ADHD: the good and bad

[Lostkeysintro]

nefmouse

both of my kids have add (one with the hyper part) and we struggled with it their entire school lives--now they are in the "real" world and don't need the meds to fulfill anyone else's expectations the lead productive lives and are great parents themselves--don't let others tell you what is best for you

Like i said, on the meds for years and GREW out of it? WTF

[Sanguvixen]

Lostkeysintro

Henry FBP

ADHD kids have always been looked upon as "disabled", but we know we just think faster than our body can comprehend exclaim

Are we gonna let them call us disabled or not question

I never heard anyone refer to ADHD as a disability. How can you think faster? I thought people with ADHD cant pay attention?

My cousin had that and like most grew out of it he is a working adult with a normal life, maybe as a kid he couldn't pay attention or whatever, but isn't that most people?

Average people have average things. Average hearing range. Average eye sight. Average ability to tune out back-ground noise and so on.

People with ADD or ADHD are different. It's not so much that people with this condition think faster, but that their brain goes through information so quickly, that it is hard to focus. It has to do with their brain firing certain things faster than normal.

Think of it as trying to watch TV, and someone is sitting on the remote. The channels keep changing, and so you can't really focus on the content of each individual channel. You can try to watch TV that way, but you just won't enjoy it.

That is the problem people face with this disability. They can learn, they want to learn, and they can comprehend. However, their mind is constantly at war with itself, as the person tries to concentrate, but no matter what they do, their mind's channel keeps changing.

There, comes the major problem. The mind is firing off stuff too quickly. So while a person tries to concentrate, and try to understand, they become easily distracted. More so than average people.

People with the condition in question, are hypersensitive to noise (usually) and hypersensitive tot he environment around them. Every little thing that other people do causes the channel to change, i.e tapping pencils, drumming fingers, playing with random objects, holding conversation while the teacher is talking, music from someone's headphones, rustling of paper, beeping noises, tapping feet...the list goes on.

So do you see how it becomes a disability? It interferes with the ability of a person to learn by making the brain fire faster that normal, and by causing hypersensitivity to noise, and the environment.

Oh, and the condition never really goes away. People who are genuinely affected with this learning disability learn how to cope.

[Ophelias Bathwater]

I would tend to call it a learning disability, personally. I have really severe ADD to the point where it's debilitating. Things like cooking a meal or driving a car become extremely complicated. I think because it's so over-diagnosed in just plain hyperactive children people think you grow out of it, which is completely not the case. It only gets better as we age because we develop coping mechanisms to help us deal with our problems. The same as any other disability.

[Pantherwarrior92]

I don't see how ADD/ADHD is a disabilty.

[Henry FBP]

I know, I'm not calling it that.

[xXLame_JaneXx]

i knew someone who was adhd and took exstacy- it made him depressed and lethargic

[Mango Thief]

nope

[Pantherwarrior92]

I have ADD. But I learn faster, I better at reading than some of the others with this so called "disabilty". I just daydream when teachers talk for hours. I know for a fact people who don't have ADD/ADHD daydream when the teacher is talking about boring junk.