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.

How does everybody else plan to celebrate their fetishes?

I should take a nap, is what I should do, because I imagine The Boy will enthusiastically want to, uh, celebrate tonight.

(And I am reading Batman in between posting. No surprise there.)

I really noticed something with Em last night at Daisies. We had Game Night where we played "Duck Duck Goose" (which I totally forgot was AWESOME), Compliment Tag (when you tag another person you have to say something nice about them), and "Red Light, Green Light".

Remember the girl I talked about a few weeks back who I was having difficulty with? Her and Em had almost the exact same kind of movements - almost like Tourettes of the Limbs (I'm not trying to be funny. It's almost like that - no control over their body parts). And this was after almost 20 minutes of these girls being at a full-on run. And there wasn't any imitation going on - they were on opposite sides of the room. Em was just different from the ways all of the other kids are different from each other. She can't hold eye contact, she gives up on stuff, she has huge self-doubt and says things that break my heart - "I can't do anything right." or "I do everything wrong." or "Nobody likes me."

I see medication as a tool to help her do what she wants to do, which is learn and play with her friends and be able to pay attention. I don't want a zombie sheep-child. That would totally suck. But if it's medication, then so be it. If it's medication plus working on issues, then we'll do that. If it can be helped with dietary changes, we change our eating habits. I just want her to feel better.

From the research I have done in various Psychology classes I feel that ADHD can be overdiagnosed, underdiagnosed (especially in girls), and occasionally misdiagnosed instead of something such as manic depression. Which is why it is important that people go through the proper channels for a diagnosis, which is exactly what Aims is doing.

I don't want a zombie sheep-child.

Medication won't make her a zombie sheep-child. At all.

I don't want a zombie sheep-child.

Medication won't make her a zombie sheep-child. At all.

Oh I know. I've seen the wonders it can do for kids who really need it.