Looking for information (not text book)

Depending on age, the Percy Jackson books are great for kids struggling with ADHD &/or dyslexia. Author Rick Riordan wrote them so that his son would have some positive views of kids with specific learning difficulties.
There have been a couple of films, which IMHO don't capture the magic of the books, and just seem like a poor Harry Potter (that doesn't mean I wouldn't want kids to see them, but just say they are not as good as the books)
The first one is Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief, probably for age 11 & up, but I think younger kids would enjoy having them read to them.
Also good for teaching a bit of Greek mythology!

Sorry don,t know how the word dry got into the first line!

My Godaughter is now 24 and was diagnosed with ADHD as a child? She still hAs difficulties with social cues and friendships and is. Dry one track and egotistical in her thinking? She is also very emotional immature and functions more at stroppy early teenager level. She has had a fairly severe level of depression in adulthood and the mental health professionals dealing with her at present are finding it difficult to manage here medication in a helpful way and she is currently seeing a therapist who specialises in adult ADHD. I love her but her behaviour is exhausting at times still and has caused her mother and I a great deal of worry.

As a child her father never accepted she had problems her mother found her difficult to manage but she lived in a nice home and there were no problems. She now lives with her mother , her parents divorced 3 years ago the fathers choice and my goddaughter has stuggled sometimes feeling she does not get the acceptance from her father she has always craved he thought she was "naughty" as a child and thinks she could ,"pull herself together " as an adult. There are no easy answers and the health/ mental health services often leave a lotto be desired but I firmly believe it is a genuine condition.

I think you have it the nail on the head but I guess when they have 30 other children its a hard task to keep praising someone who is disrupting them all but the teachers and schools who are prepared to try and to work with the parents are to be praised ....but their self esteem is usually very low just because of the drip drip,- don't do that, sit still, stop jumping up, stop calling the answer out, leave your sister alone......

That is exactly the problem with my nephew Galen. He is kept in check by the drugs all day and then all hell can be let loose in the evenings.

However it has to be said that moving to a school where they sought to help rather than blame and punish has been an enormous help - stress is the last thing that a child of this kind needs.

You can have the best will in the world with discipline with these children, but sometimes it can overwhelm you and lead to you being Ill, as in my DD having depression on and off for 4 years, that you ( sometimes) just say, sod it. It's very very waring.

Also with Ritalin, it quite often wears off by home time and the parents get the unmodified behaviour.
This gives 'school angel, home devil' picture.
The DWP get school reports and use these in their decisions.

unfortunately for some children mediation doesn't work and for others it gives bad side effects its not a nice set of drugs and isn't a miracle for all kids

Yes, it's part of the balancing act parents/adults go through about the costs and benefits of medication. I saw a number of boys, on the edge of exclusion, helped to get back into school, with a combination of drug and other therapies. The benefits of the drug, are it works quickly so helping children do better in every day life.

I heard Prof Fallon interviewed on the radio recently, it may have been a repeat of a historical interview. My impression was that the people who agreed to participate, were aware their brain scans would be identified by a number to aid the research. I suppose the numbers could have been linked to names on a confidential site/file, I don't know. It was very interesting though.
My feeling is that major flaw in attributing poor/abusive parenting to personality disorders at the extreme end, adhd for example ,is that so many of the child with adhd, or adult psychopath have siblings who appear to have survived well. Resilience is another contributor. Resilience is said to be the result of good/enough parenting. Most parents who have a child who is 'different' feel responsible, and very easily feel blamed, even if that wasn't intended.

He used the brain scans of members of his department or family or something like that. In an experiment like this it is not necessary for the control group to be anonymous. He scanned the brains of people who had been diagnosed as psychopaths and then scanned a sample of people who did not have such a diagnosis. Those diagnosed as psychopaths had a clear pattern of lack of activity/over activity in one section of the brain. He compared them with scans of people without such a diagnosis - and found one that matched the psychopathic brains. At that point I do not think the control group scans had names on, but it was possible to go back and put names on them and the name was his.

But I do think this research opens a path to considering whether parenting patterns help or hinder children with a behavioural problem like ADHD. There will obviously be some children where upbringing is chaotic and inconsistent and it is clear this will not be helpful for a child with a chaotic mind but other parents who overall are parenting well may gain by understanding that children like this respond well to particular patterns of nurture.

Ritalin can really be a very helpful medication and can make a real difference to a child's ability to participate in everyday activities without too much additional support.

(I can't remember how he discovered his own brain scan.)

