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Autism
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In addition to this, not everyone who has a child with a learning difference receives financial "benefits". I know families with children with autism, and not one I know receives SSI/disability benefits because of it.
I never mentioned finances at all. We do not receive financial benefits, and I assume they are just as impossible for everyone to get as they are for us.
I was asking if Autism had become fashionable as an excuse for behavioral or academic issues. Not for financial benefit.0 -
I've never heard of autism being fashionable for excusing behavioral or academic issues. Kids with high functioning autism are often far brighter than the other kids in the mainstream classroom. Regarding "behavioral issues" with kids with autism, you'd have to understand autism. Certain sounds, colors, lights, smells can send them into panic mode. This will make a young child cry, scream, and appear to be having a temper tantrum. If their schedules get off, some feel as though their world has disappeared and they'll act out. It's not a discipline issue; it's an autism issue.I was asking if Autism had become fashionable as an excuse for behavioral or academic issues. Not for financial benefit.0 -
I've worked with these kids. Some may shrug off the diagnosis of Aspergers or Autism as being "fashionable", but these conditions are real, and the families living with them struggle with society's perception of their kids, and of them as parents. That sucks.
I don't think anyone is doubting that these are real conditions, but more that they are over-diagnosed.
Any hyper kid can go to the docter and be diagnosed with ADHD. A HUGE fraction of kids I knew in high school were prescribed to medication for it.
Edited to add: IN my high school experience many kids WANTED to be diagnosed with ADHD so they could get their hands on Adderall. Still today I have come across it being used recreationally by aqquaintances. I WAS diagnosed with adult ADHD and all the medication does is make me feel lousy and tired, so much that I stopped taking it at age 20.0 -
While I'd agree that a hyper kid can get an easy ADHD diagnosis, that's quite different than an easy autism diagnosis. There is much more involved in the process.Any hyper kid can go to the docter and be diagnosed with ADHD. A HUGE fraction of kids I knew in high school were prescribed to medication for it.0 -
Well, if you look at a map of the USA it quite clearly shows that ADHD dianogis has cultural elements (the percentage of diagnosed children is different in different parts of America).
This indicates quite clearly that a large number are being diagnosed on either poor grounds, or lacking understanding - there is no genetic reason why which state you are in would change the propensity to ADHD.
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html
An excellent video on the subject of education, it touches on ADHD - an excellent website for educational videos btw.
http://www.thersa.org/events/video (The main website)0 -
I have an autistic grandson, he also has CP, is partially deaf and other disabilities because of a disease called CMV; this is how living with a special needs child is. those of you who don't have one can assume you know how it is - but you don't and never will.
''I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip -to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
" Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills... and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ...about Holland.''0 -
This is lovely. I am definitely going to copy/paste this to share it with others.
Awesome.0
This discussion has been closed.