Yet another Label...

[puppetmaker]

Isn't it fun that humans seems to have this overwhelming urge to pigeonhole people? Now, it seems, if your social skills are not up to snuff, you might be suffering from Asperger's Syndrome. Now it is probably true for some, but for a majority of the socially awkward, it will be another label attached to them and their behavior. I have encountered plenty of people that don’t make eye contact and seems not comfortable in social situations. Take them to a science fiction convention when they are around their kind and they are fine and socializing with the best of them. Yes, there are a few that can’t seem to pick up on the social clues. I think if you put it against the general population, it would be about the percentage of the rest of the world.

Fortunately, in this case, real tests can be used to find out if this is really the problem unlike AHAD which someone might have. One teacher at my stepdaughter's school insisted Ariel had ADD. No, Ariel was acting like a 7 year old. The ADD phenomenon scares me. For some kids, this does exist and they do find help through medication and counseling. But it seems anytime a kid acts up, the teacher cries ADD and the kid is medicated into a stupor. This makes for much quieter classroom of doped up kids. Kids are noisy. Kids are fidgety. They are KIDS not tiny adults. They are suppose to have energy and curiosity.

I know I am dyslexic. I didn't find out until college because I taught myself how to read so for my public school career I was labeled as lazy with spelling. Until I was in college there really wasn't much testing for it. In retrospect I am glad I didn't find out until college. I muddled through school with mostly As and Bs and did well on the SATs and was a normal kid. If I had a label on me (dyslexic), I don't think I would have done as well.

Comments

[shadesong.livejournal.com]

Elayna's kindergarten teacher pressured me on that.... saying she was very fidgety and might have ADD. Um. No. I don't believe in psychotropic medication to begin with, and I certainly don't believe my child has ADD. She's fidgety? She's 5.

So I moved up to Atlanta. First grade. New school. Open House. The teacher takes me aside and says, "Elayna was very fidgety during the state testing last week..."

"I know - I don't think she has ADD -"

"Oh, neither do I! I was going to say that I'm recommending her for the gifted program."

So - yay for teachers who pay attention!

[nux-vomica.livejournal.com]

this entire society is obsessed with diagnosis, and it's not healthy. people want someone else to tell them what is wrong with them and give them the authority over their lives because they can't be personally responsible. i see it as a HUGE problem. most of the people i know take drugs for 'depression' or whatever, and it really fucking bothers me.

[wonderbink.livejournal.com]

My friend wych has a five-year-old son who has been labeled autistic because he took a while to start talking. He seems to be a perfectly bright kid who just didn't feel like talking until he was good and ready. The problem is, the 'autistic' tag is still dogging him even though he's talking now and doing just fine. (Check her journal for the entry on it.)

It seems like every time some new diagnosis comes on the news, people read about it and go "Hey! That's me!" Heck, I went through a battery of tests to determine that I did NOT have ADD. I probably would have been flagged for depression, but at the time I wasn't going through a depressive phase. (I was in love. It screwed everything up.)

Right now, I'm on meds for depression, but I'm working my way off of them. It's just no longer as cool now that everybody's on Paxil these days.