The Myth of the A.D.D. Child: 50 Ways Improve your Child's Behavior attn Span w/o Drugs Labels or Coercion

by Thomas Armstrong

The Myth of the A.D.D. 50 Ways Improve your Child's Behavior attn Span w/o Drugs Labels or Coercion [paperback] Armstrong, Thomas [Sep 01, 1997] …

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Health, Education, Adhd, Psychology, Teaching

320 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1997

About the author

I am the author of 20 books, including my latest The Power of Neurodiversity: Unleashing the Advantages of Your Neurodivergent Brain (Completely Updated and Revised Second Edition), which is a complete rewrite of a book I wrote with a similar title but slightly different subtitle in 2010.

My other books include: The Myth of the ADHD Child, 7 Kinds of Smart, Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, and The Power of the Adolescent Brain. I've also written for Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, and the AMA Journal of Ethics.

I see myself as a reader as much as, or even more than, a writer. Some of the books which I've enjoyed recently include Joseph and His Sons by Thomas Mann, The Story of the Stone/Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin, the complete Arabian Nights (3 volumes), translated by Malcolm C. Lyons, The Studs Lonigan Trilogy by James T. Farrell, and From Here to Eternity by James Jones.

Beyond literature and writing, my hobbies and pursuits include improvising on the piano, doing mindfulness meditation, watching great movies on The Criterion Channel, doing yoga, and cooking Mediterranean cuisine.

Married for twenty-five years, and now divorced, I live in a cute Victorian style home on a hill in Sonoma County, California with my dog Daisy.

Reviews

[Cherylann · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was written in 1995 in reaction to, probably, too many children being prescribed medicine that didn't really need it. He sets out to prove why there is no such thing as ADD and then how to help people with rambunctious children. I imagine this would help if you truly didn't have a child with ADD. My son has ADD. Not the hyper kind either. He was always very well behaved in school but was not progressing in school like he should. With persistence, a fantastic teacher who helped us exhaust the possibilities of the problem, and a believing doctor, he went from being a non reader (and we read all the time and he would pull books out to look at them) to a fifth grade level in one year, between second and third grade. The first day on the medicine, he called his dad who was put of town, and said, "I have so many things to tell you and now I can". The man who wrote this book has never met a young person that has benefitted like my son. There is no research to back him up. Just conjecture that the medicines are only around for economic profit. People that have towed this line have swung the pendulum too far in the other direction so that parents that have kids that would truly benefit from medicine do not believe it is true. How sad for those children!

[Kaethe]

Thanks, no. No doubt his argument is more nuanced than the title suggests, but it still pisses me off.

[Vannessa Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the book

~We don’t let kids be kids anymore.
~We don’t let boys be boys anymore.
~We disempower our kids at school.
~We pass our stresses on to our kids.
~We let our kids consume too much junk media.
~We focus too much on our kids’ disabilities and not enough on their abilities.
~Too many people have a vested economic interest in seeing the epidemic continue.
~Before a child is diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder, psychotic disorder or attention deficit disorder we should first learn of any traumas the child has experienced.
~Parents and guardians can be children worse enemies.

The Myth of the ADHD Child is a great guide in helping not only parents and caregivers and guardians of children diagnosed with ADHD but to those of us standing on the outside looking in, in helping to understand the children rather than judging them. We learn how to help the children to grow up healthy and that drugs are not always the answer. The strategies suggested were not only helpful but on-point.

The Myth of the ADHD Child is an essential and a must read.

[Lin Qian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 100 pages talk about the author's belief that ADHD is really not an disorder in most of the diagnosed kids. The next 200 pages list the 101 ways to help parents and children to manage. Every method is an approximately 2 pages long summary with the cited source/book at the end. It offers a high level ideas but no detailed implementation. Most of the the methods are generic that could be applied to any child, like daily exercise, effective communication, limited entertainment media etc. Many of them are also similar or repetitive, e.g. eating a balanced breakfast, limiting junk food, and Removing allergens and Additives from the diet are counted as three different strategies. The strategies go further to taking parent training, alternative schooling options, and lobbying a strong PE program in the school. I would think medication is something very worth looking into at that stage.
Overall I would say the book makes a good argument in the first part, but lacks useful strategies. I'd rather see a focus on some of the more relevant strategies instead of making a laundry list of everything possibly related.

[Clint · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a teacher, it upsets me when I hear Kinder, 1st, and 2nd grade teachers say that a student has ADD/ADHD and should be medicated. Let's leave that decision to the doctors that spent 10yrs in school to get trained on it. Although, according to studies, America ranks the highest among children labeled/diagnose ADD and prescribe meds in the entire world. There is something to be said about this.

Thomas Armstrong isn't against medication, but he believes that it should always be the last resort. Armstrong explains the history behind ADD and offers up 50 alternative suggestions that can and should be tried before using chemical alternating medication to control children.

