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The Myth of Attention Deficit Disorder
The Myth of Attention Deficit Disorder
Author: Dr. Thomas Armstrong
Over the past thirty years, attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) has emerged from the relative obscurity of cognitive psychologists’ research laboratories
to become the "disease du jour" of America’s schoolchildren. Accompanying this popularity has
been a virtually complete acceptance of the validity of this "disorder" by scientists, physicians,
psychologists, educators, parents, and others. Upon closer critical scrutiny, however, there is much
to be troubled about concerning ADD/ADHD as a real medical diagnosis. There is no definitive
objective set of criteria to determine who has ADD/ADHD and who does not. Rather, instead, there
are a loose set of behaviors (hyperactivity, distractibility, and impulsivity) that combine in different
ways to give rise to the "disorder." These behaviors are highly context-dependent. A child may be
hyperactive while seated at a desk doing a boring worksheet, but not necessarily while singing in a
school musical. These behaviors are also very general in nature and give no clue as to their real
origins. A child can be hyperactive because he’s bored, depressed, anxious, allergic to milk,
creative, a hands-on learner, has a difficult temperament, is stressed out, is driven by a media-mad
culture, or any number of other possible causes. The tests that have been used to determine if
someone has ADD/ADHD are either artificially objective and remote from the lives of real children
(in one test, a child is asked to press a button every time he sees a 1 followed by a 9 on a
computer screen) , or hopelessly subjective (many rating scales ask parents and teachers to score
a child’s behavior on a scale from 1 to 5: these scores depend upon the subjective attitudes more
than the actual behaviors of the children involved). The treatments used for this supposed disorder
are also problematic. Ritalin use is up 500% over the past six years, yet it does not cure the
problem, it only masks symptoms, and there are several disadvantages: children don’t like taking it,
children use it as an "excuse" for their behavior ("I hit Ed because I forgot to take my pill."), and
there are some indications it may be related to later substance abuse of drugs like cocaine. While it
is true that psychoactive medications properly prescribed and monitored by a physician can be an
important tool to help some kids experience successes with teachers, parents, and peers, it still
must be viewed as a last resort intervention and used with caution. Behavior modification programs
used for kids labeled ADD/ADHD work, but they don’t help kids become better learners. In fact,
they may interfere with the development of a child’s intrinsic love of learning (kids behave simply to
get more rewards), they may frustrate some kids (when they don’t get expected rewards), and they
can also impair creativity and stifle cooperation.
ADD/ADHD is a popular diagnosis in the 1990’s because it serves as a neat way to explain away
the complexities of turn-of-the-millenium life in America. Over the past few decades, our families
have broken up, respect for authority has eroded, mass media has created a "short-attention-span
culture," and stress levels have skyrocketed. When our children start to act out under the strain, it’
s convenient to create a scientific-sounding term to label them with, an effective drug to stifle their
"symptoms," and a whole program of ADD/ADHD workbooks, videos, and instructional materials to
use to fit them in a box that relieves parents and teachers of any worry that it might be due to their
own failure (or the failure of the broader culture) to nurture or teach effectively. Mainly, the
ADD/ADHD label is a tragic decoy that takes the focus off of where it’s needed most: the real life of
each unique child. Instead of seeing each child for who he or she is (strengths, limitations,
interests, temperaments, learning styles etc.) and addressing his or her specific needs, the child is
reduced to an "ADD child," where the potential to see the best in him or her is severely eroded
(since ADD/ADHD puts all the emphasis on the deficits, not the strengths), and where the number
of potential solutions to help them is highly limited to a few child-controlling interventions.
Instead of this deficit-based ADD/ADH paradigm, I’d like to suggest a wellness-based holistic
paradigm that sees each child in terms of his or her ultimate worth, and addresses each child’s
unique needs. To do this, we need to provide a wide range of options for parents or teachers.
50 Ways
To Improve Your Child’s Behavior and Attention Span without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion
(for detailed information about each way, see The Myth of the ADD Child) Order book by calling: 1-
800-247-6553.
