ADD/ADHD: The Bogus Diagnosis?

When I was younger I felt like any time now my family from my home planet would come down and take me back. I remember one particular day when I was teaching myself how to ride a bike while my father was putting a pool in our backyard. I looked up at the sky and said, "Ok, anytime now!" Since I can remember I have always felt like a girl in an alien world. I felt like everyone else spoke a foreign language. I would get so confused and nervous when adults would speak to me or order me around. I would take things so literally and miss jokes that my other school peers would say to me. I would smile as if I understood and walk away. In fifth grade my mother had me evaluated by the school psychologist and other specialists to see why I was not able to perform better in school, especially math.

Math was one of the toughest subjects for me; more so, I found better ways to do the math than what was taught in class. For instance, I could answer an algebra problem but I could not tell you the steps. The steps are required! I never could understand it that way. They found nothing. While I had a difficult time in communication as well, I really loved to write. I would write poems and stories constantly although I would never share them. I don't feel I was subjected to a lot of bullying; however, I did experience many problems with maintaining friendships. I was uncoordinated and had a difficult time taking verbal directions. In addition, I talked excessively and sometimes just didn't know when to stop. Orally my reading skills seemed on the level but comprehensively they were lacking. I had some tough times throughout my childhood however, as I got older things got easier for me although relationships with others always seemed trying as well as communications at work and changes in environment. Even today, changes completely turn me upside down but as I move around with my husband in the military I have learned to adapt more and more. Still, I had wondered for many years why I had so many problems and yet no real diagnosis. The only thing I could ever relate to was ADD.

The first time I had learned about ADD was with my first daughter. My daughter was diagnosed at six years old although her pediatrician suspected that she might be ADD for many years. I did not put her on medication as my parents did not think that medication was the way to treat these things and in our circumstance I agreed.

My daughter started to talk at five months old. I do not mean your typical "ma" and "da" either. My daughter could say many words and by the time she was one year old she could "talk the horns off a goat". She was seemingly very intelligent but at the same time very hyperactive. Many times she had put herself at risk right in front of my eyes. She was fast, impulsive and fearless. If I stopped right here you would probably agree with most that my daughter was in fact ADD but there is more.

She loved to play, learn and discover but most of all she was totally obsessed with horses. To this day my daughter still loves horses and she is eleven years old. She can tell you every type of horse that exists on the planet. She can tell you how to take care of and feed a horse as well as ride them. Every day that she sees a horse it's like the first time she has ever done so. She will shout and jump up and down until every one around her stops and takes notice with her. While horses are her main obsession, she fixates on many things until they are to her satisfaction. For instance, if she gets upset about something she will talk about it over and over in school or in situations where it may not be appropriate to do so. She has no idea about "personal space" or when to stop and let someone else talk. She is completely inept in maintaining a conversation without changing the subject abruptly as if the other person has finished what they wanted to say.

Many, many children and adults misunderstand my daughter and think that she is rude or snotty. Some teacher's thought for some time that she was stupid and completely incapable of performing to her grade level; although reading and comprehension has set her back a bit my daughter has proved everyone wrong. One of my daughters concerns as well as mine is her inability to "keep" friends. Making a friend does not seem like a problem until a child sees the awkwardness about my daughter and her social deficits that begin to wear on a person. Even teachers do not seem to have the patience with her and verbally abuse her in front of the classroom which adds salt to the wound in relation to her already injured reputation amongst her peers. I have had so many arguments with teachers and the school system because I will not keep my daughter on medicine. My daughter is not a behavior problem in school. She has problem understanding verbal directions, especially if she only hears them once instead of person to person. She will not advocate for herself in the classroom because it's embarrassing to her and she does not want to seem like she is incapable of the work. My daughter also had great difficulty riding a bike and did not learn until later into second grade. She has an awkward gait that is hard to describe but impossible to miss if you saw her.

While the schools kept bullying me to put her on medication for her ADD symptoms because of her lack of focus, I had always felt that I could not cover up her symptoms with medication if I did not quite understand what was causing them. I just didn't think that ADD was the issue. There was something more and until I found out what it was I was not going to drug my child who in no way was a safety issue to herself or others.

Working in the school system as a paraprofessional for fours years in special education has really helped me understand various developmental disorders. My nursing background has helped me to understand medications and motivated me to seek more information on how they work and interact with the brain. The thing is we don't know the future effects of medication. Medication should only be used in the most extreme cases. The more research I had done the more I knew that I had to find out what my daughter had for sure. As time went on I found out that my daughter has Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease occurs when an individual is allergic to wheat gluten. The body attacks the villi in the small intestines and inhibits the absorption of the required vitamins and minerals from the food we eat. It happens that Celiac Disease, when not adhering to the proper diet, can cause the symptoms related to Autism or any disorder on the Autism Spectrum. More importantly, most children on the Autism spectrum have some sort of allergy to foods; more sensitivities if you will. I began to do more in depth research and the more I looked for clues, the more I knew I was on the right track.

