Aims, you and MM are doing the right things. It may not be pretty or easy but you love Em very much and she will be just fine.

IOmememeN, I had another hour-plus conversation with MFJ last night (my friend j). So much for keeping my crush under control - it needs its own lj post at this point, which I will probably type up today. In brief, he's intelligent, funny, self-aware, creative, talented, caring, good taste in movies/music/books... of course I have no idea about chemistry in person, given that we haven't seen each other in about fifteen years. But damn wouldn't I like to find out!

This is Connie's ass talking--I've always wondering where the line it between ADHD and a kid who would do fantastically if they got a normal recess where they could run around and shriek and be a kid while at the same time having proper intellectual stimulation. I can't help thinking that ADHD is often a diagnosis for "what happens to normal kids who are being kept in small boxes and being treated like their brains have the complexity of yeast-deprived bread dough."

Also, it's winter, and kids are being kept inside because it's so cold. There's no way for them to burn off the energy.

I can't help thinking that ADHD is often a diagnosis for "what happens to normal kids who are being kept in small boxes and being treated like their brains have the complexity of yeast-deprived bread dough."

I've been around a kid diagnosed with ADHD. Even playing outside, she kept having to do something different all the time, she didn't seem able to just keep playing at something more than a couple of minutes. It really stood out as unusual behavior.

Utah is horrific for drugging kids into conforming to the "norm." I really think they've traded recess for more time to "meet the standards", ie, teach the test, and are shoving pills down kids' throats to make up for it. And when you've been churning out a baby a year, it's easier for the pathetic parents to turn to pharmacology rather than learning how to cope with your "full quiver".

Sorry for the quotes, I seem to have a hot button this morning.

Aims, if Em does have ADHD, getting a diagnosis and possibly treatment now is the best thing that could happen to her. That way, she can go through years of school knowing that she just learns a different way, and that she IS smart and creative. Too many people who are adults now who have ADHD (and obviously had it as kids) weren't diagnosed because it just wasn't recognized for what it was back then, and they were told they were stupid and slow and deliberately disruptive, etc., etc., etc. Which is horribly demoralizing. Imagine how much better things would have been for them if their neurodiversity was recognized for what it was when they were 5.

IOW, you and Joe are awesome parents, because instead of just punishing her, you're doing something to figure out what's underneath her behavior. A lot of parents would just yell and punish and that would be that.

I can't help thinking that ADHD is often a diagnosis for "what happens to normal kids who are being kept in small boxes and being treated like their brains have the complexity of yeast-deprived bread dough."

I've been around a kid diagnosed with ADHD. Even playing outside, she kept having to do something different all the time, she didn't seem able to just keep playing at something more than a couple of minutes. It really stood out as unusual behavior.

This. ADHD is as different from normal boingy childhood behavior as depression is from "feeling down in the dumps."

I'm fairly certain there are misdiagnoses for ADHD. I am also completely certain there are totally accurate diagnoses. The behavior is different between kid who needs to run and wriggle and ADHD.

ETA: Or, I should have waited a couple of minutes and just pointed and nodded at Teppy's post.

And because it deserves its own post, apparently today is International Fetish Day: [link] I plan to celebrate by wearing my semi-colon t-shirt and reading Batman comics.

(What? You mean that's not what it means?)

(I will not be wearing purple, mostly because I don't own purple, but also because I don't think wearing a certain color on an arbitrary day "makes a statement." Nor would it be the kind of statement I think should be made, anyway.)

(I *am* amused by the didacticism of the Wikipedia article saying that "Purple is a color widely used in BDSM circles." Uh, not that I've seen, no. But maybe Ohio is weird. We're deviant deviants.)

How does everybody else plan to celebrate their fetishes?

Lots of teachers of small kids - and I'm guessing Em's Montessori teachers are especially good at this - know that most 5 year olds can't sit perfectly still. Aside from recess, they keep the kids in constant motion even inside the classroom - from work sitting on mats on the floor, to working at tables, and back again, even jumping-jack and get your wiggles out breaks. I spent 3 hours in my daughter's public school K class last year and they didn't spend more than 10-15 minutes at a time on one activity, never mind still, the whole time. It seems like this is a pretty standard piece of pedagogy, in my limited experience.

ETA: which is all to say, I think Aimee should trust her gut, and the teachers are probably pretty good at knowing what is normal focus issues and what is something that should be addressed.