Maybe it would be helpful for a child to get the diagnosis. I didn't know I had ADHD until I was 30 and sometimes I wish I still didn't know. I struggled and didn't know why, to be sure, but because of my financial situation, I lack access to the resources I need, which just makes me feel rather hopeless. Before the diagnosis, I always figured out how to get by. Now I feel like I have this 'files corrupted' label on me without access to the means to fix it. So now I'm battling ADHD and the anxiety that comes from frustration with everything along with depression that accompanies feeling stuck in a rut. I've got talent and ideas and intelligence, but I don't have the means to use them effectively. I think I was better off without knowing what I had.
I didn't get diagnosed until I was 23, mainly because my mom was dead-set that neither of her kids was going to have any kind of "label" (whether or not that label was accurate). Even being a "gifted" kid and doing fairly well in school, I always had that "duck" feeling (calm on top but paddling like crazy underneath the water).
And even if the kid is doing alright with her interventions, there's no reason not to get him diagnosed... let him be an example of a really successful kid with ADD! It's not the diagnosis/label that is the bad thing, it's people's responses to it and our own shame and feeling that we have to hide it.
Good for you for posting that long comment; hopefully you've helped that kid out!
*Most people with undiagnosed ADHD end up with very low self-esteem, along with other mental health problems such as anxiety and depression, by adulthood as a result. A diagnosis is a godsend for them, because they finally figure out that no, they couldn't have made all their problems go away if only they'd tried harder, so they don't need to hate themselves for not trying hard enough. However, it is very difficult to undo the effects of all the derogatory messages they have gotten from society for so many years, especially since anxiety and a failure to understand one's own limitations can worsen ADHD symptoms
( ... )
"Most people, when they see a person who is late all the time, doesn't remember things, and can't pay attention, don't think the person has ADHD. They think "Oh, that person doesn't care about what they're doing." That is how people will likely react to your son unless he gets a diagnosis."
This is unfortunately true. And it doesn't help that most people don't believe ADHD is a real thing.
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I didn't get diagnosed until I was 23, mainly because my mom was dead-set that neither of her kids was going to have any kind of "label" (whether or not that label was accurate). Even being a "gifted" kid and doing fairly well in school, I always had that "duck" feeling (calm on top but paddling like crazy underneath the water).
And even if the kid is doing alright with her interventions, there's no reason not to get him diagnosed... let him be an example of a really successful kid with ADD! It's not the diagnosis/label that is the bad thing, it's people's responses to it and our own shame and feeling that we have to hide it.
Good for you for posting that long comment; hopefully you've helped that kid out!
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This is unfortunately true. And it doesn't help that most people don't believe ADHD is a real thing.
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