & father in law claimed it and were told they would be assessed and granted an award of either the lower or higher amount.

[happyhippy]

i know this may be pedantic to but do you claim the higher amount or are you awarded it.?

both my father & father in law claimed it and were told they would be assessed and granted an award of either the lower or higher amount.

 

The decision lies entirely with the Civil Service. The rates are awarded from the information provided by the customer, and by the named medics on the form.

 

You can appeal the decision of course, and there are ways to word this so that the original decision wouldn't be 'lowered', but you need to be careful.

 

I think you might in fact be talking about Attendance Allowance, which is for older people. It's on the same lines as DLA, but there is no mobility component, and the lower rate of DLA isn't applicable.

 

The higher and lower rates of AA are effectively the middle and higher rates of the care component of DLA.

 

Hope this helps. Good point about diet too. I'd forgotten about that.