1. Provide a balanced breakfast.
2 Consider the Feingold diet
3. Limit television and video games
4. Teach self-talk skills.
5. Find out what interests your child.
6. Promote a strong physical education program in your child’s school.
7. Enroll your child in a martial arts program.
8. Discover your child’s multiple intelligences (link)
9. Use background music to focus and calm.
10.Use color to highlight information.
11. Teach your child to visualize.
12. Remove allergens from the diet.
13. Provide opportunities for physical movement.
14. Enhance your child’s self-esteem.
15. Find your child’s best times of alertness.
16. Give instructions in attention-grabbing ways.
17. Provide a variety of stimulating learning activities.
18. Consider biofeedback training.
19. Activate positive career aspirations.
20. Teach your child physical-relaxation techniques.
21. Use incidental learning to teach.
22. Support full inclusion of your child in a regular classroom.
23. Provide positive role models.
24. Consider alternative schooling options.
25. Channel creative energy into the arts.
26. Provide hands-on activities
27. Spend positive times together.
28. Provide appropriate spaces for learning.
29. Consider individual psychotherapy.
30. Use touch to soothe and calm.
31. Help your child with organizational skills.
32. Help your child appreciate the value of personal effort.
33. Take care of yourself.
34. Teach your child focusing techniques.
35. Provide immediate feedback.
36. Provide your child with access to a computer.
37. Consider family therapy.
38. Teach problem-solving skills.
39. Offer your child real-life tasks to do.
40. Use "time-out" in a positive way.
41. Help your child develop social skills.
42. Contract with your child.
43. Use effective communication skills.
44. Give your child choices.
45. Discover and treat the four types of misbehavior.
46. Establish consistent rules, routines, and transitions.
47. Hold family meetings.
48. Have your child teach a younger child.
49. Use natural and logical consequences.
50. Hold a positive image of your child.
Resources
Armstrong, Thomas. "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children: One Consequence of
the Rise of Technologies and Demise of Play?" in Sharna Olfman (ed.), All Work and No Play: How
Educational Reforms are Harming Our Preschoolers. Westport CT: Praeger, 2003, pp. 161-176.
Armstrong, Thomas. The Myth of the ADD Child: 50 Ways to Improve Your Child's Behavior and
Attention Span without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion. New York: Plume, 1997.
Armstrong, Thomas. "To Empower, Not Control!: A Holistic Approach to ADD/ADHD," Reaching
Today’s Youth, Winter, 1998.
Armstrong, Thomas, "ADD as a Social Invention," Education Week, October 18, 1995.
Armstrong, Thomas "ADD: Does It Really Exist?" Phi Delta Kappan, February, 1996.
Armstrong, Thomas. "Labels Can Last a Lifetime," Learning, May/June, 1996.
Armstrong, Thomas. "Why I Believe Attention Deficit Disorder is a Myth," Sydney’s Child [Australia],
September, 1996.
Divoky, Diane and Peter Schrag. The Myth of the Hyperactive Child. New York: Pantheon, 1975.
Goodman, Gay, and Mary Jo Poillon. "ADD: Acronym for Any Dysfunction or Difficulty,"
Journal of Special Education, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1992.
Griss, Susan. Minds in Motion: A Kinesthetic Approach to Teaching Elementary Curriculum.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.
Kohn, Alfie. "Suffer the Restless Children," Atlantic Monthly, November, 1989, pp. 90-100.
McGuinness, Diane. When Children Don't Learn. New York: Basic, 1985.
Merrow, John. " Attention Deficit Disorder: A Dubious Diagnosis," (Video). The Merrow Report, 588
Broadway, Suite 510, New York, NY 10012,212-941-8060; 212-941-8068 (fax).
Patterson, Marilyn Nikimaa. Every Body Can Learn: Engaging the Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence in
the Everyday Classroom. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press, 1997.
Reid, Robert, John W. Maag, and Stanley F. Vasa, "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a
Disability Category: A Critique," Exceptional Children, Vol. 60, No. 3, pp. 198-214.
