Tammy Tevis
ENG-105 Analyzing a Concept 1
May 13, 2013
Russell Tiedt

Autism, ADHD and ADD: The Lasting Effects

When a baby is born a parent hopes for their children to be healthy, happy and normal. No parent ever hopes to raise a child with abnormalities or handicaps yet unfortunately, a percentage of babies born will have some form of a disability. Whether the condition a child has is of the mildest form requiring only supervision or is considered severe requiring lifelong care and medication, parents stress and have difficulties dealing with the everyday life their child goes through and deals with throughout his or her life wondering if they are doing all they can to make sure their child is well taken care of. This essay will examine the effects of ADD, ADHD and autism focusing on adolescents and children with these impairments and the parents and caregivers who struggle to maintain a daily balanced life. As a mother with a son who has ADHD I can speak first hand on the struggles a parent has to face and the challenges we deal with raising a child. My son was diagnosed shortly after he began kindergarten when he first started displaying signs of anxiousness during class time and how his teacher would struggle to keep him under control. His dad and I were called in to a parent-teacher conference to discuss my son’s behavior during class. It was recommended by the teacher that we have our son evaluated for ADHD as that was what she believed he had. We made an appointment with our son’s doctor and he concurred with the teacher that our son did indeed have ADHD. The doctor advised us that since our son had a high level of hyperactivity that he should be medicated. Immediately, we were concerned as to how medication would affect him physically, mentally and emotionally and wanted to know how he could have developed such a condition in the first place. The doctor did not have a specific reason as to why our son ended up with ADHD since there is no explanation as to why any child contracts it. Knowing that medication does not always work well for everyone we were unsure how or if it would work for our son. The doctor prescribed medication that day and almost instantly we noticed a change. He began to calm down although in an extreme way to the point that he would not move, he would sit like a statue and stare into space. His medication was re-adjusted and from that point on he was able to function normally in and outside of school. Quality of life (QOL) is the level of functionality a person has with regard to his health and well-being. Quality of Life for children with impaling ailments such as ADHD and Autism displays the level of difficulties that parents and children deal with on a daily basis according to past studies and research implementing the lasting effects according to the Special Interest Research Group of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disabilities (Schalock, 2002). Stress levels of families with children who have autism are greatly higher and attain more family stress then families with children who possess cognitive disabilities such as Downs Syndrome according to Donovan (1988). The reflection of difficult behavioral profiles for example, being disruptive, hurting oneself purposefully or major acts that the child performs often may be difficult to control and impede the abilities to join in activities other than home (Bouma and Schweitzer 1990; Fox, 2002; Howlin 1988). Lashing out like a caged lion, often times these adolescents are very unpredictable and must not be taken lightly as they have the ability to hurt others if provoked. ADHD has been associated with communication disorders as has communication disorders to ADHD. Use of information taken out of context given to a child with autism is not communicated to its exact meaning moreover it is twisted and refined into something different. A child with ADHD has similar characteristics when dealing communication. The ability to fully comprehend what is being taught is greatly limited due to their decrease in cognitive skills therefore creating a barrier on the level of functioning. On a caring burden scale during a further research, parents were asked questions to show the difficulty levels of each. One question was asked if they felt their child was more difficult to care for then an average kid their age. The second question asked was are their children functioning in a way that is annoying and the third question consisted of whether they feel they have wasted a part of their life caring for their child more so then they felt they should have. The results are based on a scale of 1-4 with 1 meaning never, 2 meaning sometimes, 3 meaning usually and 4 meaning always. The result ranged between 3 and 12 on a summary scale which shows that more burden care was calculated based on their answers. Similarities between ADHD and autism on one end of the spectrum where communication skills were examined show lower amounts than on the opposite end where behavioral skills were tested. Both conditions are debilitating in more ways than one and are not easy to cope with as the earlier studies suggest and have proven. Functioning in society offers obstacles and learning how to get around them tests the skills of these young individuals. Society as a whole is burdened by these adolescents who display odd behaviors when participating in activities outside the home for example, going out to a restaurant, at a family picnic or to a theater for a movie. Daily life for children and adolescents does not come to an abrupt halt because they possess this somewhat crippling disease. They find a way to function at home, at school and in society the best way they can with help from their doctors, parents, teachers and interested and caring individuals who want and yearn for their success. As a mother with a now grown adult who possess ADHD I have a first-hand account of the quality of life he lives and his struggles and successes but he knows that he has a great support system that is here and will always be here to ensure his greatest success in life. Reference Page

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