According to Ryan D’Agostino of Esquire.com, if you have a son, there’s a one in seven chance that he has been or will be diagnosed with ADHD…a psychiatric condition. By high school nearly 20% of all boys (6.4 million) will have been diagnosed with ADHD.
Meet Stephen Tonti, a successful businessman who grew up with the “disorder.”
As Stephen gave his story in the video above, he brought out some key points:
- ADHD is not a lack of focus, but rather difficulty selecting something on which to fully focus.
- Hyper-focus is achieved with deep interest.
- These boys have difficulty completing things that don’t excite them.
- It’s easier for them to see the big picture and plan immense things than complete the mundane tasks in life.
- ADHD is a difference in cognition…attention difference not attention deficit.
- Learning differently requires teaching differently.
- Teachers should foster learning autonomy in their students by helping them learn about learning.
- Teacher as mentors rather than disciplinarians. Teach students to teach themselves.
- We must embrace cognitive diversity.
Of course, since ADHD is a way of thinking and being rather than a disorder, there’s no way of getting rid of it. So the boys are sedated.
If your son has been diagnosed, most likely he has been prescribed a stimulant (like Ritalin and Adderall) to deal with the symptoms. These are stimulants that the Drug Enforcement Administration classifies as having a “high potential for abuse” and “dependence,” along with many other life-threatening conditions.
School clinicians and teachers are quick to suggest that parents take their inquisitive, “over-active” boys to their doctors and ask if medication is warranted. Their only thought is that these boys do not disturb their classes.
A boy’s best advocate is his parents.
There used to be a time when boys were allowed to be boys. But with the “girlification” of the education system, boys have been robbed of their rights to “just be boys.” Between 2008 and 2012, in the prevailing pharmaceutical culture, sales of ADHD drugs have grown by 89 percent.
Who gives “the system” the right to deem your unique child disordered?
Why do so many of us allow our boys to be dehumanized…with our consent?
How many of the innovators…the movers and shakers… of the world have been diagnosed with ADHD?
Click here to see an incomplete list.
We must stop this trend.
Here’s what you’ll want to do next:
1. Adopt a “Say-NO-to DRUG’ attitude.
2. Whether he’s yours, the neighbor’s, or the child you meet at church or community meetings, assure that child in your sphere of influence, who has been saddled with the label ADHD, that he’s special and do your best to help him find his passion(s).
3. Provide support to other parents with boys.
Spot on and well said! I also am concerned with the disturbing trend to “diagnose” all children with ADHD which too often seems like an excuse for the drug industry to peddle their wares. I remember my own mother had great success with getting my older brother (who was diagnosed with ADHD in the late 80’s or early 90’s) to settle down with a specific diet that cut out a lot of sugar and processed foods. Even today, apple juice makes him edgy — but it also makes sense that, with our poor diet, a lot more young children in the U.S. are getting misdiagnosed just because these unhealthy foods and sugary products are exacerbating these symptoms!
Catherine, you bring up another topic that’s dear to my heart. Poor nutrition is the culprit in quite a number of behavior issues. You are correct about the effects of sugar and processed foods. The chemical composition of sugar is very close to cocaine, and sugar is even more addictive than cocaine. In addition, many children react negatively to the additives put in so many of our foods today. I will be writing about the connection between nutrition and learning, next week. Thanks for sharing your mom’s success with your brother. I appreciate you.
Thanks for posting this interesting and educational TED TALK. I feel like I have ADHD myself. I do have trouble focusing in the manner he spoke of. That’s something new I learn about myself!
Hi Lily, what is called ADHD is really just a way of thinking and perceiving the world. I have found that a much smaller percentage of girls are usually diagnosed with ADHD than boys – 15.1% boys compared to 6.7% girls. Generally, I find that adults are quick to make excuses for why girls are more active than their peers. But boys get looked at through the pathological lens.
Hi Florence,
My youngest stepson was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 3. I was gifted him when my husband and I got married. Junior was 14. I didn’t know much about ADHD so I learned as much as I could as quickly as I could. What I learned was that ADHD was not a disorder. It was how Junior’s brain was wired. I encouraged Junior to do his own research and by the end of his junior year in high school, we (his dad and mom as well) came to the same conclusion. No more drugs.
Thanks for posting this.
Peggy
You are welcome, Peggy.
There are a number of labels given to children whose brains are wired differently from how the school system educates. ADHD is one of them; dyslexia is another.
If only more parents would do as you did – encourage and support their children who learn differently. Keep up the good work and spread the fire!
Wonderfully said, Florence! What is this need that we have to label? Boys and I’d add, girls too are just who they are. We need to stop this trend. Bravo to you and this post!
Delia, thanks for stopping by and adding your voice to the campaign to save our boys from the seemingly deliberate attempt to neuter their futures.
Yes, the girls get labelled too. It just seems so much tougher on the boys. Every day, I see them roaming the streets, aimlessly; following the current entertainment icon thoughtlessly; hopeless; vision-less; like processionary caterpillars heading down a path to certain destruction.