I am part of the assessment that young children have to go through t have a diagnosis of ADHD, there are no blood tests or brain scans to diagnose the condition.

Everything iis based on questionnaires and observations i the Classroom.

I would be very interested to know, not only your own opinions but what your Countrys opinion on this disorder is?


http://www.davidwolfe.com/france-adhd/

If it's not a neurodevelopmental disorder, what would it be? Plain boredom, as the article would suggest? When contemplating this question, I look at my own family and two of my nephews in particular. To the best of my knowledge, the two of them were raised under the same conditions and treatment. However, one was always hyperactive and inclined to "misbehave" and do something for attention. The behavioral difference was very notable while differences in social factors were not. We suspected pretty early on that he had ADHD and years later he was diagnosed with it. To me, that suggests a neurobiological cause, but I don't necessarily think that drugs is the answer. I'm too uninformed to debate about their effectiveness vs. therapy.

I wonder why that test isnt routine rather than misdiagnosis?

Same as autism no tests to prove it. 

Well the article sounds like complete and under bull to me, more like a click bait link, just like the Daily Mail and other news sites posts every year that we're going to be having ten weeks of snow, lol.

I do think ADHD is an actual thing, but in my opinion, it's probably misdiagnosed in a lot of children. I believe that most of them who are diagnosed are just spoiled and the parents give in to them too easily and it becomes a routine to play up and get what they want.

I have 3 boys.  All of them are very bright.  My middle son has severe dysgraphia and an expressive output disorder.  He needs an IEP (not sure if you have them in the UK - individualized educational plan) - they don't change curriculum but it lets him request accommodations (the teachers don't have to comply but most of them do to an extent) such as requesting printed copies of notes where possible and things like that.  Originally dysgraphia was not an acceptable reason for an IEP but the ADHD-I (Inattentive type) test they gave him was handwriting based so as the writing got more difficult he couldn't do it - so even though everyone agrees he does not have ADHD - that is what is listed on his IEP.

  When we were going through the educational testing for my middle son - and they listed him under ADHD-I - I looked at the symptoms and realized that was my oldest son.  We went through the testing with him and got my middle son re-tested for ADHD using the Thule test which at the time was the gold standard for ADHD-I.   Essentially they have you tap a key on a keyboard when you see an X come down among a bunch of other letters which is a pretty boring task.  Most people without ADHD-I can do it even though it is boring but it is really hard if you have ADHD-I.  Anyway, as we suspected my oldest was diagnosed with ADHD-I  and my middle doesn't have it (but the school still has him listed with it since that is what his IEP is under).

  Whether ADHD-I is what they thought it was or is something else - ADHD accommodations really do help my oldest.  He needs a quiet, distraction-free environment in a way my other kids don't.  We have looked at other ADHD-I modifications and some of them make a big difference for him.  He never really used medications a lot even though we tried some.  He had too many issues with the pills with not being able to sleep or eat.  And he just never got into using the patch regularly. 

  I volunteer frequently in the classroom.  I think learning disabilities are both under diagnosed and not well-handled when they are diagnosed.  Normally, I don't need to know of an IEP to recognize the kids who are ADHD-I.

  It is also easy to see the kids who are more active.  I think classrooms tend to be designed for quiet well-behaved girls (which is not to say that all girls fit that profile but if you look at when subjects are taught - generally it developmentally follows female development more then male - and in the U.S. at least girls are succeeding at school more than boys).  There is a good book on this subject - http://www.pegtyre.com/trouble.php.  I do think there is a tendency to diagnose the hyperactive type of ADHD in kids that may be young for the classroom or be very active but within normal bounds.  Another interesting article is http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/schools-behavior-discipline-collaborative-proactive-solutions-ross-greene.  I think that a lot could be done in our schools to reach all kids not just the ones that work well within the system.

  I do think ADHD-I is an issue that can respond positively with support.  Hyperactive ADHD is something I haven't dealt with as a parent although I have close friends with kids who have been diagnosed.  I think if my child were diagnosed - I would put a lot of effort into making sure that there weren't other issues (which I did with my kids) and then try to figure out how to support my student and get them to be able to independently work around any challenges.  In the end, it isn't the label that matters - what matters is that your student is able to succeed and grow.

That is a lot different to how we diagnose, we use a connors questionnaire.

We do have IEPs and also BEPs

If it's not a neurodevelopmental disorder, what would it be? Plain boredom, as the article would suggest? When contemplating this question, I look at my own family and two of my nephews in particular. To the best of my knowledge, the two of them were raised under the same conditions and treatment. However, one was always hyperactive and inclined to "misbehave" and do something for attention. The behavioral difference was very notable while differences in social factors were not. We suspected pretty early on that he had ADHD and years later he was diagnosed with it. To me, that suggests a neurobiological cause, but I don't necessarily think that drugs is the answer. I'm too uninformed to debate about their effectiveness vs. therapy.

My brother and I were a similar sort of situation when we were younger. Both always had same parents, pretty easy life. I was always in trouble, had to be entertained all the time, got bored easy and always ended up in trouble over something. I wasn't naughty so to speak, but because I got bored easily I always ended up doing my own thing when it wasn't appropriate. I also have a lot of trouble with authority. My brother was the complete opposite. Quiet, never in trouble always followed the rules etc. Maybe he saw what I did and did the opposite?

I'm still the same now. I get bored easy, always have to be entertained and stuff. I tend to wind people up when I'm bored as well. I was tested for ADHD when I was younger but I was only 'borderline' or something and never needed treatment for it. I don't believe it anyway, I always chalked it up to me just having a different personality to others.

I am part of the assessment that young children have to go through t have a diagnosis of ADHD, there are no blood tests or brain scans to diagnose the condition.

Everything iis based on questionnaires and observations i the Classroom.

I would be very interested to know, not only your own opinions but what your Countrys opinion on this disorder is?


http://www.davidwolfe.com/france-adhd/

I've actually been thinking about this, my mum works with these kinds of subjects and my thoughts are that, we, the humans needs explanations for everything. Is this an accurate thought?

I'd say ADHD exists, but isn't as rampant as reported.

I know many people who have been diagnosed with ADHD. Not necessarily all of them show enough signs of it, but there are enough people for me to believe it exists as a mental disorder. I do believe that there is a large amount of misdiagnosis going on in America, as sometimes kids are just being kids. For some of my friends, however, they literally cannot focus despite being some of the smartest people I know. One of my friends with ADHD even won a New York Times essay writing contest, but without his ADHD meds he could barely focus long enough to write his name.