Sometimes parents feel guilty about the use of ritalin, but it has been godsend to my nephew who recognises how helpful it has been to him. His parents bear the brunt of his problems as the drug has worn off by the time he gets home and they are left to deal with the aftermath.

It is difficult to know when or whether it should be tailed off and this is another reason for proper diagnosis and support.

There was a Horizon documentary about the subject of 'the psychopathic gene' - Professor Jim Fallon was the member of the team who discovered that his brain contained the gene. It was fascinating, but unfortunately is no longer available to view.

What I find interesting in your example, Flickety, was that he could find out which scan belonged to which person. I thought the whole point of research using control samples was that they were not identifiable.

........it would be nice if it was that simple FlicketyB

Not in a severe case I feel

There was a report recently about an academic doing research into psycopaths. He had a sample of brain scans from people diagnosed as psychopaths and showing psycopathic behaviour patterns and a control sample of his work colleagues.

When doing the comparisons he was disconcerted to discover that one of the psychopathic scans had got mixed up with his control sample. When he investigated he discovered that the scan was actually of his own brain.

This led him to reconsider what made some one psychopathic. He came to the conclusion that while a psychopathic brain predetermined the possibility of someone becoming psychopathic, nurture or the lack of it was the switch that turned it on. He could, on reflection see mild psychopathic actions and reactions in himself, but came to the conclusion because he had good parents and a structured and disciplined upbringing, these psychopathic tendencies were disciplined and controlled

I wonder whether the same applies to ADHD/ADD. If a child with ADHD/ADD is brought up in a structured and disciplined way then the syndrome will generally only show in minor ways, but when a child with ADHD has a chaotic and inconsistent upbringing then they are more likely to develop serious problems.

A friend of my grandson has ADHD and was controlled by Ritalin.
He has just gone up to secondary school which is disruptive in itself, but has also been taken off his medication to find out if he would be better on something else. In the meantime, his behaviour has deteriorated and he is a nightmare in any situation where he mixes with other people.
He is in the football team that my son coaches and runs around trying to strangle all the other players, and is impossible to control. He is the biggest and strongest boy in the group, so obviously puberty is playing a part in his behaviour.

I have also seen parents, and I can understand how it happens, who throw in the towel when a child's specific needs mean behaviour is an issue. Even if a child has ADD/ADHD etc dos not mean that boundaries/high expectations are not important any more.

Equally have seen parents of significantly disabled children really help their children by expecting big things from them!

In answer to your question. In my experience puberty can make it worse in that compliance with medication becomes more erratic! We see the same in juvenile diabetics who want to be the same as their mates and therefore won't comply with testing and medication and diet.
I hope this helps?

I totally agree with Pen's opinion. Unfortunately in some severe cases Ritalin may modify the behaviour but it can still be uncontrollable. Response to Ritalin/concerta can give an indication however that the diagnosis is correct.
I agree a professional paediatric psychiatrists opinion is essential to establish the diagnosis!

I have had experience of children who have been given a diagnosis of ADHD/ADD and also of families who have very much wanted a diagnosis and been angry with me for not completing the form for the paediatrician in the way thy wanted me to.

If a child does have ADD/ADHD it is very exhausting and challenging condition for a family to manage. I understand that Ritalin will only help children who genuinely have this condition and can make behaviour worse for children who do not.

Children who can control their lively and non-stop behaviour in one situation but not in another are less likely to have ADD/ADHD but have a behaviour management / emotional need.

Really does need a professional paediatric diagnosis as in my experience there are quite a lot of families of children who have developed bad habits of behaviour but who hope that they can get a diagnosis of ADHD.

Thank you Galan I can obviously understand much more since you have explained your work etc I am interested that you say children can outgrow it and learn to manage it In your opinion do you think life changes like puberty can make it worse for a period of time in some kids ?

I do realise like with many 'unseen' illnesses ME being one they are difficult to prove and there are always plenty who will 'swing the lead' so to speak

I only really knew ADD or ADHD existed when I saw good parenting with love and solid ground rules in equal portions making no difference at all and hearing the impulsiveness described as being like a sneeze totally out of your control to stop

To clarify. I have seen a lot of parents whose children have ADHD. The genuine cases have my sympathy. They present with very challenging behaviour which can exhaust the parents.
Diagnosis and treatment can take long time and treatment is not always successful.
Some of the cases I've seen recently, are people who have reached adulthood and there appears to be no provision for treatment for them as they've been discharged from the paediatricians.
A lot of children outgrow, or learn to cope with their problems but not all.
Does this help , or is there something more specific you want to know?