The View From Kalamazoo

…but, unfortunately, still relevant. I have recently, again, had the joy of meeting some perfect strangers who were happy to ‘inform me’ about my kid…so I’m feeling a little cranky. [BTW: Barkley’s book is excellent – a standard in the field. I highly recommend it.]

International Consensus Statement on ADHD

Background

Media coverage of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is often uneven and laced with obsolete or inaccurate science. Fringe theories with thin or non-existent scientific basis are sometimes given equal footing with hard medical data rigourously collated by researchers. The very existence of ADHD as a condition is sometimes denigrated or denied.

In response to this unfortunate trend, Dr. Russell Barkley and 74 other prominent medical doctors and researchers in ADHD issued the following statement in early 2002.

“We cannot over emphasize the point that, as a matter of science, the notion that ADHD does not exist is simply wrong. All of the major medical associations and government health agencies recognize ADHD as a genuine disorder because the scientific evidence indicating it is so is overwhelming. ”
– Consortium of 75 International Scientists

Media coverage and the ‘informed suggestions’ I get from people who are certain that ADD doesn’t exist and all I need to do is cut wheat and refined sugar from Emma’s diet (and that’s one of the more thoughtful and reasonable suggestions) is enough to drive a parent insane.

I can’t believe I’m that unusual – when faced with diagnoses from pediatrician and counselor trained in early childhood I was willing to recognize there is something permanent, maybe hereditary or maybe congenital, and *treatable* about my kid’s chemistry that affects her behavior and ability to focus, function, and learn. I love her. She’s not “perfect” or “average” or “normal” strictly speaking – and that doesn’t say a thing about me as a parent, no more than some genetic condition would, nor does it mean she’s not bright, witty, and fully capable of doing amazing things in this world. This early part of her education is very difficult, requires a lot of managing on our part, and extra help to great cost. Fine. Later education may require more of the same – or she may get over the hurdles she’s faced with now and hit the ground running.

From the information I get from her teachers, counselor, pediatrician, however, it appears that a lot of parents take a diagnosis as a whole host of things that it isn’t – and too often the child is left to struggle in frustration, their self-esteem suffering, while the parents take precious time to get over it, or try a whole host of zany things that pass for science on the internet, or remain in complete denial that it exists and that the diagnosis ever happened. Responsible reporting by the media wouldn’t derail the misinformation-train, but it would surego a long way to giving parents the tools they need to look at reality head-on. If a kid has a kidney condition (or maybe something similar to what Emma had surgically corrected, say…: vesicouretral reflux) there is a symptom of a problem, diagnosis, and treatment without all of this emotional hoo-hah. Why is it that a physical condition is talked about in a matter-of-fact way while anything related to learning, or brain chemistry, or anything else that can’t be observed in the same way an x-ray clearly shows a broken bone gets whispers, jeers, denial, or crack-pot responses? When was the last time someone suggested that severe, hereditary allergies or dyslexia or left-handedness or epilepsy were caused by too much TV?

I’ve ranted. Oops. I guess that the long and short of it is that it’s not about ‘who she got it from’ or ‘I don’t believe that really exists’ or ‘maybe you’re just a bad parent’ or even ‘did you let her watch TV when she was a baby?’ – it’s about Emma. She simply IS. She has needs and frustrations and desires and passions and it’s my job to help, like it is with any kid and any parent. Maybe my job is a little more involved in a lot of areas than it is for a lot of parents – than it likely will be for me in regards to Colin… Maybe I need to worry about things that most parents don’t need to worry about – but hey, other parents with other kids have other things to struggle with that I don’t. It’s just that with all the time I have spent attending conferences, meetings, appointments, more meetings…it’s difficult to see it all minimized, harmful and often just plain nutty misinformation tossed around, and labels and insinuations attached to my child that she has not earned or deserved. End rant.