[Jami · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a valuable book! The author is NOT saying that ADHD is a myth. He is saying that it is a myth that children with this diagnosis ought to be rushed into medicine without exhausting proven strategies. 101 of these strategies are included in the book, and WOW, they are making a big difference with my child.

My key take-aways:
*Focus on the superpower that this diagnosis provides. Extreme creativity, thinking outside the box, constantly thinking.
*Empower our children to minimize the limitations.
*As parents, keep our emotions in check in order to most effectively help our child.
*Have compassion with our child and with ourselves.
*Fill our own emotional tanks!
*Fuel our child's creativity and do creative things alongside him or her. This fosters connection and creation, both which greatly improve attention-seeking behaviors
*Encourage movement before, during, and after school (yoga, dancing, bike riding, swimming, hiking, park playing, etc).
*Time in nature is pivotal

Now, I need to buy a copy (I checked it out from the library). I need to highlight, add tabs, and write notes all the way throughout this book! As my child grows, strategies I don't need now will become relevant.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

My son has, as my mother would say, "the attention span of a tsetse fly" and so I've been trying to figure out ways to help him focus. I didn't find this book all that helpful, personally. It's really dry and I think the level of issues discussed is just beyond what we're dealing with.

[Michelle Guffey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author does not believe in ADD, and proposes several causes and solutions for the symptoms so labeled. I really appreciated all the alternative options he gave to deal with the symptoms, instead of drugs.

[Jacqueline M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know how to rate this one. First, I think we need to address the really misleading title that probably turns off every single parent who might benefit from this book. The author isn't saying ADHD doesn't exist. He does think it's overdiagnosed (mainly due to unclear diagnostic standards) and for those diagnosed the default is straight to medication without interventions or close monitoring. I don't personally find the latter to be true. I also think the author is making observations based on the data that was available at the time, but we now have plenty of emperical evidence that shows there is an increase in this neurodivergency and that it has biogenetic roots.

I did find parts of the book helpful despite my criticisms that are related to the dated-ness of the book. The author does seem to understand the frustrations of parents and kids with this type of neurodivergency. And his "101 strategies" are actually things my family personally tried with varying levels of success. Ultimately we needed to use a very low dose of medication which I didn't want to do, but we'd tried everything else.

If you're new to ADHD maybe this is a good book for you. I think the strategies in the back are helpful so you should try them. But I do hope I can find something better that truly embraces that these kids are neurodivergent and it isn't something their parents did (I see you author saying smoking and lead caused my kid's ADHD. It didn't. We don't smoke and he was tested every 3 months for lead as we live in a historic home)

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not a book banner by inclination, but I found this in my local library and tried without success to have them remove it. There is nothing wrong with using various behavioural techniques to try to help a child with ADHD symptoms, but even the title is frankly dangerous given the amount of misinformation out there about suggesting that ADHD is not a "real" disorder or that stimulant medicines (correctly prescribed) are dangerous for those with ADHD. Pharmaceutical treatments are certainly not the only way to help children (or adults) with ADHD, but I fear books like this may give parents the false notion that they are not worth trying.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read about 60% of this book, and will eventually go back to read the rest. In the meantime, though, this is a superb book that I highly recommend to anyone/everyone who works with kids, as well as anyone who has received an ADHD diagnosis for their child. This book is incredibly important and offers crucial alternate ideas that I suspect many parents would find thought-provoking and incredibly helpful.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jam-packed with resources and research to support families and children that struggle with attention. Great ideas to implement both in and out of learning environments to help children acquire self-management and reflection skills to help them thrive. As a teacher, this title will be my go-to for best-practices to provide more variety and accommodations in my classes.

[Dawn Killebrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some incredibly valuable resources and ideas for helping your child with a.d.d. What I don't like is the author's assertation that basically add doesn't doesn't exists...at least that needs medicated. If you can get past that this is a great resource.

[Belinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource. Lots of practical ideas.

[Lawrence Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips on how help children that take a bit more time to adjust to the rigid school framework. Author addresses influence of rapid-fire media and violence for entertainment without conceding there are children that are ADD.

[Elyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this was a very useful read with some good ideas

[Jade Schefke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children aren’t often suffering from the broad definition of attention deficit disorder.
They’re more often the not suffering from. Childhood.

If you sit them down hour after hour. Do not be surprised when they start to fidget.

[Karen JEC · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book cover let me know immediately and clearly that the author was a doctor. The chapter titles let me know the author will be talking about how we need “to let boys be boys”. In the second sentence of the preface, the author references another book he wrote in the 1980s, and later on I see additional titles are added. His intuition ‘whispers’ to him. He uses words like ‘multiperspectival’. He outs his literary agent as having children who are ADHD-diagnosed, in an attempt to wish him well? All this before the first chapter even begins! Later he feels the need to assure the reader he is not a Scientologist or a Christian Scientist...

