Southern by choice
Herd Master
I am much like you Pearce... I believe in teaching our kids first time obedience...with love, grace, and consequences. I also have one with ADD...not ADHD. He is borderline though. I did learn about the 6 types of ADD and that has been a very effective tool.Pearce Pastures said:PREACH it! I am guilty though and karma bites---I used to think ADHD was just parents who didn't know how to discipline their kids. Then I had Ben I am a strong disciplinarian and believe in a balance of positive reinforcement and appropriate consequence....he believes his hands are airplanes and that crumbling a piece of pavement under his desk makes more sense than doing his math. It is one of those you don't understand until you experience it yourself I guess because there are plenty of people who think like I did (actually, that popular family psychologist guy whose book is on my shelf thinks it is made up too--- ).
One of the dis-orders that can coincide with ADD is Non-Verbal Learning Disorders. Sadly I have not met ONE educator that has ever even heard of it. Of course the name makes matters worse because people think it has something to do with "speaking"...LOL it has nothing to do with it. Working with a NVLD child is difficult. The varying degrees make matters worse. Educators do not like kids like this in their class, they often will really grow to strongly dislike the child. These kids are also usualy super intelligent which of course make things even more difficult. Social relationships for these kids are also very difficult. They can handle only one person at a time.
I also know that in the 90's every normal active kid was being labeled with ADD and many really were not..it was in the parenting. There really are kids with these issues and as a mom of one it is heart-breaking. You know, with downs syndrome people can see it so they get it, same as any dis ability that can be seen...yet the wiring in the brain that gets "short circuited" cannot. I often tell people just because you cannot see it, it doesn't mean it's not there. I have found...and I don't care about stupid studies that contradict this... SUGAR greatly effects my sons behaviors.. I explained to him it is as if he is "allergic" to sugar, his body cannot handle it and reacts to it. Also.. believe it or not I have found change of seasons and the barometric pressure greatly effects his behavior.
Yesterday..Horrible, absolutely horrible...and so far today- turning out the same way. Did I say Horrible???
Hang in there Coco!