I went to the school and had my daughter screened by the specialist for Autism Spectrum Disorders which lead to a referral for official testing. It took almost six years of fighting with her doctor and the school system to convince someone to screen and test her to find the truth. The expert agreed that she has many characteristics of a child that falls on the Autism Spectrum.

In one way I am completely frustrated with the fact that years ago I was never diagnosed and suffered as I did. In another way I am so glad that I can understand what my daughter is going through and help her through it. We think alike and we interact much in the same way with the exception that I have so much more experience under my belt to guide her and help her succeed. Many times she has asked me, "Mom, why don't I cry when people die? I just don't feel like crying like people do but if it's an animal I do, why?" I can only tell her that it is "ok" as long as she understands and respects that others are grieving and need support. It's certainly going to be a tough road for a while but I know she'll get through it and maybe teach others a thing or two on the way.

Currently, she is finally getting the school support she needs. I do my best to meet with new teachers and explain to them what teaching strategies she works best with and how she communicates so they understand her a bit better. The more positive feedback she receives from her teachers the better she excels and surprises them with her intellect and skill. When she doesn't have this she falls behind and becomes depressed and negative. It's an ongoing struggle to help people understand her but it's worth the effort for her sake.

A little more on Aspergers:

What was once thought to be a "mild" form of autism is now defined as a separate diagnosis; Aspergers Syndrome. Aspergers was discovered by Hans Asperger who was a pediatrician from Vienna (Neuroscience for Kids, 2007). Hans Asperger observed a group of boys with social and communications problems that may have been similar to Autism but presented itself very differently in that the intelligence level of these boys were average to above average intelligence. In addition, the boys had normal language skills and they had an interest in interactions with other people, unlike Autistic children.

The main differences between Autism itself and Aspergers is that Aspergers children usually have a higher IQ and they have an interest in interacting with others; they just don't have the skills. Most people notice that an Aspergers child may be "Odd" but otherwise think the child is intelligent and may even appear rude to other people simply by their lack of social prowess. In some ways Asperger children are similar to Autistic children because they too have narrow interests that they can be obsessive over and well-read on the matter. They can appear to lack empathy, dislike changes in routines, avoid eye contact, deficits in coordination and have sensory integration problems as well. Reading body language, understanding sarcasm or idioms is particularly difficult for Asperger individuals. The appearance of such awkwardness in an AS child usually translates to bullying on the playground. Other conditions associated with Aspergers Syndrome is anxiety disorders, ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder and non verbal learning disorder (Webmd, 2006) to name a few.

Girls typically are not given the diagnosis as often as boys. The prevalence of assessments with boys vs. girls are about 10 to 1, it is believed that girls receive more ADHD diagnoses and sometimes suffer with what may be Aspergers while boys are diagnosed with their more pronounced features of aggressiveness, deeper social and communicative insufficiencies. (MAAP)

If you're a parent with a child who has similar symptoms or diagnoses with ADD/ADHD or something else that you don't feel right about, keep looking. Always go with your gut instincts and educate yourself before you approach a school or medical doctor. Your family history is very important as well. My father was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder when he was in his thirties and even though most of our family members are a little suspect about that diagnoses because of all the new research these days there is and has been research on a relationship with bipolar in a family history and Aspergers. Most importantly, if you do find out your child falls on the Autism Spectrum, make sure they receive proper services and interventions to help them reach their fullest potential. Most times you will find that after you research and find information related to your situation you will be more knowledgeable than your family practitioner or school staff. This is not to say that they are incompetent in any way but that no one person could know everything about every child's situation or every disorder that exists. The knowledge that I am speaking of takes a lot of research and work. The best thing to do is prepare yourself to advocate for your child. It's a full-time job and seemingly never ending but you'll be so glad you did.

References:

Web Md Asperger Syndrome Symptoms (2006) Retrieved April 18, 2007 from http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/tc/Aspergers-Syndrome-Symptoms

Phillips Melissa Lee (2007) Asperger's Syndrome Neuroscience for Kids Retrieved April 18, 2007 from http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/asp.html

Attwood, Tony M.D. (n.d.) Asperger Syndromes: Some common Questions The Source MAAP Services, Inc Retrieved April 18, 2007 from http:// www.maapservices.org/MAAP_Sub_Find_It_-_Publications_Tony_Attwood.htm