Is ADHD real?

I like Matt Walsh.  When I came across this article he wrote, I read it a couple of times.  I followed the links he included. After all, I feel surrounded by a husband and two children that show every symptom of ADHD.  Officially diagnosed in third grade, my step-daughter has spent most of her schooling with an IEP and a label.

http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/adhd-definitely-doesnt-exist-but-if-it-did-i-would-have-it/

Is he correct?

I have family members that give medication to their children after years of watching their frustrated child struggle in school and at home and in the grocery store and at church and pretty much anywhere.  

I saw my step-daughter struggle for YEARS in school, going to a tutor every day after school for years, just to get help in her classes. 

My husband hated school.  He was treated so poorly in school because he struggled that he thought he was unintelligent.  As a child, he was tested for one learning challenge - dyslexia.  When it came back that he didn't have dyslexia, the school just assumed he had a low IQ and shuffled him off to an LD class. 

So, is Matt Walsh correct?  

I don't medicate my children for ADHD.  I do believe there are many things that influence learning and behavior: nutrition, exercise, environment, parenting, eyesight, allergies, and other health issues. Our culture and society has changed drastically in the last 100 years. 

We might have medical advancements that prolong length and quality of life, but we've changed some very basic things.  Think of a typical seven year old 100 years ago.  Chances are they got up early and spent an hour or so doing chores.  Then they ate breakfast, which wouldn't have been a pop tart or a bowl of processed, sugary cereal. It would have been eggs, toast from fresh baked bread, bacon or sausage or ham, pancakes from stone-ground wheat, butter from cream, maple syrup made from sap from a maple tree.  Then the child would have walked to school.  It might be a mile or two away, but there were no buses.  

A child of seven would just be starting to attend school.  Until then, he or she would have been at home working and playing.  He wouldn't have watched Television or played video games.  He would have had to entertain himself without getting underfoot. 

At school, a child at this time was in a classroom with other children OF ALL DIFFERENT AGES!  This is important because kids take so many cues on behavior from their peers in school.  They  weren't in a class with thirty other seven year olds.  They were in a class with fifteen kids from seven through maybe fourteen.  The older kids rarely attended high school, and were training to learn a trade or run a home.  The example for the seven year old wasn't a fourteen year old that was bragging on the school bus about the party they had gone to over the weekend, but a young "adult" preparing for the rest of their life.  School consisted of basic subjects.  Learn to read, learn to numerate.  Learn some history.  

After school the child would walk home.  Then followed more chores.  Dinner wasn't from a box or a can.  The wheat hadn't been over-hybridized and the corn wasn't genetically modified.  The milk came from a cow that hadn't been given growth hormones.  The meat was from the farm animals or wild animals, not from a processing plant or massive feed lots. 

After dinner there was no TV time.  The family entertained themselves.  They (gasp) spent time together!  They talked, played music, read stories.  Melatonin was not disrupted by too much screen time close to bedtime.  

By bedtime, the seven year old was tired.    

Did ADHD exist then?  Well, no one thought an energetic child was acting in a way that signified a mental disorder or needed psychotropic medicines.  

I'm not glamorizing the past. I'm sure my "example" was a huge over-generalization. I am stating the obvious, our days are not the same.  Our routines aren't the same.  Our food isn't the same.  What we expect from our children isn't the same.  How we parent isn't the same.   What our children do to occupy themselves in their spare time isn't the same. How we educate isn't the same.  

The thing is... How God made our bodies is the same.  Our bodies will react to processed foods and the over-consumption of sugar, preservatives, additives, and other chemicals.  Our bodies were made for movement, to be active.  However, our lifestyles today limit that being outside: working hard and playing hard. 

Our brains aren't different.  Study how children were educated 100+ years ago and you'll see vast differences in methods compared to today.  Just as much time was spent at the home and in the workforce doing hands-on work.  Trades were often learned at the hands of parents that did them or in apprenticeships.  The grade-school students read the McGuffey readers, which far exceed anything our schools produce today in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure.  Those that went on to higher learning studied Latin and Greek and read books that most students find overwhelmingly difficult. It was generally accepted that college wasn't for everyone, not because it was expensive, but because a quality education could be reached in a short amount of time (usually by eighth grade) for most of the population.  

Why did ADHD not exist then?  Why does it exist now?  Is Matt Walsh correct when he says ADHD isn't real?

Actually, I think in many ways he is correct.  That doesn't mean the struggle isn't real for many children expected to adapt to classroom environments or accepted societal norms.  

I wish parents would consider every other option before giving their child meds.  Try assigning chores.  Get them physically active.  Shut off or limit the tv and computer and video games. Give your child nutritious foods.  Limit sugar, additives, and all the cruddy foods with no nutritional value.  Think about homeschooling so that, instead of busy work, your child can get a quality education structured in a way where distractions are limited and you can provide lessons that cater more to how your child learns. 

Please stop believing that, because your child is busy and energetic and distracted, that there is something "wrong" with them.  Know that intelligence is not only the grades a child earns in school.  

One child I have read about definitely meets the medical "standards" for ADHD.  He is disorganized, hyper, unfocused, and struggles at times with schoolwork.  His parents decided that they wouldn't let him be medicated or treated inferior.  

They decided to homeschool him.  They chose various curricula where he can do a variety of activities to learn.  They live in the country where he had lots of outside time with his siblings.  He had daily chores to instill responsibility and a sense of pride in his work.  He was given lots of free time to explore his own interests.  His TV time was extremely limited.  The parents put him in music lessons after learning that music uses both sides of the brain.  

The boy is excelling in his studies.  He plays three instruments.  He is athletic.  He shows an interest and capacity for carpentry.  He loves to be outside, studying nature.  He loves learning about bugs.  He will graduate high school at sixteen if he stays on this path.   After a couple mission trips, he has decided to learn Spanish. 

I think, to a large degree, Matt Walsh is correct.  Maybe it's not our children that have the disability.  Maybe it's our culture.  Is it a healthy culture?