Re[2]: ADD
Peter Farnham (pfarnham@ASBMB.FASEB.ORG)
Thu, 30 Nov 1995 10:24:09 EST
Jan,
Good for you, and for your son. He sounds like a fine young man. My
own son has been diagnosed as mildly ADD. His first and second grade
years were pretty rocky, but we have seen definite improvement in
grades, behavior, etc. in the last couple of years--probably as a
result of psychological growth and learning about coping strategies.
We were very frustrated at first; he almost wasn't admitted to private
school because of his ADD. His kindergarten teachers wanted to put
him in a special school for the so-called "illiterate" kids you
referred to. He too is very bright, and capable of A+ work when he's
focused. A 100 on a recent math test, and a 96 on a social studies
test about the Middle East, had his mom and me beaming! He knows more
about the Middle East than I do! He also just earned his Arrow of
Light.
I share your frustration with ignorant people who mean well, but think
because the disorder has only been recently diagnosed, it must not be
real, and what the kid really needs is a good whipping! Well, sorry,
but that doesn't work with these kids. Furthermore, I don't want to
have a relationship with my children that involves physical abuse. I
also am not real comfortable with being told by people who don't know
anything about the subject that I must be a flawed, lax parent because
of my son's objectively measurable neurological disorder.
Anyway, one hopes that anyone purporting to be a youth leader would
take some time to educate himself about the disorder, rather than
making uninformed statements about it, or worse, taking steps to deal
with kids like this in one's troop that are flatly inappropriate, if
not mean-spirited.
Congratulations to your son.
YiS,
Pete Farnham
SM, Troop 113
GW District, NCAC
Alexandria, VA
pfarnham@capaccess.org
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