tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post1789340152121218504..comments2023-08-20T04:55:39.436-07:00Comments on Ars Psychiatrica: Where the Wild Things Used to BeNovalishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-8707534800279319692010-08-11T04:11:40.321-07:002010-08-11T04:11:40.321-07:00Also perhaps the United States is overrepresented ...Also perhaps the United States is overrepresented in terms of ADHD genes. All those self-selected restless immigrants within a relatively short time...Novalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10501890494890617030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425732352511468694.post-5181050005827627162010-08-10T15:06:55.510-07:002010-08-10T15:06:55.510-07:00Have always loved that picture! Good post. Agree...Have always loved that picture! Good post. Agree about the space. It is partly just physical: Even tho people a century ago lived in smaller houses and apartments, children were allowed outside to roam. Although plenty got hurt, into trouble and/or abused, kids with ADHD got to burn off their energy, got to explore and got to find things they were interested in and could pursue with persistence. Because, of course, if you lock a kid up in a boring environment like a classroom or a living room, they will fidget and break things unless seduced by a Game Boy or endless video games or the internet. <br /><br />Another, and seemingly contradictory factor is that our houses and schools are incredibly cluttered nowadays and this distracts and disturbs people of all ages with ADHD. ALthough we stereotypically think of fussy overstuffed Victorian spaces, we only see museums and remains of rich middle class and elite households. Most regular people had spartan surroundings. Schoolrooms and children's sleeping quarters were bare. Well, if you think of it, if you are trying to get a fidgetty kid to concentrate on memorize a dreary times table on the blackboard, is it going to be easier in a stark classroom with bare walls and only the flag, and a map of the US, or in a modern classroom with learning corners and beanbags, and computers with screensavers and hanging art projects, and posters all over the walls, and six fish swimming and two guinea pigs squaking, and a snake sunning itself on the window terrarium. Plus 26 half finished Halloween masks drying on top of the bookshelves, and a bunch of cubbies with everybody's brightly colored superhero lunch hero lunchboxes showing. Plus colored carpet tiles. And periodic loud announcements on the PA system "School, today is Cinco de Mayo" or whatever. You get the idea. When I used to go into my kids' elementary school to help the kids with learning disabilities with reading, I found the I was distracted by the surroundings. How much more so must a kid with ADHD be! And yet it is a rare school that will let such a kid do one of the few things that has been found to help some of them: put on Ipod headphones to shut out the world and listen to their own music to help them work. <br /><br />I agree that part of the problem is the amplifying power of technology. <br /><br />ALthough my own kid has other issues besides ADHD, we found that ruthlessly cutting out certain kinds of technology (either completely, or for certain time periods) helped a great deal. FOr example, his sisters had been thrilled and happy to watch Mr. Rogers Neighborhood for 1/2 an hour as their sole TV when preschoolers. But their brother couldn't wait, and wanted more and there were so many battles, that we just put the TV in the attic for 4 years. Things were much better without it. Even now, when he is completely addicted to the internet (as his mama is just slightly (ahem ahem)), he always improves when we go up north and he has a few days when he has to go cold turkey. He sleeps and reads more, calms down. Even tho his perseverative behaviors increase. <br /><br />Sorry to go on so...<br /><br />I am really enjoying your latest posts. :)Retrieverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09036341287285545932noreply@blogger.com