Plain talk about medications and our children

[flutterby]

I don't have a hard opinion on this (hard to believe coming for me, I know ). I do think ADHD is quick to be diagnosed, but that seems to be coming from pediatricians, not psychiatrists.

I was told from a young age that difficult child needs to be medicated. However, no one knew what to call what was going on - or even what to medicate for. I wasn't willing to put her on medications at 7,8,9,10 years old that haven't had long term studies on the effects on the pediatric population, for one, and wasn't willing to put her on strong medications without knowing what we were treating, for another.

I do think psychiatrists don't take enough time with patients, and I think they discount the parent's experience out of hand.

I'm biased in that I haven't met a psychiatrist that I like. I realize that psychiatric medications involve a lot of trial and error, but I think psychiatrists are often too quick to change medications, up medications, change diagnosis, etc, when something doesn't respond the way they want it to.

I'm not pro- or anti- medication. I'm pro- take the time to figure out what is going on and do our best from there. Not - spend 45 minutes one time with a patient and start guessing.

 

[BusynMember]

MWM -
I do not believe that it was better 30 years ago for ALL situations.
The ones I'm most familiar with... are ADHD/ADD, Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), Auditory Processing Disorders (APD).

For Auditory Processing Disorders (APD) - the school situation was definitely a major advantage 30 years ago.

For ADHD - IF you had a good school/teacher where they understood the need to burn off steam... it was a partial advantage.

For Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) - back then, they knew how to teach handwriting at the physical level, which helps if you have a moderate fine motor skill problem. If the motor skills problems are severe, there was no technology - no scribe, either. And the gross motor skills issues were just ignored.

Mental health issues? we're probably as bad now as we were then... more aware, but not necessarily accomplishing much more.

IC, well, you are probably younger than me. It's not hard...lol. Actually, anyone with Auditory Processing Disorders (APD) when *I* went to school (in the 60's) had a disadvantage. We had sometimes 35-40 kids in one of eight classrooms in each grade so individual attention never happened. In fact, they didn't even know what Auditory Processing Disorders (APD) was.

Nobody understood ADHD back then. The kids were "bad." I don't know if I had ADHD or not, but I did have severe attentional issues and could not focus. I was not helped or understood. I was "lazy" and an "underachiever."

My handwriting also sucked and my work was very messy. I used to spit on my paper to change mistkaes...(EW! I know!). I didn't get help. I got a lot of yelling at and grading down for messy work. In fact, teachers used to take t he front of my shirts and shove me against a wall and this was common back then when a teacher was displeased with a child. I remember it happening all the time in fifth grade. By high school I put my head down in class and slept and had quit trying. The teachers let me sleep.

I actually think things were worse for k ids with disabilities and mental health issues back then. There was no understanding of these things at all. There was a lot of ridicule that your peers picked up on and then THEY picked on you too. I do think things have improved a lot, although it is FAR from perfect...

 

[InsaneCdn]

I only know two things for certain...

"Modern" schools almost killed my son.
And if I had gone to school in the current system, I doubt I'd be living, either.

And that's just in-class learning issues.

The bullying I went through? exactly the same for my son.

 

[DammitJanet]

Im somewhat different than MWM. In the early years I was pretty bright but I was also socially inept. I have always been smart as a whip so the actual schoolwork came easily to me but I didnt understand the social stuff going on around me. I was very easily influenced by anyone. I had no ability to stick up for myself. As early as 4 or 5 I had already started to run away from home. At 6 I made a half - butted attempt to kill a foster child we had in our home because she tattled on me and my mom made my dad beat the living daylights out of me with a leather belt...naked. My attempt was at a 6 year old level of thinking if I poured a spoonful of perfume into a cup of juice it would kill her. Not one of my early pictures at birthday parties shows me smiling. I was always crying or looking miserable. I hated all that. I didnt start looking happier until my teen years and that was mostly fake because I had found a crowd that accepted me. The losers.