response 1 of 42:

Dec 24 16:48 UTC 1995

Does anyone know much about Attention Deficit Disorder?  
- What is it?
- What are it's symptoms?
- How is it diagnosed?
- Where would one go to get tested for it?

There a lot of reasons for someone to have a hard time paying attention.  Is
there some definitive way to tell if it is ADD?
Thanks,

response 3 of 42:

Dec 27 06:15 UTC 1995

My thre children have it....A nurologist said it is likehaving a TV tuned to
all the stations at one time...two of my children have difficulty
concentrating on one thing and get distracted easily..however both of them
have a fantastic ability to work with computers..or nintendo type games.
a good book for adults is "Driven to Distraction" by Dr. Hallowell.
symptoms are long and varied
they were diagnosed using an acters form..a chart that  asks questions and
is marked and rated on a seperate graft depending on the score in certain
areas  will tell that ADD is a probiblity...then ritalin is given and if
symptoms improve it is highly likly they had ADD..do I like that it is done
this way?...NO!!!....... does ritalin help? yes..it does for my youngest..I
feel so sorry for her...she does things I know she doesn't want to..the last
lthing she did was spray paint a friends boat with red painted flowers..did
she think about the consequenses before she did it? no!..she  came crying to
me.."Mama I don't know why I did it..i couldn't help it" and yes it was true
she couldn't help it...not an excuse..a truth!..she or for that matter her
brother has more difficulty..thinking through to the end results..it must be
repeated over and over..carefully explaining hte end results

response 5 of 42:

Mar 7 19:07 UTC 1996

Almost *all* kids have trouble concentrating. I think its the parents
and others that have the malady (anti attention deficit disorder
sensitivity, or AADDS).

response 7 of 42:

Mar 10 18:22 UTC 1996

I am dyslexic and didn't know it until I was 20. I can read and write just
fine... in fact I'm considered gifted in that area. I taught myself to read
when I was four. Math is the problem... I seem to switch numbers and formulas.
Since I did well in everything else and girls aren't really supposed to be
good in math anyway (my school's attitude it seems), no one questioned that
something might have been wrong. I just got the "you're not trying hard
enough" lectures, along with the thoughts of my just being stupid. Homework
would put me in tears, because I was trying so hard and still getting it
wrong.

I was never tested for ADD. But I find in lectures that after 15 minutes I
am squirmy and want to leave. I draw in the margins of my notebook. I stare
out the window. Sometimes I fall asleep. I recall in kindergarten how bored
I'd get because we'd learn reading and go over things I'd already read and
knew how to do. 

Usually ADHD kids are the ones who get medication. I've seen kids that are
literally bouncing off the walls until they get Ritalin. Some kids even get
almost violent without it... I know of one boy (mommy forgot to tell the
childcare workers that little Josh was ADHD and had to have medication at 6)
who got totally hyper, ran around 5 floors, got ahold of an iron bar and was
swinging it back and forth. That's more than being unable to concentrate.

response 9 of 42:

Mar 11 06:24 UTC 1996

I'm dyslexic too, and I got some special tutoring to help with some ofthe
problems I was having because of it. I think that helped, but there's a big
difference between tutoring and medicine.  If a kid is having lots of trouble
concentrating, and has a lot of energy, it would seem that there might be ways
of putting all that energy to a positive educational use.

response 11 of 42:

Mar 12 08:48 UTC 1996

And people wonder why kids have trouble concentrating through that.  Rather
than drugging the kids, maybe we should change the schools.  Yeah, yeah, I
know... it's much easier to drug the kids.

response 13 of 42:

Mar 13 05:00 UTC 1996

I agree with scg and rickyb.  Too many times children are medicted so others
can "cope' with them.  Anybody who soesnt seem to fit must have add, bi-polor,
or any of the other mental  and or physicl illnesses.  If a kid is happy, then
let them be.  When i taught headstart, the only behavior problems were with
family dsyfunction  and sexual abuse cases.  hyperactivity or "activenss"  is
simply who some people are.  medication perhaps, should only be a last resort
when the child doesnt feel like they "fit".  If others think that , its their 
problem." ."

response 15 of 42:

Mar 14 14:12 UTC 1996

not only that, but who really WANTS to be in class, learning?  even my
favorite classes, i would sit and doodle and stuff in the middle of...it
was just my way of dealing with class...i wouldn't say that i was add, i would
say i just have a low concentration rate.  there are SO many kids out there
that are in the same boat, but doctors are so positive that there is a drug
for everything...

response 17 of 42:

Mar 14 23:05 UTC 1996

I wanted to be in class, learning. It was marvelous. But then, I was good
at it.

response 19 of 42:

Mar 22 05:52 UTC 1996

It's not that I didn't want to learn. I like learning new things, or new ways
to think about things. But I couldn't focus to learn them like I wanted, and
still can't really. I either get numb with boredom or my mind races.

response 21 of 42:

Apr 7 21:18 UTC 1996

Well that is James...brilliant but bored...:)
Julie and her ADD is esperating.. I went to my bathroom to find perfect black
polka dots on the wall....first thought Julie.. second thought shoe polish...
best thought .. we need to keep this kid creative with lots of paper and not
white walls...
when she first learned to write she signed every surface in the
house..dentying it of course but signing Julie.. iwth her backwards J...
she is also left handed.
Richt now she is insisting on baking sooooo I better go

response 23 of 42:

Jun 28 21:29 UTC 1999

There must be something online about this, try an altavista search on PTSD,
and let us know what you learn.