> I mean by "work over" that the school teachers haven't the faintest idea
 > of what to do with the kids that don't fit into a narrow mold, most of
 > them at any rate.
Jane, you are generalizing, I am not saying that it doesn't happen, but to 
say every child who is diagnosed with ADD , is just a kid whose teachers 
don't know how to teach is being very narrow minded and wrong.  My child went 
thru many doctors before we received a definitative diagnosis.  My son does 
not act as a zombie on Ritalin.  Why did he go from 4 D's and 1 C, to 4 A's 
and 1 B after beginging Ritalin?  A zombie would not be able to think enough 
to gain those scores.
> The local schools will find an excuse to discharge any kid who presents
 > more of a problem than they wish to cope with.
You sound like a very angry person, very much like my ex husband who is an 
alcoholic.
 > By slugging a kid down with drugs, he or she can be made to appear to
 > conform and thus is allowed to remain in school.
I have 3 children and only one has ADD.  Same parenting skills, as matter of 
fact Jon gets more attention than all of my children put together.  Do you 
really know what its like to have a ADD child?  How frustrated the child 
feels becuase he can't concentrate and perform like the rest of the children. 
 How he used to come home every night from school crying.  Have you ever been 
the sibling of an ADD child.  What is it like to have your toys constantly 
taken and broken, how mommy is always spending time with your ADD 
brother/sister and never you.  Do you know what its like to go to bed at 
night and not be able to sleep becuase your ADD child has constant insomnia.  
Oh, I used to lie down next to him to sleep, so that I wouldn't have to 
medicate him with Ritalin or anything, but for God's sake!  The kid is 9 
years old, he doesn't need to sleep with his mommy anymore.  He deserves to 
be able to rest at night, go to school and feel like he can learn and be 
somebody.  His teachers have said he has become more motivated in school and 
wants to do homework....before the Ritalin he used to shut down and sit in a 
corner of the classroom and just cry becuase he couldn't focus on his work.  
Jon is now starting to have a life and is becoming a well adjusted HAPPY 
young man.
> My daughter has enough medical knowledge and also access to the best
 > doctors around this area as an x-ray tech who does C.A.T. scans.  The
 > child is not going to be medicated for the convenience of some poor
 > teacher.
the picture?  My ex husband was ambivilant as you about Ritalin.  I left him 
for many reasons, one of them being I could not stand by and watch Jon suffer 
as he did without any help.  I tried all kinds of herbal preparations, 
behaviour modification techniques.  None of them worked.  I left my husband 
and said I don't care what you say, Jon is going to get help, what ever he 
has that is wrong or troubling him, I intend to find out and help.  No one 
should have to suffer like this.  One word of note, they are doing studies 
with PET scans that show that the nerve conduction and blood flow is 
decreased in the frontal lobe of the brain in those that suffer from ADHD.  
Ritalin stimulates the blood flow to this area.  The frontal lobe has control 
over the ability to
focus.
MaryAnn
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