Yeah, there is a big problem with overdiagnosis. a parent brings their kid in and says "Little Bobby won't sit still and watch Harry Potter" forgetting for a minute that Little Bobby is a typical 5 year old boy who can't sit still for anything, let alone a whole movie.

I have a friend who's brother told everyone he had dyslexia. Thing is, he was never diagnosed by a doctor, and I honestly thing the boy just didn't know how to read because no one EVER sat with him and showed him how.

The doctors are so fast to label it something so they can make money by perscribing tons of drugs to "fix the problem" and parents want a diagnosis to cover up the fact that they are disconnected from and disinterested in their children.

My nephew, Aidan, has a ADHD, and I tell you now it's hard work. That's the thing, lots of people take their children to the doctors like Reena said and say 'Bobby won't sit still....'. It's alot more to ADHD than just not be able to sit still, and it's atcually really hard for a child to be dignosed with ADHD(Well here is Wales(UK) it is). A long long process!!


Colbi- I hope that Nicholas gets the help that he needs and deserves. Good luck to you, Nicholas and all your family!

I wouldn't worry about Austism. I'm more familiar with Aspergers then Austism (yes I know that's a form of Austism, but still)

I have 2 cousins with it. One is 7 and one is 17 I'm going to talk about the 7 year old. He's brilliantly smart, he just has a lot of social issues. I don't want to say he's "all about him" but he is, but it's not intentional. He doesn't understand how to be empathetic towards other people. He doens't understand you don't only talk about yerself, you don't only do what you want to do, you have to compromise. He's very anti-social and fine not playing with anyone else. He's working with a behavioural therapist for it and it's working well for him

And I don't agree with Celianne to a point (no offense Celianne).. Add/adhd and Austism are two complete different things. One is just super hyper and easily distracted, the other is a social problem whether it's they are "too loving" or too distant. In order to be successful there are certian social standards people are expected to have and a lot of kids with austism/aspergers don't understand that and they do need help with it. it's not someting they can fix on their own. I've seen both my cousins throw massive massive tantrums when they get overly frusterated and they aren't spoilded children. But then again neither disease do they just claim kids have. To be declared ADD/ADHD/Austic/ or and Aspie they go through massive amounts of testing. It's quite a long process they go to doctors, therapist, the whole thing. Or atleast here in the UK it's a long process. It's not something they will declare a child has in just a visit or two.

As to Colbi, I wouldn't worry about him not talking yet! My brother is 3 and he doesn't talk really either. He can say blue, dadda, mum, ja (juice), sexy (that's a funny story), yes and nope and he's not showing any signs of austism he's just delayed in speech! We can understand his jibberish so he's never really needed to learn to actually talk.

Just to clear things up, us Americans/Canadians are more ticked off at ADD/ADHD/ and even Autism digonses because people and children are being dignosed with it left right and center. As long as a child has a learning disorder like ADD/ADHD the teacher can shuffel them off to the back of the class and not pay attention to them and just worry about the other students in the class. Americian class rooms are jam-packed so this is one of their excuses. Also the more kids on meds equals more money for that school. I saw a (American) report on it a few years ago when a young boy died at the skate park because his heart was over sized from the ADD/ADHD meds.
To you UK people it might be rare to find someone on ADD/ADHD meds, for us it's rare to find someone who isn't.

Oh I wasn't saying they were the same at all; I was saying that both are over diagnosed, at least in the US. I don't know how things work in the UK(but it sounds like a much better system), but in the US, as unique names said, kids are diagnosed with these things constantly. Anything different from the 'normal' is attributed to some dysfunction, like we need to explain away a personality. And the kids who legitimately do have problems, like the girl I mentioned in my choir class, get less attention than they need or the wrong kind. It's treated like a hassle and the kids have more problems because of the label than they would without it. Teachers and doctors will say things like 'Maybe he's ADD, you should go get him tested' as if they're suggesting he eat more carrots. My brother had to deal with that all through elementary and middle school.

It does seem a much better system in the UK, no offense!! It has taken two year to get a diagnose of ADHD for Aidan. First we had to see the behavioural therapist through school, where he was referred from! This included the behavioural therapist going into the school once a week to ask Aidan about his emotions and see how he interacted with the staff and other children. This happened for about 6 months the first time. After then the behavioural therapist put in her findings to the psychologist, who said come back when Aidan turned 5(He was 4 at the time). So when Aidan turned 5, the behavioural therapist went back into school and went through the whole process again, and re-referred him. This time, we got a appointment with the psychologist, who then we had to see about three times over a few months before she even thought about starting the process of actually diagnosing Aidan. To actually diagnose Aidan she sent questionaires to the school and home about Aidan's behaviour. If the questions were similar in answer then a diagnose would be made, which is what happened. So diagnosing was easy-ish, but the process is really longgggggggggg!!
Also here before meds are prescribed you have to try natural methods first. Like, star charts, times out, waiting time lengthening, reward charts, sticker charts, report cards, privleges, more independence, ect.

Children with ADHD are not just super hyper and easily distracted. Aidan is hyper all the time and easily distracted yes! But he also presents alot of other behaviour that isn't normal. Aidan is very self-centered, he only thinks of how this affect him and not other people. Yes I know most 6 year olds only think of how things affect them but Aidan is much worse. Aidan take things personally even if you are talking to a group of people. For example, if you tell Aidan and his brothers to be quiet, Aidan will think that you are only telling him to be quiet, and his brothers are allowed to be noisy. Aidan is very impatient and doesn't know how to take his turn. For example, if you are talking to someone Aidan can't wait until you are finished to say what he wants, he has to say it there and then. And if you tell Aidan to wait, he thinks the reason is because you don't want to listen to what he is saying not that you're talking. Aidan also doesn't know how to do things in moderation. For example, Aidan can't just have one biscuit he has to eat all the packet(If you let him). Aidan will also take it personally if you don't let him have the whole pack of biscuits.
Aidan also has to have your full attention constantly, he can't not do anything by himself. For example, watching a film, Aidan has to know that you are still paying attention to him, he does this by telling you everything that has happened during the film, even if you are watching it the same time. And by asking you did you just see what happened.
Aidan finds it very hard to interact with the others. Aidan has lots of friends in school but thinks that his friends shouldn't be friends with other people. If they play with another child then they are no longer Aidan's 'friend'.
There are a few other behavioural characteristics that Aidan presents, but I can't think at the moment(I'm really tired and it's 11:23pm here).