Author: Dr. Thomas Armstrong
Over the past thirty years, attention deficit disorder (ADD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) has emerged from the relative obscurity of cognitive psychologists’ research laboratories
to become the "disease du jour" of America’s schoolchildren. Accompanying this popularity has
been a virtually complete acceptance of the validity of this "disorder" by scientists, physicians,
psychologists, educators, parents, and others. Upon closer critical scrutiny, however, there is much
to be troubled about concerning ADD/ADHD as a real medical diagnosis. There is no definitive
objective set of criteria to determine who has ADD/ADHD and who does not. Rather, instead, there
are a loose set of behaviors (hyperactivity, distractibility, and impulsivity) that combine in different
ways to give rise to the "disorder." These behaviors are highly context-dependent. A child may be
hyperactive while seated at a desk doing a boring worksheet, but not necessarily while singing in a
school musical. These behaviors are also very general in nature and give no clue as to their real
origins. A child can be hyperactive because he’s bored, depressed, anxious, allergic to milk,
creative, a hands-on learner, has a difficult temperament, is stressed out, is driven by a media-mad
culture, or any number of other possible causes. The tests that have been used to determine if
someone has ADD/ADHD are either artificially objective and remote from the lives of real children
(in one test, a child is asked to press a button every time he sees a 1 followed by a 9 on a
computer screen) , or hopelessly subjective (many rating scales ask parents and teachers to score
a child’s behavior on a scale from 1 to 5: these scores depend upon the subjective attitudes more
than the actual behaviors of the children involved). The treatments used for this supposed disorder
are also problematic. Ritalin use is up 500% over the past six years, yet it does not cure the
problem, it only masks symptoms, and there are several disadvantages: children don’t like taking it,
children use it as an "excuse" for their behavior ("I hit Ed because I forgot to take my pill."), and
there are some indications it may be related to later substance abuse of drugs like cocaine. While it
is true that psychoactive medications properly prescribed and monitored by a physician can be an
important tool to help some kids experience successes with teachers, parents, and peers, it still
must be viewed as a last resort intervention and used with caution. Behavior modification programs
used for kids labeled ADD/ADHD work, but they don’t help kids become better learners. In fact,
they may interfere with the development of a child’s intrinsic love of learning (kids behave simply to
get more rewards), they may frustrate some kids (when they don’t get expected rewards), and they
can also impair creativity and stifle cooperation.
ADD/ADHD is a popular diagnosis in the 1990’s because it serves as a neat way to explain away
the complexities of turn-of-the-millenium life in America. Over the past few decades, our families
have broken up, respect for authority has eroded, mass media has created a "short-attention-span
culture," and stress levels have skyrocketed. When our children start to act out under the strain, it’
s convenient to create a scientific-sounding term to label them with, an effective drug to stifle their
"symptoms," and a whole program of ADD/ADHD workbooks, videos, and instructional materials to
use to fit them in a box that relieves parents and teachers of any worry that it might be due to their
own failure (or the failure of the broader culture) to nurture or teach effectively. Mainly, the
ADD/ADHD label is a tragic decoy that takes the focus off of where it’s needed most: the real life of
each unique child. Instead of seeing each child for who he or she is (strengths, limitations,
interests, temperaments, learning styles etc.) and addressing his or her specific needs, the child is
reduced to an "ADD child," where the potential to see the best in him or her is severely eroded
(since ADD/ADHD puts all the emphasis on the deficits, not the strengths), and where the number
of potential solutions to help them is highly limited to a few child-controlling interventions.
Instead of this deficit-based ADD/ADH paradigm, I’d like to suggest a wellness-based holistic
paradigm that sees each child in terms of his or her ultimate worth, and addresses each child’s
unique needs. To do this, we need to provide a wide range of options for parents or teachers.
50 Ways
To Improve Your Child’s Behavior and Attention Span without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion
(for detailed information about each way, see The Myth of the ADD Child) Order book by calling: 1-
800-247-6553.
