dear kspriggs,
Sorry I don't have time to chat right now but my programme is pretty full. I've realised I have to write a cheque to pay for new car tyres, and then I want to practise my favourite piece (even though I'm still in my pyjamas - and it's a bit draughty here on the verandah).
But I have no axe to grind, so just humour me please.

:-)

It is your way here:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medicalize

Because it is an AMERICAN dictionary.

The ending "ize" is standard in American English. The ending "ise" is standard in most of the rest of the world.

Before you start criticizing the spelling of other people, try leaving your ignorant ethnocentric viewpoint at the door.

I realise that when someone has such poor judgement, we would be wise to ignore his criticising the rest of us, but such ignorance colours the perception of those in the US so that we all are perceived as Ugly Americans - which certainly does us no favours.

Having raised an ADHD child, I can say, I sure wish it were true that piano lessons cured it! My daughter's life would be so much easier!

The connection of ADHD-type behaviors with food additives, particularly artificial dyes, is increasingly well established, though. In the UK the dyes have been largely eliminated because of publicity about the studies of this (I don't have references handy, but if you're curious you can find them at www.feingold.org). The striking thing about recent studies is that they were able to document ADHD symptoms in "normal" children with exposure to dyes.

But sadly, elimination of those additives does not cure all ADHD--any more than piano lessons or parental discipline do.

My daughter's is what used to be called "inattentive-type"--nothing to do with bad behavior, but everything to do with ability to focus. Some ADHD kids are able to hyper-focus on practicing, but this sure didn't work for her!

This is the internet. It was developed largely by Americans. Australians are too busy watching Crocodile Dundee and passing gun bans that don't work. So, please do us all a favor and use American English. We are are the country that gave you Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and most other great internet site. Your country gave us Foster's beer.

This is a joke, right?

[wow. Just wow.

Wow is right. I think you have "Internet forum rudeness disorder." Sadly, there is more evidence for the one I just made up than for ADHD and Assburger's.

I'm currently involved in professional development/study on the cluster of giftedness, Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD. There has been very little research done on profound giftedness and sometimes highly gifted children are misdiagnosed as being ADHD, and children on the high functioning end of the autism spectrum can similarly be misdiagnosed. But misdiagnosis does not mean that the cluster of capacities and incapacities that makes up ADHD does not exist.

I'm sure that a lot of the sightings of UFOs are false as well. Does this mean that UFOs don't exist? No. Does it meant that they do exist? No, again. Misdiagnosis doesn't prove anything.



Further, for those who are trained in helping these children (and adults, although adults are less likely to be seeking ongoing support the way parents of children are/do) there are simple ways of determining the difference between a behavioural problem and issues to do with executive function, arousal, sequencing, central coherence and so forth.


Massive contradiction. You just said that they get misdiagnosed. Now, you are saying that they are easy to define. Which is it?



I'm not in any way an expert in this field, but I've been astonished at the extraordinary difference occupational therapists can make working with children who struggle with executive funtion and central coherence and so on. I've observed about 15 hours so far with a specialist occupational therapist with a view to relating these techniques to my piano teaching practice - it has been an inspiration learning how to recognise markers of different processing problems and then techniques for helping children develop skills they lack in these regards.


In other words, kids can, with proper adult guidance, learn to get better. This is what I've said all along. Putting your kid in front of a piano and forcing them to figure out a piece might (gasp!) improve a kid's attention span. Sure beats sticking them in front of a cell phone or a video game all day! Too bad piano teachers don't get to charge $150 or more an hour like therapists!



Trying to deal with these issues as a behavioural issue results in no progress, and that's because the behavioural problems are the symptom of deeper problems which have nothing to do with discipline or parental failings. [/quote]

This all depends on how you define "as a behavioral issue." If these therapists aren't prescribing drugs, then what are they doing?

kspriggs, I've learned a lot from your posts.

Having said that, I don't think your understanding of my comments matches my understanding of my comments.

My mentioning "misdiagnosis" was not intended or suggested to be proof that a disorder exists (or doesn't), and I'm confused as to why you would think this was my intent. Obviously I've failed to express myself with sufficient clarity, and I'm not sure that I'll do much better if I give it another go.