Another myth debunked
- Thread starter Walter
- Start date
I think the treadment of ADD/ADHD leaves a lot to be desired, I don't think one can dismiss them as hooey.
ADD/ADHD and a whole bunch of associated disorders are catch-all phrases for kids who are having difficulty learning. I've coached a lot of these kids in my day, and each one needs to be addressed on his or her own merits. Some are just not that smart, but it's rude to say that these days. Some can focus very well on one thing, and just one thing. Some are more obsessive/compulsive and just acting out upon whims their subconsciouses demand. Some are contrarians who have a stroing impulse to do the opposite of what theya re asked to do. Some are probably fine, but really don't want to be there.
The ineffectiveness of a drug to achieve the eradication of a symptom says nothing about the condition itself. There may be many reasons a drug doesn't work as intended, including the possibility that the drug is targeting a symptom whose presence or absence is not a definitive indicator of the condition.
Complex conditions are rarely cured by a simple pill. The failure of Aspirin to eradicate heart disease doesn't prove that heart disease is hooey.
Complex conditions are rarely cured by a simple pill. The failure of Aspirin to eradicate heart disease doesn't prove that heart disease is hooey.
I firmly believe ADD/ADHD to be overdiagnosed. I find too many parents want excuses for why their kids are difficult to handle, or struggling at school, rather than explanations for what has to be done differently. It's used all too often as a cop out by well meaning but misguided parents, rather than a path to understanding their child. As far as I'm concerned, that in and of itself explains the widespread ineffectiveness of the medications for it.
But the meds being ineffective certainly doesn't make it a 'myth'.
But the meds being ineffective certainly doesn't make it a 'myth'.
Kids have their bad habits and attitudes set long before they hit 5 and school.
Hoping kids know how to learn before sending them off to learn doesn't help much either.
Hoping kids know how to learn before sending them off to learn doesn't help much either.
Good point. It's what people are measuring their kids by, and hoping to improve though, thus the idea that if it doesn't improve grades, it's not 'working'.
Personally, I think it's pure ego to stress to the lengths some people do, about a kid's grades.
Sure they are...a simple & expensive pill! All the big pharma corps have piles of studies to convince people of that.
A better study would have compared test scores of those subjects before taking the medication, with test scores after, and compared the difference to a placebo group.
A similar number of symptoms is irrelevant unless all symptoms are equal in effect, which is preposterous to assume.
A similar number of symptoms is irrelevant unless all symptoms are equal in effect, which is preposterous to assume.
Dead on
There used to be a better way to deal with a problem kid... this will grab their attention
Wow..... another one shows his ignorance..... tell me Boomer.... how much experience do you have raising or dealing with ADD/ADHD children?
There used to be a better way to deal with a problem kid... this will grab their attention
lol! Unless I felt like beating my son senseless, and unless I was sure I could actually take him, I'd never dare hit him. By the age of 3, a mere spanking would send that kid off the deep end. You'd go to simply give him a reprimand for something, a slap on the hand for one thing or another, and he would turn sideways snaky on you, freak right the frick out. We started referring to him as our 'mirror times three'. If you yelled, he yelled louder. If you hit, he hit harder. Trying to apply a simplistic remedy to a complex behavioural issue is a recipe for disaster. And incase you're wondering, he's a model kid the teachers adore. We never excused or allowed his behaviour, we just had to find ways other than escalating the problem, to deal with it.
The fact that this 'expert' can't differentiate between 'disorder', and 'disease', strips him of any and all credibility in my books.
The article itself, as Gerry already mentioned, doesn't even claim there is no benefit. It said there was no difference in test scores, but consider the study population. They didn't even start with comparing apples to apples. They started by comparing similarly sized fruit and assuming they were the same thing. Even still, they did find benefits in some scenarios.
Overall it's poor methodology, not very convincing methodology. If they wanted to compare apples to apples, then the study population should be kids with positive diagnoses. To evaluate the efficacy of the medication, they should have used repeated measures, where the unit is one kid, rather than a whole population. This is basic study design that the authors should have a firm grasp of by now, which makes me wonder about their competencies, as in field, not whether or not they're incompetent.
A paired t-test is far more powerful statistically. Individual differences will be factored out of the error term in the analysis. And because it's more powerful, they could have used fewer subjects. That would have left them with more resources which could have been used in any number of fashions, extra tests, better quality testing, etc.
Overall it's poor methodology, not very convincing methodology. If they wanted to compare apples to apples, then the study population should be kids with positive diagnoses. To evaluate the efficacy of the medication, they should have used repeated measures, where the unit is one kid, rather than a whole population. This is basic study design that the authors should have a firm grasp of by now, which makes me wonder about their competencies, as in field, not whether or not they're incompetent.
A paired t-test is far more powerful statistically. Individual differences will be factored out of the error term in the analysis. And because it's more powerful, they could have used fewer subjects. That would have left them with more resources which could have been used in any number of fashions, extra tests, better quality testing, etc.
8O18 posts because Wally calls something "hooey"
Wally calls everything "hooey"
He gotcha again.:lol:
Wally calls everything "hooey"
He gotcha again.:lol:
