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Writer defends Savage's autism remarks

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Smallpotatoes, Jul 21, 2008.

  1. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Kato, I understand your frustration here and I can imagine that I might take offense to some of the comments above if I was in your situation, but I think most of the comments about "playing the system" were directed at ADD and ADHD cases. I don't doubt that there are some abuses of the system, but it is a very small percentage. Nobody here is accusing you of being part of that small percentage.

    There has been some stupidity on the two threads generated by Savage's comments, but there has also been some useful discussion.
     
  2. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I'd put school teachers and officials at the top of the line of people responsible for the overdiagnosis of ADD/ADHD.

    Get the parents and a doc to sign on, and they get to deal with some quiet, mellow kid instead of someone jumping around and talking.
     
  3. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    When someone gets government or insurance benefits rather sucking it up and dealing with their problem, that's "playing the system."

    When a CEO of a company that's teetering on bankruptcy gets a $165 million bonus, that's just compensation. He worked for that, you see.
     
  4. Plus schools get a LOT more funding for every kid who falls into that category.
     
  5. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

    Sigh...

    How do they play the system? They get advantages in the classroom and on standardized tests. It is also very, very difficult to suspend a child with an working IEP (which all Autistic and many ADD or ADHD students will have). And if you do suspend them, they are provided an in-home tutor by the school district.

    It is also the reason why you might not see punishment be similar when two students do the exact same thing. And if the administrator knows anything or values their job, they will never tell you the reason why your Jimmy got three days ISS and Billy did not receive the same punishment because they have an IEP.

    If you have a working IEP in high school, many times you can carry over the accommodations to your university. For example, unlimited time to take the test, or having the test read to you can be done at the university level if you have that in place in high school, and yes, that is an advantage over other students.

    Oh, I am an advocate of special education. I am just stating some of the less than positive things that could happen in the system.
     
  6. hondo

    hondo Well-Known Member

    Thank you Ace. I totally agree. I think many, many cases of ADD result from teachers pressuring parents to medicate kids who are merely exuberant, rambunctious or high-spirited. And yes, I'll say it: I'd bet it's mostly female teachers wanting male children doped to the gills to keep them quiet, so their job will be easier. I wonder if it's not some form of sexism, to try and keep natural male aggression under wraps as long as they can.
    About 10 years ago I dated a woman who had a 3-year-old. The day care owner was giving her grief about taking the kid to the doctor and getting him put on Ritalin. When asked why, the owner said: "because he plays with one toy for 10 seconds, drops, it and picks up another. Then he'll run around the room. Then he's hard to put down for nap time." On an one. What she was actually describing was a normal 3-year-old boy. Yet, she wanted the kid passive and quiet.
    I never heard of ADD until then. Funny that 20, 30 or 40 years ago, it was just "that Smith boy is full of mischief, isn't he?"
     
  7. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Sorry, Devil. I don't see anything in your post that I would begrudge someone with ADD/autism or even someone faking it.

    When an ADHD kid aces out the valedictorian because he had the finals read to him and took all day on the test, give me a call.
     
  8. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Day care is not school. That story is frightening, but the standards are different with a day care than a school, as is the quality of professional you are dealing with.

    The rest of your post is an interesting mixture of ignorance, sexism and bashing of teachers without any real evidence to back it up. Thanks for sharing.
     
  9. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    C'mon, oop. He was agreeing with me for the first time.

    In my experience in elementary school, certain teachers would tried to lead you down that path but would not come out and say that your kid is ADD and should be on drugs.

    But I think it would be pretty easy for an elementary school teacher to lead a nervous parent down that road.

    And since it's a judgment call by doctors anyway, you'd find one to prescribe Ritalin or whatever for any rambunctious kid if you try at all.
     
  10. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    As the son and nephew of elementary school teachers, I can respectfully say that you have no fucking clue what you are talking about.
     
  11. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Ace, look who was agreeing with you. That should speak volumes.

    Edit: What Webster said.
     
  12. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    oop,

    There are good teachers and bad teachers.
     
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