正文
The modern psychology/psychiatry has advanced tremendously in recent years, especially in the early diagnosis, early intervention field. Many children with diseases such as Auticism are getting treatment that help them with basic motor skills, interaction with others, and language development. I have a friend who's an autistic children's therapist. I found her work especially gratifying.
Every coin has two sides. I have been very concerned with what I think as over dignosis on minor diseases such as ADHD in children. It seems to me the doctors are very quick putting kids on drugs such as Ritlin. I see this practice a symtom of our ever impatient socienty looking for a quick cure for anything out of the norm. According to the American Acadamy of Child and Adolenscent Psychiatry, (http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_who_cant_pay_attention/adhd)
"(ADHD) affects between 3 to 5 percent of all children, perhaps as many as two million American youngsters. Two to three times more boys than girls are affected, though the disorder is being identified increasingly in girls. On the average, at least one or two teens in every classroom in the United States need help for the disorder."
Now here is my question, why does it happen more to boys than girls? We all know that boys are born differently. They are more active, energetic, and have shorter attention spans. Could it be that the classrooms are less tolerant to the boyish behaviors that leads to these ADHD diagnosis? If you look at the symptom list of ADHD,
trouble paying attention
inattention to details and makes careless mistakes
easily distracted
loses school supplies, forgets to turn in homework
trouble finishing class work and homework
trouble listening
trouble following multiple adult commands
blurts out answers
impatience
fidgets or squirms
leaves seat and runs about or climbs excessively
seems "on the go"
talks too much and has difficulty playing quietly
interrupts or intrudes on others
does it show you fairly typical youngsters (especially boys), or someone with psychological issues? I think in many cases kids need patient nurturing and education, not drugs. And if they can't change the way they behave, maybe as a society they can be tolerated, as long as they're not harming anyone else.
I'm no fan of Tom Cruise. I think his attack on Brooke Shields was foolish and sexist. However I do agree with him on the children issue. We are indeed overusing Ritalin. I don't doubt there are cases where medication are necessary. But I don't think 5% of our children need them. I love my flawed children. I don't need to fix them to become desinger kids.
不好意思，本来想敲中文，后来发现实在太困难了。
Every coin has two sides. I have been very concerned with what I think as over dignosis on minor diseases such as ADHD in children. It seems to me the doctors are very quick putting kids on drugs such as Ritlin. I see this practice a symtom of our ever impatient socienty looking for a quick cure for anything out of the norm. According to the American Acadamy of Child and Adolenscent Psychiatry, (http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/children_who_cant_pay_attention/adhd)
"(ADHD) affects between 3 to 5 percent of all children, perhaps as many as two million American youngsters. Two to three times more boys than girls are affected, though the disorder is being identified increasingly in girls. On the average, at least one or two teens in every classroom in the United States need help for the disorder."
Now here is my question, why does it happen more to boys than girls? We all know that boys are born differently. They are more active, energetic, and have shorter attention spans. Could it be that the classrooms are less tolerant to the boyish behaviors that leads to these ADHD diagnosis? If you look at the symptom list of ADHD,
trouble paying attention
inattention to details and makes careless mistakes
easily distracted
loses school supplies, forgets to turn in homework
trouble finishing class work and homework
trouble listening
trouble following multiple adult commands
blurts out answers
impatience
fidgets or squirms
leaves seat and runs about or climbs excessively
seems "on the go"
talks too much and has difficulty playing quietly
interrupts or intrudes on others
does it show you fairly typical youngsters (especially boys), or someone with psychological issues? I think in many cases kids need patient nurturing and education, not drugs. And if they can't change the way they behave, maybe as a society they can be tolerated, as long as they're not harming anyone else.
I'm no fan of Tom Cruise. I think his attack on Brooke Shields was foolish and sexist. However I do agree with him on the children issue. We are indeed overusing Ritalin. I don't doubt there are cases where medication are necessary. But I don't think 5% of our children need them. I love my flawed children. I don't need to fix them to become desinger kids.
不好意思，本来想敲中文，后来发现实在太困难了。
1. Beside psychology/psychiatry, School Clinic Docs may help on diagnosis and medication. Majority of ADHD like kids will be rolled out since they have only some behavior but not enough to match all medical criteria.
2. Don’t worry if your kids have not many D/F or frequently phone call from school officials (don’t count teachers’ call).
3. Formal diagnosis will enable public resources to give you a hand.
4. Many Schools have ISP programs or study skill classes available for ADHD kids.
5. If doesn’t work, seek medication option. Consider a balance between side effect and symptom control.
6. Sometime, medication helps but not always. A medication trial is necessary. Side effect is not that terrible comparing to parents’ worry.
7. A live example: [Ritalin + ISP + Study Skills Class] helps a boy to increase his GPA from 1.2 to 3.7 in four years. Both parents are medical professionals.
8. Forget all listed above if you think they are not helpful.
对多动症的了解，尚处于初级阶段，就我所理解的关于多动症用药，有两点必须陈述，第一，用药改善有效期为两年，再以后的效果不一定有物理疗法更见效；第二，药物的副作用，曾经看到有报道，长期用药导致病人自杀倾向，较高癌症发病率。
不过，用药与否，应该是孩子的父母和医生共同的决定，作为Tom Cruise这样的大腕，不应该轻易去Judge别人，因为毕竟孩子不是他的，他没有处于完全相同的境况下，这样下结论，无疑对病儿的父母心理造成阴影。