>I guess I should have been more focused. < g > I was really referring to all these psycho-babble disorders and not actual, medically provable, illnesses such as the one your husband has.

Except that there are lots of people out there who believe that my husband's condition is "all in his head" and that there is no medical condition involved. People with his condition (dysautonomia) often have trouble getting disability, even though many of them are unable to work. (We're very fortunate that his case is milder and treatable.)

>I see the "diagnosis" of ADD in school age children more than anything as a symptom of the steady decline of our education system, the lowering of our educational standards and expectations of our children, deteriorating teaching and parenting skills (including proper discipline at home and at school) and 40 years of a welfare system that broke down a traditionally strong family unit. Directing and focusing a child is mostly a teaching skill, and our school systems have lost sight of what they were established to do. Ours are more focused on administrative issues and getting kids prepared to pass an academic assessment test instead of teaching them for life. Something memorized for a test is fleeting, while something learned is for life. How sad.
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>< Set IMHO OFF >

I disagree with much of what you say here. In fact, I see the increased diagnosis of ADD as a symptom of our increased expectations for children. It's only in the last 40-50 years that we expect every kid to complete high school. There used to be a significant portion of the population who was happy to make it through 8th grade and then left school to go to work.

We've also raised the stakes on what we're teaching at what age. To give one example, when my parents went to school, some kids took algebra in high school, others had it in college, and many had no algebra at all. When I went to school, algebra was a high school course, with a few kids getting started in 8th grade. Today, most good students get some algebra in middle school. The same applies in many other subjects as well.


>< Shameless Plug ON >
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>We spend half as much time home-schooling our 2 children as our daughter used to spend in a public or private school without the added "bonus" of 2 to 3 hours or more of homework in the evenings. Homework has become more of a crutch that is supplanting actual classroom learning and work so other "social engineering" garbage can be spread throughout the schools. Our experience with private schools has been no better either.
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>We have more family time, can go anywhere we want (within our budget) when we want and incorporate teaching and learning in all our trips. Our daughter is now almost a full academic year ahead in most subjects compared to where her "traditional" classmates are.
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Your experiences with schools probably have a lot to do with where you're located. There is an unfortunate history in this country of schools in the south overall being inferior to schools in the north. (Before anybody batters me about this, I'm not saying every school, everywhere, just a trend.) There are many, many great schools around, both public and private, that are turning out educated, productive citizens.

There are some schools that aren't having that result. The reasons vary. One big source (I'd guess, the biggest) is trying to educate kids who come to school without the necessary tools and who go home to families where education isn't valued. In addition, schools are being asked to do more and more and teachers' time is being eaten up by administrative nonsense, including testing. But there doesn't describe every school.

As for your daughter being a full year ahead, my suspicion is that that would be true if she were in a good school, as well. Bright kids with involved parents usually achieve.

Tamar