Response to the NIMI article

I agree that the article was informative and provided me with new insight. I know that psychiatrist and medical doctors are the only types who can treat ADHD with medication, but it was informative to learn about other intervention types.

I agree that we as educators need to learn as much as possible about ADHD and its many forms. Too often these students are written off by their teachers, when really all is needed is knowledge and assistance.

I too got a lot of valuable info from the article and also thought the same thing as you did…There does not seem to be a universally accepted cause of ADHD, which I didn’t realize. As I read the article, I made some notes and I too did not know that psychriatrists are the “recommended” group to help treat children with ADHD since they are qualified to diagnose, treat with medication, and do behavioral interventions. As a Sp. Ed. High School teacher, I have been involved in the initial referral process involving a student who may be ADHD and I expressed that the medical diagnosis should come from a doctor with some ADHD background, rather than the “family Physician” (unless he/she has that ADHD experience). But typically, in our school sysytem, I’ve known the medical diagnosis to come from the Family Physician. In my opinion, the ADHD diagnosis should be made by a psychriatrist.

I agree that the article was very informative. I did not know that there are other factors that contribute to a person having ADHD. I thought genetics was the main cause. I do not know of one child that does not eat sugar. It is scary to think that food additives and sugar can cause ADHD.
I also did not know that there are other disorders that accompany ADHD.

Yup. There’s a lot of mythology out there about “ADHD” and all of the mental disorders. The truly honest professionals admit that we don’t know a whole lot about most disorders, including causes and effective treatment. Every case is different and should be treated differently. And environmental change is a vastly underrated treatment for mental/emotional/behavioral problems. “ADHD” kids have been shown to be almost indistinguishable from “normal” kids in open classrooms, for example. It’s easy to grab a checklist and label a child, but the label is only as good as it helps us to know what to do. I am glad that a broader and more nuanced understanding of ADHD behavior is starting to emerge.

cpoletticar:

[i]Secondly, I never really thought about the causes of the disorder…It seems that there is no universally agreed upon cause for ADHD.

Lastly, I did not know that it appears that a psychriatrist seems to be the best person to help treat a child with ADHD. They were the only group that can diagnose, treat with medication, and do behavioral interventions with.[/i]

Theresa02:

[i]There does not seem to be a universally accepted cause of ADHD, which I didn’t realize. As I read the article, I made some notes and I too did not know that psychriatrists are the “recommended” group to help treat children with ADHD since they are qualified to diagnose, treat with medication, and do behavioral interventions.[/i]

1. There is no known cause for “ADHD” that is universally agreed upon.

2. It would follow that no proof exists for ANY of the “causes” that have been proposed thus far.

3. Any “treatment” of the “disorder” would have to be categorized as experimental or, more plainly, as sheer guesswork.
4. However, one group has been “recommended” to treat this “disorder”.

How can one group of guessers be any more “recommended” to “treat” this “disorder” than any other? And who “recommended” the psychiatrists? And upon which facts, evidence or study results did they base their “recommendation”?

If you must hand your child over to a bunch of guessers, shouldn’t you try the less invasive guess options first? Is throwing powerful drugs at “that something unknown and not understood” the “recommended” first option for logically-thinking, caring people?

BTW, there is not only [b]no universally accepted cause[/b] of “ADHD”, there is no knowledge [b]AT ALL [/b]of what causes the symptoms generally associated with that label. Nor is there [b]ANY[/b] knowledge or evidence that anything is chemically “broken” or “unbalanced” in the brains of the children exhibiting those symptoms. Why should the ability to prescribe brain-altering drugs be considered an attribute of such primary importance in what is a “your guess is exactly as good as any psychiatrist or other person” situation such as this one?

Moving, talking and getting bored with boring things are not a disease. Nor are they symptoms of anything but life.

Lastly, is it not at least a little telling that both the above quoted posters (both Sp Ed. teachers) managed to misspell the word “psychiatrist”, with exactly same error? (Also, a lot of first-time, recently joined posters getting excited about this thread.)

Theresa02 wrote: “In my opinion, the ADHD diagnosis should be made by a psychriatrist.”

This opinion from a person who didn’t realize that ADHD does not have an universally accepted cause, but still managed to get involved in the initial referral process of children with “ADHD”.

My question is: Which facts, evidence or study results form the basis of this opinion?

My opinion is that school teachers shouldn’t be involved in (nor express opinions upon) the medical decisions parents may arrive at for their children with the help of a family doctor.

Psychiatrist or family doctor, the one you want is the one with the experience and interest to meet your specific need.

John