As you read into his theories, however, you can start seeing his point of view and why he has phrased things just so. Maddeningly, “boys will be boys” is not used in a sexist context here: boys’ brains develop slower than girls’ and thus are sometimes incapable of certain functions we associate with being a good student — when compared at the same ages. This is for normally developing children, let alone the two or three year gap for even slower developing ADHD-diagnosed brains. In a BC study of over a million kids, boys born later in their school year (i.e. younger than the others) were 30% more likely to be labelled ADHD than the ‘older’ boys.

So I think my reservations mostly lie with the author’s pompous style of writing and using language better suited to the Eighties, rather than the meat of the ideas and studies he brings to light for the reader. Or maybe he rankles the reader on purpose, though it might be enough to put off many people from finishing his book.

Favourite Quotes:

"Children generally pay attention mostly to what interests them."

"Psychoactive drugs have now made it possible for parents and professionals to encourage compliance in children through purely biological means. All the messiness in growing up — the battle of the child’s will against the adult’s will, the endless restless curiosity, the sudden bursts of anger, excitement, or jealousy — all this can now be avoided."

"Neuroscientists now tell us that the brains of children who have been diagnosed with ADHD mature two to three years later than typically developing children, particularly in those areas of the brain involved in planning, inhibition of behaviour, focus, and other executive functions... The so-called ADHD brain, though delayed in development, develops normally."

"We should not be regarding children diagnosed with ADHD as suffering from a neurological disorder but, rather, as manifesting a developmental difference."

"The best type of learning is active learning, when children and adolescents are engaged in hands-on, experiential, collaborative, real-life, creative learning activities that require them to construct new ideas and make new connections to practical problems that are out there in the real world."

"Studies suggest that intense use of media may deplete the dopamine available for optimal brain functioning."

Brain Forest: “The brain is in no sense like any kind of instruction machine, like a computer. Each individual’s brain is more like a unique rainforest, teeming with growth, decay, competition, diversity and selection.” ~ Gerald Edelman

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” ~ Zig Ziglar

qui docet discit - one who teaches, learns

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Armstrong is one of the more reasonable voices out there.

[J. David Knecht · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with the author’s premise that ADHD is narrative used to explain how many young people, particularly boys don’t always adjust well to current school environments and expectations. The book title may lead one to think he is some sort of denier, but this not the case. He explains the science and history of ADHD being identified to classify people with certain behaviors. He demonstrates that the so called disorder is really just a different way that some brains operate. He is generally negative on medications, but does not exclude their use. He does argue convincingly that they key really is whether one uses medication or not is to engage in healthy coping strategies to help people better adjust to their environment. The comprehensive list of strategies that can be used are practical and achievable. This is a very good resource.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book for anyone that may wonder if they're child has ADD. He makes a very strong argument that ADD is not an actual disease per se. One of his correlating points is that it would be more common among children worldwide, however for quite a while the US has the highest amount of children on behavioral medication. He also points out that the cases of children that have been diagnosed with ADD have correlated with advances in technology. Ex increased TV, computer, video game use as children get used to getting instant gratification with technology. I also appreciated that he recognized that there are some cases where children may need behavioral medication but it shouldn't be used as a first resort or for lazy parenting.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book for parents with children who learn in ways that are out of sync with today's standard educational system. If you believe ADD is a "real" disease, don't the let the title put you off. The author's point of view is simply that the ADD "diagnosis" has become too much of a catch-all for any number of conditions of children, many of which he sees as perfectly "normal" -- just different. And the book is chock full of ideas for helping children attend better to the various aspects of their life -- without drugs and without constant nagging.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, this book in wonderful, normalizing a lot of the kid behaviors this generation has learned to treat as pathological. Also helps a parent strategize and find out what will really work for their kids without running to a psychiatrist, only to be told the poor kid has an exotic brain disorder that will need to be treated with addictive drugs for life. The major flaw -- in the edition I read, at least -- is that the questionnaire in the book to help parents narrow down what will help their children best is fcrewed up so you can't score it properly. Oops!

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I especially liked how the author was against labeling children and finding new ways to teach when they are not responding to traditional education. He gives some excellent ideas for families.

[Valerie rodgers · Rating 4 out of 5]

So far, I have learned about the history of diagnoses regarding hyperactivity which culminated into the ADD/ADHD diagnosis. Environmental and societal factors are discussed, medication efficacy (but mostly inefficacy), and other ways to help deal with this problem.

[Crys · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a young guy in grade K. He definitely needs all the help he can get. I wanted to see if they had any good suggestions for ways to help him focus. Anyway it is a good compilation of lots of suggestions but not all of them are valid. Go figure ;)

[Kimberly Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a well - balanced view of how society has chosen to just label and then drug any child who is not conforming to classroom and societal expectations. He gives practical advice for helping very bright and energetic children learn to manage their behaviors.

[Zoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. I agree with some of his suggestions re ADD not being a biological disease. I did not really appreciate the veiled suggestions that mothers are to blame for all the ADD- type behavior.

[Clivemichael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling discussion

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost didn’t pick this up because of the terrible title but it was actually a great book full of practical tips.