A.D.H.D the myth and the truth

[Paul2]

     Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder--The Myth.

    We have been taught that A.D.H.D. is a disorder. That A.D.H.D. is a deficit. We've been lied to. First let me say that I'm loaded with it. I'm 39 and was on Ritlin when I was young and hated it and finally refused to take it any longer. I've lived with A.D.H.D. my whole life. My parents thought something was wrong with me. They took me to a shrink, to get me "fixed." The shrink put me on Ritlin. I hated being drugged out on Ritlin and liked being "hyper." I knew nothing about A.D.H.D. except I had it and my parents wished I didn't have it. I felt as though something was wrong with me which my parents didn't like about me. It was my whole personality that they didn't like. My parents had a plane crash into their house in 1964 and their 9 year old son and 11 year old daughter were killed. I was adopted at age 3 in 1966. My mother was a valium addict (although very discretly) so a hyperactive son drove her crazy. She would "drug" me so she could "handle" me in her "mellow" state of mind. My parents really didn't like "me" unless I was drugged.

    I have a mildly A.D.H.D. son who is 8 years old. My wife and I attended a seminar on A.D.H.D. which changed my life.

    The seminar was by Steven Plog. Their were 100 adults and some children in the audience when Steven walked through the room and introduced himself and asked each person why they were there. Each parent mournfully said they had a child diagnosed with A.D.H.D. Each child responded that they had A.D.H.D. as if it were the plague.
Steven then said " thats great" give me a high five, I'm A.D.H.D. too. The childen smiled. the adults looked at him funny.

     Steven then went to the front of the room and began his presentation. He explained what the effects of A.D.H.D. were.
First he explained that A.D.H.D. kids have alot of energy, that they were "QUICK" and then explained that A.D.H.D. kids were almost always highly intellegent or "SMART."

   He put the two words together and uses the desciption "QUICK-SMART" KIDS instead of A.D.H.D. as if it were a disease. He then explained that the A.D.H.D. kids had advantages that "normal" kids don't have. "Quick Smart" Kids can comprehend 450 words a minute while "normal" kids can only understand 200 words a minute. Quick smart kids have multiple thought capabilities, the ability to think on multiple levels at the same instant. They can look out a window and watch a man mow the lawn, listen to the teacher, think about lunch, notice the kid sharpening his pencil all at once. Quick Smart kids are running a double the speed of normal kids. In all areas, thought, physical activity, everything. Therefore they get BORED easily because everybody thats "normal" seems slow to them. They hear a teacher talking like Charlie Browns teacher "wha whan whan wha!" so they "click on mental HBO" to amuse their bored silly high reving mind. They bounce their feet to amuse their bored high reving body. Their easily bored, not dumb. Its not their fault that everybody else is slow and boring. Their not sick or deficited, their different, their "QUICK SMART." Most famous people are A.D.H.D. and have learned how to use it to excel at something. Ever see an A.D.H.D. kid play a video game? Deficit my eye. They are brillient at things that interest them. They get bored with things that don't interest them.

    Their is nothing wrong with a Quick Smart kid, the problem is with people that don't have it or understand it. Our brains work differently, not wrongly. Instead of drugging our kids to be like us we should be seeking to understand the world from their prespective. Hey teacher, if you have A.D.H.D. kids in your class liven up. If Tommy is staring out the window, liven things up. Get up and go stand in front of the window. Keep things interesting, allow for movement. Quick Smart kids require movement. Our bodies have lots of energy. Steven told teachers to get a chest high table and put it in the back of the room. If kids needed to move around they could go and stand at the table and sort of lay on it and do their work being able to move and burn some energy as they pace or shuffle their feet or what ever it is they need to do and not distract the "normal" slower paced kids.
 
    Quick Smart (A.D.H.D.) kids crave movement and fast paced thoughts. Teacher pick up speed when talking, change your volume, your job is to teach All the children, not just the slower ones, and drug the quick ones.

    Their is Nothing wrong with me, I can process 450 words a minute, with all the details clear in my mind. I have energy, I have multiple thought capabilities. I love these things that others see as a disease, or disorder, or deficit.

    Steven plog was able to reveal to me that I'm different in a positive way. Now we need to learn how to harness the blessing of Quick Smart and put it to positive use.

