In fact, I discussed the workshops with Tina after class today and a lot of interesting questions and tangents came up. For example, how do you define a learning disability? Does ADD follow under this category. How does a lack of basic needs fit into this? Would we be seeing such a dramatic number of kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD if their basic needs were being met? Now, I know many other factors contribute to this, and nobody has all the information yet. I just wonder if, in today's busy society of fast food, overworked parents and constant media exposure, we are"hard-wiring" kids' brains for these conditions?
Another interesting topic that came up was how we define learning disabilities and mental health issues. Do we need to be precise, or is it possible to view all of these brain-related states on a continuum? After all, I truly believe that most people experience dramatically altered states of being throughout their lifetimes.
Finally, I'm not sure if this is the final blog or not, but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for a great term. I certainly learned a lot from you, and appreciate all the support you have given.
ADD/ADHD is not a learning disability or a mental health issue. It is a condition where a child has more difficulty than her peers with focus and impulsivity, so it's just a part of the focus/impulse control continuum. All children struggle with it, some more than others. Sometimes ADD/ADHD comes with other issues and there are learning disabilities and sometimes there's a very high IQ that masks the focus issues. According to the professionals I've spoken to, the research does not support environmental causes. It certainly does not help if a child lacks structure, sleep or a proper diet, but that in itself won't cause ADD/ADHD.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info, Febe!
ReplyDeleteI think I must have heard or read in another class that ADD was a learning disability, and that's where the confusion came through. However, I just followed up and learned that sometimes people with ADD do have other learning disabilities in addition to ADD and thats how it ends up getting jumbled into the category.
However, I wasn't trying to imply that ADD was a mental health issue. That was just another tangent of the discussion totally independent of ADD. I was referring to an article I read about people who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and other metal-health related issues that were doing work to raise public awareness on mental health issues. They argue that mental health (or I guess what we would refer to as sanity) exists on a continuum. Food for thought.
Dear Andrea - I loved out chat so much! You did give me a lot of food for thought!!! I didn't realize how I felt or what I thought about some of the issues we discussed until we actually did. You're the greatest!
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