Do you read the articles from those that say ADHD isn't real? I've read a few. They are usually opinion pieces. They make a few good points, but these points don't mean that children aren't being impacted. It simply means that our society is not adaptive to children that are different. In fact, one of the reasons that our society struggles to help children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is because these changes we have made as a society pressures children to do more, do it faster, do it earlier, and do it in a larger crowd.
Think about the changes in our society over the last 100 years. We were an agriculturally-based society. Kids were outside a lot more often, doing chores and helping with running farms. Children often walked to school. The foods they ate were not filled with preservatives and chemicals. They ate eggs and vegetables from the garden they helped to plant. They drank raw milk. Their grains weren't genetically modified or hybridized, and saturated in neuro-toxic chemicals. Children didn't begin school until age seven. They weren't pressured to do things their brains weren't ready to do at early ages. Some learned to read on their own, but many didn't learn until they began school. They weren't considered "delayed" or "disabled" if they weren't reading at an early age. They weren't medicated and placed in special classrooms, where they were made to feel inferior. They didn't spend hours in front of screens. There weren't cell phones or computers or even televisions. These children were active, not sedentary. So, even if they had ADHD, it probably wasn't noticed as anything more than daydreaming and being a child.
Science has done brain scans on children with ADHD. Their brains are different. They mature at different rates, and it is more slowly than normal children. For all the parents that state they want their children to have the opportunity to be children, this is very true for ADHD children. Their brains are not maturing as fast in some areas. They literally need the time to be children until their brains are ready to mature.
The fact that there are views that ADHD is not real shows a stigma in the minds of people. However, I used to feel the same way until it was my child that was hyper and struggled with insomnia. Then, I did some research. It can be backed by science. There is a lot of misunderstanding about ADHD. And, I'll be honest, I don't like the medicinal treatment options. I don't like the side effects. However, this is the decision my husband and I made, and we respect different decisions made by other parents.
We don't look at the rise in autistic children, and tell the parents that the child has a fake disease and needs more discipline. We have no explanation for the severe rise in autistic rates. The arguments are fierce. Is it vaccines? Is it the glysophate on and in our food supply? Is it GMO foods? We don't have all the answers on autism, and we don't have all the answers on ADHD.
I have two daughters that have ADHD. Their father also has ADHD, though he was never officially diagnosed and didn't understand that his struggles growing up were because of this until he was an adult. Neither of my children have been medicated. Homeschooling was a choice we made to help our children have the best education. I knew that I could use materials that helped them. I knew that a classroom environment would be detrimental. My older ADHD daughter dealt with classroom environments for years, and it was not a positive experience.
That ADHD daughter is now grown. She still struggles with attention issues, but she has outgrown the hyper and impulsive parts. However, my ten year old daughter seems to have days where her hyperactivity and impulsive issues take control. As a mom that is trying to homeschool and go to college at the same time, I struggle to know how to help her. She is emotional and overreacts and has even had instances of aggression when she is bullied or teased unnecessarily. It has made life a little difficult, at times, because she has a difficult time telling the difference between bullying and teasing, and she overreacts.
I am working with her on behavior modification. My husband and I are working diligently to train her responses to such instances. In ADHD, with these issues, behavioral science tells us she isn't acting like a ten year old, but more in line with a seven year old. There is often a gap in emotional maturity of up to three years. This gap isn't in intelligence, but in the way her brain is maturing in the prefrontal cortex.
Role of the Prefrontal Cortex
The prefrontal cortex is involved in a wide variety of functions, including:- Coordinating and adjusting complex behavior
- Impulse control and control and organization of emotional reactions
- Personality
- Focusing and organizing attention
- Complex planning
- Considering and prioritizing competing and simultaneous information; the ability to ignore external distractions is partially influenced by the prefrontal cortex
Many symptoms of ADHD can follow people into adulthood. For others, they learn coping mechanisms and outgrow the most severe symptoms as their brains mature. My grown ADHD daughter doesn't struggle with all the issues that she struggled with when she was ten. I am confident that my younger daughter's brain will also mature and she will outgrow some of the more difficult aspects of ADHD.
Until that day, I am working diligently to help her with her ADHD. It may mean breaking up chores into smaller steps so that she can complete them. It may mean being a little more patient with her during off days. It may mean having chore charts and behavioral charts to give her goals to work for and positive reinforcement. It may mean setting up expectations appropriate for her brain maturity, not her physical age. It may mean more one-on-one to help her keep her focus on her studies. It may even mean limiting her social activities to smaller groups for awhile, because bigger groups overwhelm her and her impulsive responses increase. Other kids that bully and pick on her tend to cause her to react inappropriately.
I am still learning about ways I can help my daughter succeed instead of set her up for failure. In fact, I am researching intensely because some of her behaviors and symptoms have increased dramatically. She has been in trouble a lot lately. And while discipline is necessary, I also don't want her to feel like she is always in trouble. ADHD should not tell her that she has less worth, that she is a problem child. Her self-esteem shouldn't be in the gutter because she is going through a time when things are difficult. There is a difference between needing discipline and brain immaturity. I am hoping that I can find a good balance of discipline, child training, and patience. Mostly, she needs to know she is loved.
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