    Don't focus on your childs weaknesses more than you focus on their stengths. Build on the stengths, a child who hates math won't be an accountant, they will find something they excel at and hire an accountant. Jim Carey didn't let A.D.H.D. stop him but found a way to use it. Your Quick Smart kid is just that, quick-smart and stop thinking negatively about it. Half way through Stevens presentation he said that when he first introduced himself everybody seemed ashamed to admit their child was A.D.H.D. He then put his hand over his heart and said "mom, dad, is that what you think of me? that something is wrong with me? Ouch!" Every kid stared at their parents with a "ya mom and dad, why do you act like theres something wrong with me, don't you know I'm Quick Smart! Steven said "I love my A.D.H.D. I don't want to be drugged to be slow and dull, I love being me.

    Make sure you focus on your childs stengths the A's over ride the D's. Einstein failed 8th grade math, why? because he couldn't show his work. He didn't think about math like the teachers did, he didn't need to do long division, he could do it in his head and gave the right answers but because he didn't think the same as his "slow" teachers and couldn't show them how he was able to compute the answers they failed him.

    I have lots to say on this subject but I'll pause for responces. I can think about things other than prophecy after all... hehe

Steven Plogs web sites:  http://www.resultsproject.net/

   If you have an A.D.H.D. child you owe it to them to check out Steven's web site, it will change your life and your childs.
                                                       Paul2

   

[Butterflywings]

I have lived with A.D.A. all my life and it was hard because I did not know what was going on and why I could not pay attention in school.  I am 45 now and when I was in school they did nothing for you.  I just learned to live with it.

[Tibby]

Very interesting. I had to learn to live with it, too. Those pills they give, they don't do jack! We tried dosage and different type, they just don't work for me. I did something right, clearly, I made it into the top 14% Nationally for the ACT, and received an academic scholarship to a state accredited University.

They have a great way to help counter the effect of ADD and ADHD without pills, it is called discipline!

[Paul2]

   Learning A.D.D. style.

 So-called problem #1: he can’t sit still in school and pay attention. So what’s your point? Name one job that pays you to sit still, quietly with your hands folded, feet together and your eyes forward. Not one? So he can’t do something he’s never going to have to do in his life? Sounds like a zero problem to me. Here’s my question: do you want him to pay attention and learn or do you want him to sit quietly bound and gagged for hours on end? ADD people can learn while they’re moving around!

Here are some success stories that might help illustrate what I’m talking about regarding learning to study “ADD Style.”  The first is from Carolyn, who is blessed with Michael, age 12, who is positively ADHD and proud of it.

Carolyn’s Story

Michael came home one day and I brought him to a special table Mr. Plog had told me to prepare. In the middle of the room stood this table with extensions on the legs making it chest high to Michael. When he stood next to the table it was writing height and there was no chair to sit on because it was made to be used standing.

I told Michael “I’ve decided you never ‘have’ to do homework again. It’s your choice and it’s totally up to you.” Steve was right, at this time I had his total attention, you could have heard a pin drop! I went on, “I have decided that you will determine if you want to do your homework or not.” I can honestly say I’ve never seen a bigger smile in my life.

I told him to come over to the table and look at the 15 minute timer I had sitting on the table. There were also comic books, a big sheet of white paper covering the whole table, crayons and his toys. I told him that I was going to ask him if he had homework when he comes home tomorrow and if he does then he has to stand at the table for 15 minutes to the second. After 15 minutes to the second he can go play for 15 minutes to the second. After playtime I would ask him if he had homework and if he said yes then he had to go back to the table for another 15 minutes.

Now the difference is I’m not telling him to do his homework. I’m just telling him the consequences if he still has some. This takes me, the teacher and everyone else out of the loop and puts the responsibility on Michael. I’m not saying he has to do his homework, I’m just telling him he’ll have to go back and forth every 15 minutes until he turns 18 and moves out of the house.

So the next day Michael comes home and I ask him “do you have homework?” He said “yes” and I told him to stand at the table. For the first 3 minutes he started to do his homework and then started reading his comic books. Ding! The 15 minutes were up and I told him to go play. He walked right over to the TV and sat down. Exactly 15 minutes to the second I pulled the cord out of the wall.

When he started to object, I escorted him to the table and told him “we will not be waiting until there is a commercial or until the scene is over. We will not be negotiating anything, period. It will be 15 minutes to the second.” ADD people will not take no for an answer, they will stretch anything out until they wear you out. Mr. Plog was very adamant that there be no pushing the time back. No changing the rules, no adjustments, no exceptions, nothing, zero, nada, zip, zilch.