1. Provide a balanced breakfast.
2 Consider the Feingold diet
3. Limit television and video games
4. Teach self-talk skills.
5. Find out what interests your child.
6. Promote a strong physical education program in your child’s school.
7. Enroll your child in a martial arts program.
8. Discover your child’s multiple intelligences (link)
9. Use background music to focus and calm.
10.Use color to highlight information.
11. Teach your child to visualize.
12. Remove allergens from the diet.
13. Provide opportunities for physical movement.
14. Enhance your child’s self-esteem.
15. Find your child’s best times of alertness.
16. Give instructions in attention-grabbing ways.
17. Provide a variety of stimulating learning activities.
18. Consider biofeedback training.
19. Activate positive career aspirations.
20. Teach your child physical-relaxation techniques.
21. Use incidental learning to teach.
22. Support full inclusion of your child in a regular classroom.
23. Provide positive role models.
24. Consider alternative schooling options.
25. Channel creative energy into the arts.
26. Provide hands-on activities
27. Spend positive times together.
28. Provide appropriate spaces for learning.
29. Consider individual psychotherapy.
30. Use touch to soothe and calm.
31. Help your child with organizational skills.
32. Help your child appreciate the value of personal effort.
33. Take care of yourself.
34. Teach your child focusing techniques.
35. Provide immediate feedback.
36. Provide your child with access to a computer.
37. Consider family therapy.
38. Teach problem-solving skills.
39. Offer your child real-life tasks to do.
40. Use "time-out" in a positive way.
41. Help your child develop social skills.
42. Contract with your child.
43. Use effective communication skills.
44. Give your child choices.
45. Discover and treat the four types of misbehavior.
46. Establish consistent rules, routines, and transitions.
47. Hold family meetings.
48. Have your child teach a younger child.
49. Use natural and logical consequences.
50. Hold a positive image of your child.
Resources
Armstrong, Thomas. "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children: One Consequence of
the Rise of Technologies and Demise of Play?" in Sharna Olfman (ed.), All Work and No Play: How
Educational Reforms are Harming Our Preschoolers. Westport CT: Praeger, 2003, pp. 161-176.
Armstrong, Thomas. The Myth of the ADD Child: 50 Ways to Improve Your Child's Behavior and
Attention Span without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion. New York: Plume, 1997.
Armstrong, Thomas. "To Empower, Not Control!: A Holistic Approach to ADD/ADHD," Reaching
Today’s Youth, Winter, 1998.
Armstrong, Thomas, "ADD as a Social Invention," Education Week, October 18, 1995.
Armstrong, Thomas "ADD: Does It Really Exist?" Phi Delta Kappan, February, 1996.
Armstrong, Thomas. "Labels Can Last a Lifetime," Learning, May/June, 1996.
Armstrong, Thomas. "Why I Believe Attention Deficit Disorder is a Myth," Sydney’s Child [Australia],
September, 1996.
Divoky, Diane and Peter Schrag. The Myth of the Hyperactive Child. New York: Pantheon, 1975.
Goodman, Gay, and Mary Jo Poillon. "ADD: Acronym for Any Dysfunction or Difficulty,"
Journal of Special Education, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1992.
Griss, Susan. Minds in Motion: A Kinesthetic Approach to Teaching Elementary Curriculum.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1998.
Kohn, Alfie. "Suffer the Restless Children," Atlantic Monthly, November, 1989, pp. 90-100.
McGuinness, Diane. When Children Don't Learn. New York: Basic, 1985.
Merrow, John. " Attention Deficit Disorder: A Dubious Diagnosis," (Video). The Merrow Report, 588
Broadway, Suite 510, New York, NY 10012,212-941-8060; 212-941-8068 (fax).
Patterson, Marilyn Nikimaa. Every Body Can Learn: Engaging the Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence in
the Everyday Classroom. Tucson, AZ: Zephyr Press, 1997.
Reid, Robert, John W. Maag, and Stanley F. Vasa, "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder as a
Disability Category: A Critique," Exceptional Children, Vol. 60, No. 3, pp. 198-214.