ADHD

I think there used to be two options - they would be thrashed, or sectioned.

I think like many such things they were "around" but not recognised/diagnosed.
Some professionals don't believe the condition exists but DD has a few friends who would beg to differ. My friend's DS was diagnosed with ADHD 28 yrs ago.

My DDs friend has a daughter who friend states had the problem and she has all manner of help from SS and extra benefits for the child,when DD came to visit one day with said friend the little one went out for a walk to the park with my OH and DGSs and he said all the child needed was someone to listen to what she had to say and take an interest in her,her mother was usually plonked on sofa watching "soaps" and feeding her rubbish hence the child suffered and performed,after the child went to live with her DGPs she changed so much and now works full time at a solicitors office so who was the one with the problem ? certainly not the child.
I do think the condition exists to a certain extent but feel far too many are "labelled" which is such a shame as they will carry this throughout their younger school years and with some on to adulthood.

I also watched that programme. The children might or might not have had ADHD but their behaviour problems were due to inadequate parenting.

The two boys featured were bored out of their tiny minds and needed stimulation and attention, in particular from the Dad and Step-dad.

Given that, and a sensible set of rules, they certainly seemed much improved.

my thoughts exactly Anya ,the boys both seemed very intellegent and given the attention and stimulation they craved could go a long way in life

Shame that they were both on strong medication too. The clue was that both boys exhibited this behaviour mainly in the home setting.

I didnt watch the programme but I think that although there are undoubtedly some cases of genuine ADHD I think it is often used as an easy label for a child and is to my opinion often caused by poor stimulation of what is often a very intelligent curious child, combined with atrocious diet. My friend's son was diagnosed at 3 after 3 years of screaming, no sleep, no bonding. She read all she could and controlled his diet very strictly, at one time he was on little more than rice cakes, veg and water until she could identify, by the process of elimination, what was causing the problem. He is now an articulate, well educated young man, on his way to a good university, and knows to avoid certain food stuffs, chiefly artificial colours and refined sugar. However, his parents had the time and resources to deal with this, spent hours taking him to sports activities, drama groups, played games with him, controlled his diet, this option is not available to many people, and thus the label of ADHD is given, and so the child sets off on the path of exclusion, criminality, violence, all deadened with ritalin. So sad.

I fully appreciate that there are some children who do have ADHD and there are some who (like the boys last night) are naughty, bored little boys without the right parental guidance to help them. I agree with Anya once the boys had some structure, stimulation and attention they seemed to improve dramatically.

I also think there seems to be a rush to hang some sort of label on children too quickly without fully exploring other explainations for their behaviour.

Yes Gilly structure too, that is so important. I really laughed at the boy's absolute delight in finding his school clothes laid out neatly on the floor in the shape of a boy

These kids also need some fun and laughs in their sad little lives.