quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
How do you teach 2 5th graders with ADHD along with 17 other 5th graders who don’t have ADHD? Serious question because these 2 students will take 50-70% of the teacher’s attention.

Currently, you drug them into compliance.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
I would imagine that growing up in Montana somewhere is very different than growing up in Chicago.

My father and I did not get along. Frankly, I hated the SOB until well into adulthood. There are very few things that I respect him for, and thank him for. One of which was being a hard-ass disciplinarian and the other is getting his family the fuck out of Chicago. I'm the youngest of seven kids. We were all born there and Baptized there, at Chicago Lying-In Hospital and Our Lady of Hungary respectively. Most of my extended family is still there. When I was less than a year old, dad said we're out of here and moved us to podunk northwest MT, into the wilderness, and I thank him for that every day.

His brother's family? They had six kids pretty much the same age as me and my siblings. They remained in the Chicago area, moving from Burnside out to Lockport. The move didn't help. They grew to be hellions and, frankly, criminals, with the exception of the oldest and youngest who, while leftists, are good damned people. Three of my cousins are dead from heroin. Lousy parenting and environment strikes again.

To compare and contrast...of my cousins, three of six graduated high school and one has an associate's degree (the youngest...the oldest is now a retired union iron worker). Of my family, raised in a conservative area with good parenting and good schools (then), all graduated high school, six have Bachelor's degrees, four have post-graduate/professional degrees, and one has two. I don't say this to blow any horns or to take any victory laps, but the difference is stark.

It is environment and it is parenting. Period.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:
Of course not.

Anyone with any experience around these kind of kids/young men should easily be able to assess what’s required; personalized and focused attention on the child to teach them about their gifts.

The traditional classroom as it’s been structured for the last 60 years is the wrong place for these kids.

How is this not painfully evident to most people here?

ADHD is only a problem in (public) schools with (young) women who don’t know shit about boys/men, trying to make them sit still and act like little girls.

Bingo. I was one. The great lost cause. Blah blah blah. After I escaped into adulthood I ran a personal experiment and quickly discovered they were wrong.

I have a High School Diploma, B.A. from The Ohio State University ( before the internet), and MBA from Franklin University (as the internet was beginning). All this means I sat my medically diagnosed ADD ass in a lot of classrooms. My problem was not the ADD, it was the boredom. In my experience, school is taught to the lowest common denominator. Not someone with a quick mind and little patience. I never had a problem in class the first time material was presented. I was curious and wanted to learn. It was always the second, third, and fourth time the teacher went over the same stuff. Then I was just sick of sitting there. The boredom set in and my short attention span went on to find more stimulating things... queue the trip to the Principal's office here.

Meds may calm the hyperactivity, but the real problem is keeping these kids engaged. Unfortunately the classroom is not conducive for this. how many of these ADHD kids can sit in front of the video game machine for hours on end. Engage the mind and suddenly the ADD is not a problem any longer.

Thanks for sharing Fellas. I’m sure there are many here that relate.

My experience with hyperactivity/ADD/ADHD over many decades demonstrates how badly we handle men/people.

The way our government works, it will always be one size fits all and no individualized attention, which is the only answer.

Stop turning your kids over to other people who have no skin in the game.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
How do you teach 2 5th graders with ADHD along with 17 other 5th graders who don’t have ADHD? Serious question because these 2 students will take 50-70% of the teacher’s attention.

Currently, you drug them into compliance.

Yup, it is a milder version of the way they used to use thorazine in mental hospitals.

Trouble sleeping and weight loss are common side effects as well as nausea.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGnified:...Stop turning your kids over to other people who have no skin in the game....

Q.E.D.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Trouble sleeping and weight loss are common side effects as well as nausea.

Also: Emotional friability in adolescents/young adults.

My son and his best friend grew up together from pre-school until halfway through 6th grade. They were more like brothers than friends. My son was diagnosed with ADD, and his friend with ADHD. The drugs didn’t do much for my son, other than allow him to focus somewhat better, which any stimulant at therapeutic doses will do. On the other hand, his friend benefited greatly, as they allowed him to resd, write, do math assignments, hold a conversation for more than a couple minutes, etc. in other words they allowed him to LEARN. I obviously got to observe them both over the course of years. We took our son off the drugs as the doctors kept prescribing higher doses while seeing no real benefit. My son’s friend, however, stayed on them longer, until he could function without them. Both went on to college and were successful.

I guess what I am trying to say is, while yeah, stimulants are over prescribed to kids who are over diagnosed as ADD/ADHD, they do help some kids, and we shouldn’t restrict them in a knee jerk reaction like has been done with opioids.