On Nov 18, 4:27*pm, "gloria.p" > wrote:
> Doug Freyburger wrote:
> > BlueBrooke wrote:
> >> Good question. *They didn't all have ADD back then, either. *
>
> > When I went through elementary school in the 1960s and junior/senior
> > high school in the 1970s about 1 in a 1000 had ADD. *That guy lived next
> > door to me. *At night he'd pace the driveway reciting Shakespeare. *The
> > most severe case I've ever seen and as bad as I've ever heard of. *He
> > was a year younger than me and he was the only kid in about 1500 who was
> > on medication for it. *Whatever he was on wasn't enough in his case.
>
> > Now there's talk of about 1 in 20 having ADD. *If that many have it it's
> > over diagnosed in my opinion. *Then again I have enough symptoms that if
> > 1 in 100 have ADD then I have it. *Whatever, I don't think I'd ever want
> > to be diagnosed with it. *I found a job where borderline ADD symptoms
> > are an advantage and I do fine.
>
> > The pattern seems to be stuff that was rare is now considered common.
>
> Don't you remember those kids who were assigned seats in the back of the
> room because they were "bad", "rude", and "unteachable"? *They were the
> ones who talked all the time, who couldn't concentrate, who fiddled with
> things, and just couldn't keep up with what was going on because they
> had too many other things going on inside their heads? *Those kids were
> probably undiagnosed ADHD.
>
> When you consider that today's kids are from a generation of parents
> that was heavily into various drugs and alcohol in college and beyond,
> and themselves a generation where babies are being kept alive who would
> have died at birth or before in years gone by, it's no surprise that
> they have neurological deficits and self control issues.

Do you really think that drugs and alcohol were invented in the 60s?
It's entirely possible that widespread use of marijuana and other
drugs dates to that time, but alcohol (and its abuse) have been
with us for millennia.

There's a song called "The Cocaine Rag" from the early 20th Century,
and let's not forget "Minnie the Moocher", Lydia Pinkham's,
laudanum, and the original formula for Coca Cola.

One thing that has been different for about the last 50 years is
that we've been unwilling to let kids who struggle with school
simply drop out at an early age.

Cindy Hamilton