ADHD, Learning Disabilities, Diagnosis, And Labels Oh My!
January 3, 2009 
3 Comments
I am beginning to lose my faith in ADHD as a diagnosis. Yes! I just said I am beginning to lose my faith in what ADHD represents, and how we as a society have come to understand the most misunderstood condition of our time.
Earlier today I was reading about ADHD and learning disabilities. I found an interesting, yet questionable, article that correctly reported that ADHD is NOT a learning disability. But here’s where the article lost me… The author described a learning disability as a situation when a student excels in one area, but struggles with another area. For instance, if someone is really good with Verbal tasks, but struggles with non-verbal tasks.
ADHD was identified as a condition where people struggle across the board – verbal, non-verbal, etc… EXCUSE ME?!?!?!
It is common knowledge, or so I thought, that ADHD very rarely exists by itself. In most cases, people are also struggling with anxiety, depression, a “true” learning disability, and the list goes on… But don’t we all struggle? Don’t we all learn differently?
At what point are we just going to come up with a label for everyone?
Oh yea, and by the way, doesn’t the above definition also describe what we understand as “giftedness?” Perhaps we have competing labels for our children (and yes, adults too), and that the condition or label is in the eye of the beholder.
Is that possible? Have we gone too far? Have we gone overboard?
Are we so focused on labeling everything that we miss the mark on what an individual truly needs?
What Do You Think?
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I agree with you Rory! Overlabeling is huge in our society. The symptoms of ADHD usually do exist with depression/anxiety and even OCD. Let’s start focusing on what kids need and less on justifying to insurance companies that our kids have problems!
One of the things that bothers me about labels is that it gives a child an automatic excuse to behave in a particular manner. Years ago, I taught a 5th grade girl who was on ritalin for ADHD which she thought excused her from having to work very hard in my classroom. She-and her mother-explained to me that she could not memorize. I replied that I would not accept that excuse and that she had to at least try. One small example among many.
No matter would you will be labeled and most people will stereo type you by your label. The bad part is when the person feels they need to be label.
If your kid has a “learning disability”, maybe the teachers in classrooms has failed to motivate, challenge or keep the subject interesting. Some kids may even prefer a different method of learning. Maybe your child is to intelligent for lessons being thrown their way or it could have something to do with their diet and sleeping habits. all this doesnt mean your child has a disability that requires medication, doctors, and fancy terms that really shit mean bs it.