At the table again Michael started doing his homework and made it about 5 minutes before he was back to the comic book. Ding. At exactly 15 minutes to the second I said, “go play.” Michael took one look at the TV (all shows are at least 30 minutes) and figured that was not going to work. So he started playing Nintendo.

Ding. Exactly 15 minutes to the second I pulled the plug out of the wall and he screamed, “Wait!” No, I told him, if you wanted to save the game you should have done it before the bell. Back to the table we go. Michael then did an amazing thing; he started doing his homework and stayed concentrating on it for the full 15 minutes! He was still working when the bell went off again.

Ding. Exactly 15 minutes later I said, “OK go play.” He smiled and said, “great I’m almost done.” I took the pen out of his hand and said “go play.” Michael said “give me the pen back, I’m almost done.” I told him “no you can’t be here now, because you can only be here for 15 minutes.” He persisted “Mom, I’m almost done.” I said “I know but that’s the way the game is played.” He still persisted.

Do you catch this argument? Michael is saying let me do my homework and mom is saying no you have to go play! Isn’t that happening all over America today? ADD kids are begging to do their homework and moms are forcing them to go play.

For 15 minutes Michael paced the floor eating a PB&J with milk waiting, waiting. (What’s he waiting for? To do his homework! Isn’t that the case all over America, ADD kids pacing the floor waiting for their moms to let them finish their homework?) Ding. Michael races back to his stand up desk and finishes the work in 2 minutes flat and says “see, I told you I was almost done.” I smiled and said “I believe you, but that’s the way the game is played. You can only be at the table for 15 minutes.

(You see when an ADD child is told to sit there until they are done they will start to daydream after a few minutes and could be there all day. The emphasis is that you can only be at the desk for 15 minutes, period. You now have a deadline. We have built in the procrastination factor for you.)

Michael came home the next day and walked straight to the stand up desk and wham! He finished his homework in 15 minutes flat. Now the amazing thing is that his teacher had given him 45 minutes worth of homework. Maybe for the “multiple thought impaired” children in his class, but not Michael! Mr. Plog told him that if his brain were powering a racecar and the other kids in his class had their brains powering a racecar; his would be the fastest car on the track.

The game Michael now plays against himself is if he can do his homework in one sitting then he did it ADD speed. If he does it in two sittings then he did it slug speed. Michael’s grades have gone from D’s to B’s with this simple little game plus those little chewable fruit and vegetable pills that we use from the Results Program. Now he’s doing homework ADD Style!

from Steven Plogs web site

[Paul2]

Life in the ADD fast lane

Let me explain what it’s like to listen to the multiple thought impaired all day long. Have you ever visited your grandparents who are over 90 in the rest home and really listened to them for a while? Kind of slow huh? Well now picture that you are visiting people that seem that slow and you talk to them 5 hours a day, 12 years in a row. (That’s what school was like for me.) Have you ever listened to someone who stutters really badly? Have you ever listened to someone who had too much to drink tell a really long boring story? If you have done at least one of these you know what you sound like when you talk to us. Reallllll slowwwwww.

The reason we’re not listening is because we can’t concentrate on too much dead air, as they say in radio land. Our minds think real fast, we listen fast, and we talk fast. Try staring at a wall and concentrating on the wall itself. That is what a conversation with you is like. Take an 8-year-old with ADD and try talking faster. Guess what? You got his attention. Use small words and just talk fast.

Let me explain something. Let’s say two people of the same age and athletic ability decide to exercise. One walks 2 hours a day for a year and the other runs 2 hours a day for a year. Guess who has the strongest legs? The runner! Now think of your ADD brain as the runner and the multiple thought impaired brain as the walker and guess who has the most developed brain? Speed up the conversation and you have instant attention.

It’s simple logic. ADD people have a short attention span and think real fast, so how should they do anything? Fast and in short spurts. How should you teach them? How should they do their jobs? Fast and in short spurts.

We’re just fine thank you. I happen to be blessed with a very creative mind with a short memory. So when someone calls and says let’s get together for lunch day after tomorrow I say great, call me back and remind me. If they say write it down, I tell them, “no I’ll just lose the piece of paper and besides you’re the multiple thought impaired rocket scientist with the great memory, so you remember to remind me.”

I stopped apologizing for being creative a long time ago. Others call it a short attention span. I correct them and tell them “it keeps the creative juices flowing, thank you.” Ten minutes after I meet someone at a party, right in front of 20 people I’ll ask them their name again. I say, “sorry, I forgot your name.” Then five minutes later I’ll ask again. When they say “you have a bad memory” I say “I couldn’t fit creativity and memory in the same head, so boring lost out.”

