Tag Archives: adhd

Moving The Goalposts Instead Of Solving The Problem

Posted on by

Recently Presidential Hill posted an article about some changes the U.S. Military is making in requirements for recruits.

The article reports:

It was reported last week that the Pentagon recently implemented new rules that allowed 700 recruits rejected over a previous diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to join the military without a waiver.

The rule changes, which took effect in June 2022, permit individuals diagnosed with 38 different medical conditions to join the military provided they have no symptoms and required no medication for a designated number of years depending on the specific condition, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Those diagnosed with ADHD, for example, must be symptom-free for three years, while those diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder must be symptom-free for seven years.

The Mayo Clinic describes Oppositional Defiant Disorder as follows:

Even the best-behaved children can be difficult and challenging at times. But oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) includes a frequent and ongoing pattern of anger, irritability, arguing and defiance toward parents and other authority figures. ODD also includes being spiteful and seeking revenge, a behavior called vindictiveness.

I can’t imagine a person with ODD even making it through boot camp.

The Presidential Hill reports:

The Pentagon’s new recruiting rules come as the US Army is facing recruitment shortages.

In the last fiscal year, recruitment for the Army fell short of its goal by 15,000. The Army subsequently reduced its recruitment goal for FY2023 by 15,000.

According to current statistics, only 23 percent of young Americans meet the necessary standards for joining the military while less than 10 percent are even interested.

Under the revamped rules, potential recruits with a history of ADHD will be able to join if they have completed high school or college, held a job, and have been symptom- and medication-free for three years.

Army Lt. Col. Kim Helgemoe, a member of the Pentagon’s Accession Policy that sets medical admissions standards, said the symptom-free period is to ensure that the recruit is capable of making it through the initial entry training and can “hopefully” have a “successful military career.”

I have no problem with accepting people with ADD or ADHD. My husband could be the poster child for ADD and did very well in the Navy. He is a computer geek, and I suspect from my observations that a lot of computer people have ADD. Their brains simply work differently. However, the real solution is to find out why the recruiting numbers are down and solve the problem.

 

An Alternative To ADHD Medication

Posted on by

In September, The Atlantic Magazine posted an article about dealing with children who have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). As someone who married into a family with about five generations that we are pretty sure of with ADHD or ADD, I was very interested in the article. I have learned from my personal experience that ADD or ADHD is different in girls than boys, and I have also learned that in some cases, ADD or ADHD can be dealt with without the use of prescription drugs. My husband controls his ADD with coffee. A few cups in the morning will slow him down enough so that he can concentrate. One of my daughters controls her ADD and her son’s ADHD with physical activity. The article in The Atlantic reinforces the idea that physical activity can be used to control ADHD. Before I quote the article, I would like to mention that ADD and ADHD exploded as a problem about the time recess was taken out of the lower grades in many of our public schools. We need to rethink that.

The article in The Atlantic reports:

Last year a very similar study in the Journal of Attention Disorders found that just 26 minutes of daily physical activity for eight weeks significantly allayed ADHD symptoms in grade-school kids. The modest conclusion of the study was that “physical activity shows promise for addressing ADHD symptoms in young children.” The researchers went on to write that this finding should be “carefully explored with further studies.”

 “If physical activity is established as an effective intervention for ADHD,” they continued, “it will also be important to address possible complementary effects of physical activity and existing treatment strategies …” Which is a kind of phenomenal degree of reservation compared to the haste with which millions of kids have been introduced to amphetamines and other stimulants to address said ADHD. The number of prescriptions increased from 34.8 to 48.4 million between 2007 and 2011 alone. The pharmaceutical market around the disorder has grown to several billion dollars in recent years while school exercise initiatives have enjoyed no such spoils of entrepreneurialism. But, you know, once there is more research, it may potentially be advisable to consider possibly implementing more exercise opportunities for kids.

Rather than create a generation of children hooked on drugs that treat ADHD, let’s bring back recess. It may not solve all of the problems, but I’ll bet that some children could stop their drugs and others could go on lower doses of drugs if we brought back recess.