Driven to Distraction #3

In the previous chapters I discussed how it was an issue that so many people are undiagnosed with ADD and how it can affect them in their adult lives. As I was to read more of the book and learn more about people with ADD and the way it affects their lives I found another issue behind this problem. Some parents may not test their kids for it which can affect them negatively, but even worse parents can blame their kids for many things that they have no control over since they have ADD but the parents are unaware as many of these children are undiagnosed. A personal story from a girl named Sarah from Tennessee was accused by her father as he is was described, "a woman who was told from an early age by her father that she had no sense than a jay-bird and that her main problem was that she was lazy"(94). It was very unfortunate for Sarah because as she was being accused by her father of being lazy, unorganized, and was blaming her for her struggles in school and for having difficulties with other things in life. Sarah was later diagnosed with ADD and began to take medicine to focus on certain tasks to help her accomplish them at an efficient rate. Her family found vast improvements in her life and her dad finally realized that it really wasn't all her fault that she was struggling in all these areas. This is such an issue because parents could be accusing their kids of certain things because they have trouble in these areas. Since many kids have these learning disabilities but the parents don't know about it, it causes them to blame their children for many things that are almost out of their control. Ever since I have been on my medicine I have been a much more productive student with my work and have been able to accomplish my assignments earlier with better quality. There are so many cases like this and getting medicine for children with these learning disabilities will only help them in their schoolwork.