What about drugs, behavior modification, lists, organization charts? Sounds like some good topics for some opportunist to sell a lot of “how to” material. You take a duck and send him to eagle school to learn how to hunt. First day out the new eagle school graduate spots a squirrel and then you know what happens? The duck makes friends with the squirrel! Why? Because he’s a duck!

from Steven Plogs results project web site.

[Paul2]

Self Esteem

When kids are in school they are fighting for an identity. They are searching for self-esteem and trying to find out where they fit in. Little things like a bad haircut can set them back 6 months. Their ego is very fragile at that age. Right in the middle of trying to fit in, the people they trust the most, their parents, doctors and teachers, point their finger at them and say “You have ADD!” and “There is something wrong with you, you’re going to have to go to Special Class.” Now try to fit in. Yeah, right. I just get to the batter’s box to find out I get to start with 2 strikes against me in the game of life. Forget that! By the way, what do kids call the special class? Dummy or retard class.

I tried to fit in and compete academically for eight years. All I could get was a D average. By the time I got to high school I couldn’t take it anymore. My self-esteem couldn’t take it anymore. I tried to study but I just didn’t get it. My ego was taking a beating every time they would pass the test back down the line with my grade stamped in a big red letter “D” and everyone got to see it. So I decided to compete in something else. Class clown and troublemaker. If the teacher called on me I made jokes or would argue. This way my self-esteem was intact because my identity wasn’t student, it was school hood. In 1973, in my junior year at Wilson High School in Portland, Oregon, I rode my motorcycle right through the front door of the school and right down the main hall and right into jail, all on the idea that finals were coming next week.

Have you ever noticed that auto manufacturers only make one model of car on any one assembly line? No, each model comes from a different line or even a different manufacturing plant. If industry realizes this efficiency, why does our educational system try to make Chevrolet kids from the parts of our Cadillac kids? Maybe the real problem with our school system is that with the funds available for education, they can only cater to the majority of the ("average") kids that can't learn as fast. And the teachers don't have the time or ability to teach the kids at their individual learning pace. So they have to try to do the best they can for the majority.

You see, if I could have competed academically, I would have. I just didn’t have any idea how. Now, oddly enough there is research dating back to 1962 showing that nutritional therapy works. There is research proving that nutrition can increase academics and lower violence. Have you ever noticed that psychiatric doctors never provide a "cure" for a "disorder," they only prescribe a "treatment for a symptom?" Instead of taking psychotropic drugs to put me into a stupor and slow me down, I’m now eating fruit and vegetable supplements and concentrating on living ADD-style and life is great for me. I wouldn’t give up my ADD for anything in the world.
 from Steven Plogs results project web site.

[Paul2]

    You know you have A.D.D. when you see the movie "Young Guns" and then spend 2 days researching the life of Billy the kid.
      Thats how my brain works, if something catches my interest, I become obsessed with what ever it is. Same goes for the Bible, I want to know more, I want to understand more, I want the big picture, every detail.

      People with A.D.D. tend to be obsessive. They are easily distracted by things that are boring but when you get us interested in something we obsess on it. I became obsessed with the Bible, not a bad choice of things to obsess about.

    Its hard for me to concentrate on something I'm not interested in for 20 minutes, but things I'm interested in I can concentrate on for 8 hours straight and it seems as if 2 hours have gone by. Just because I think differently does mean theres something wrong with me. People need to "learn" how to deal with A.D.D. people. We shouldn't be told to take drugs to slow us down, any more than you should take drugs to "speed up". Were just different, our brains and bodies run at a different speed. We're the minority so were being forced to live our lives in the "slow lane" but we're built for the speedway. Picture V.W. beetles being the cars used for the Daytona 500... Boring, nobody would watch, but put an 800 horsepower engine in a race car that runs 200 miles an hour and its exciting. Race car drivers are forced to drive 45 miles an hour down pit road for their pit stops. When the driver leaves his pit box he wants to jump on the gas and start racing... but he can only go 45 miles an hour until he clears pit road and goes back on the track. That driver was just racing at 190 miles and hour, and having fun doing it. He needed to make a pit stop and all of a sudden he's miserable. He hits pit lane and crawls along at 45 miles an hour driving to his pit stall, looking at cars on the track driving by at 190. He's thinking I've got to go... He hits the pit box and the 14 seconds it takes to fill the car with fuel and change the tires seems an eterity. The pit crew drops the jack and he pulls out, at 45 miles an hour. He's fighting with all his concentration not to break the speed limit on pit road but his foot is itching to stomp the petal to the floor. He finally gets to the end of pit road, his foot slams the gas petal to the floor, a grin breaks out on his face as he hits 4th gear, he"s back up to speed, 190 miles an hour where he's happy until the car needs more gas, then its back to the misery of 45 miles an hour on pit road again.

    People with a.d.h.d. feel like that driver. We like going fast, its miserable going slow. Our bodies are like race cars stuck on lifes pit road. Want to torture an a.d.h.d. child? Tells him to sit still. You see people assume that a child who figets isn't paying attention, but they maybe just figeting to relieve the compulsion to get up and run around. They hear with their ears and can look at something else and still hear you just fine. Now tell that child who was bouncing his foot, looking out the window AND LISTENING TO YOU, to sit still, put their hands in their lap, and pay attention and look forward. That child just hit pit road. Now every ounce of concentration is going toward keeping their now miserable body still. Their minds are now dwelling on being told to be still and they are getting frustrated and mad because they weren't bothering anybody. Now the child is glaring forward, dwelling on not moving their bodies and certainly not listening to a single word spoken because we dwell on the fact that other people don't understand, its just the way I am.

    Tell an A.D.H.D. kid to calm down and you just make him mad and frustrated. I'm 39 years old, and when I sit down to watch a race on t.v. I move my feet back and forth in perpetual motion without even realizing it. My buddy will say "hey, your shaking the whole couch, sit still, will ya."
Immediately I become miserable. One minute I was happy and throughly enjoying myself, and then I hit pit road on the couch. Now I feel like Rusty Wallace driving down pit road. I concentrate hard to sit still and can't pay attention to the race because I'm dwelling on being told to stop shaking the couch. After 5 minutes I forget about it and all of a sudden I'm happy again, why? Because my feet are moving back and forth again. My buddy says "hey your shaking the couch again." Now I get up and pace back and forth while watching the race, happy again. My buddy says "hey sit down will ya, your making me tired just watching you" back to pit road I go, miserable again, until 5 minutes goes by and my feet return to perpetual motion and i'm happy again. I'm 39 and it still drives me nuts when people say sit still. As I'm writing this I just looked down and noticed that my legs are bouncing back and forth. Built for speed.
                                                    Paul2

[Heidi]

Psychiatrists don't see the interesting "coincidence" that ADHD and little boys go together. That's not to say that there aren't little girls that are energetic, but boys simply do have more energy. My son was recommended for ritalin but i refused to give it to him. I wanted him to learn to emotionally grow up on his own. He's 14 and has settled down immensely. He still has exceptional energy but it's a wonderful energy. he has many friends and a heart for Jesus that is rare for boys his age. I never want to break his spirit but i want him to learn how to cope with life. I just think that some parents don't know how to deal with certain personalities so it's easier to put their children on drugs. That's not the answer. God can transform their energy into positive and constructive behavior that can greatly add to society.

[Paul2]

     Right on Heidi, right on

[shugotenshi]

  This reminds me of a boy who was diagnosed with level 3 autism..something like that.  he hated his homework though it was boring and just didn't want to do it.  I think he was 12 at the time.  Well, i'm friend's with that family and to my amazement...this boy ends up being an extremely good artist.  He's able to duplicate anything he see's almost to the exact.  I'm a freelance art instructor to children (over 10 years), so I have some sort of understanding when it comes to 'children drawing'.

   I've also had students with ADD.  I found a lot of them are really 'animated' or artistic in a way.  When I teach my drawing classes, I talk to them at their level or someone that they can easily relate to.  I'm not some guy with a power trip and expect a bunch of kids to call me 'mister' or 'sir' or expect me to have an hour long lecture on 'how to draw'.  I draw with them and we all sit around talking about cartoons.  Heheheh, I even make sounds as I draw so they can get a different feel, lol.  I have to agree by saying that maybe ADD might be an excuse for teachers being somewhat 'boring'.  Give me a group of students diagnosed with ADD and/or ADHD...and i'll show you some really artistic kids, lol...maybe...  

[Paul2]

    I have a hard time letting my topics go into the back pages of obsurity when I put so much time and effort into them. So I "wake" them up every once in a while, somebody new might be interested. If not, I'll just talk to you

                                                        Paul2

   It must be that a.d.d. thing