How to Fake ADHD

Next logical step: stupidity will eventually be deemed a medical condition and professors will be expected to accomodate it. At the same time government and college administrations will keep increasing graduation rates. HiEd of the future will be fun to watch.

As a faculty member with ADD who is grateful for medication to help get through a day without too much loss, frustration, dropped tasks, forgotten faces, endless annoyances, I would prefer that physicsprof walk down the hall to have a heart-to-heart with a psychprof, then chat up a philosophyprof, and finally consult with medicalprof before ever again comparing ADD to stupidity.

I’m far more concerned about students faking an ADD diagnosis in order to get access to stimulant medications (and the abuse problems thereof) than I am about the accommodations end of things. Most accommodations for ADD, like extended time and reduced distraction areas for testing, are removing conditions that exist only for the convenience of scheduing classrooms rather than for purposes related to actually determining what students know. Handing speed to someone who doesn’t have a legitimate medical need for it, on the other hand, is a real problem.Besides, there are plenty of “slackers” without an ADD diagnosis.

Why would I be concerned with somebody faking ADD in order to get access to drugs? It is their personal choice and I certainly have no interest in participating in the war on drugs or telling people what to do outside my classroom. Inside is a different story.

In defense of #1 AND ommiting the discussion of ADHD. Professors are already expected to accommodate stupidity. The “HiEd” of TODAY is no fun to watch. The stupidity problem is no longer limited to students, it includes faculty and administrators. The decline in motivation and ability gets worse every year as does the increase of plagiarism, cheating and faking the need for pharmacy drugs.

#10: “But I can’t see that extra time for tests in a properly run test center is any big deal if a few people get this extra time.”1) I am certain you will not get an answer, but try asking your CFO exactly how much the physical facilities, personnel, etc. cost.2) “properly run test center” HA! I’ve never seen one even in a real hospital.3) why can’t YOU give the student extra time?4)”Diagnoses are supposed to be confidential handled through an appropriate office.” HA! Never go to an in-house employer provided care facility. Everyone at work will know your condition within a few days.5) Universities are not hospitals. We are not equipped professionally or financially to handle these problems. It is the parent’s responsibility to work through all of these issues.

Honestly, Vicki, are you sure you want to spend money on college this year? How about starting with some remedial English classes instead?

Probably unkind to ask physicsprof how to spell “accommodate” too.

I have taught for 16 years and have accommodated many students. Not once have I been informed as to what their disabilities or special needs are, nor do I want or expect to be informed. All I need to know is, 1) their condition is verified by the university;2) their needs and how best to accommodate them.In other words, I’ve never been given a piece of paper with the words “ADD” or “ADHD” on it. If I were to receive such a note, I would report it as a possible violation of privacy policies.I should also say that I am a 46-year old Ph.D. who has ADHD and takes medication for it. I take my medication properly and it helps manage my symptoms. I am not a stupid or lazy person, nor am I a prescription drug abuser.I expect more from people in higher education when it comes to dealing with this condition but I’m usually disappointed. Too many faculty and grad students use “ADD” and “ADHD” casually and contemptuously, as synonyms for stupid and lazy. They remind me of the folks who use “retarded” in a similar fashion. Some people who are book-smart and credentialed are themselves profoundly stupid when it comes to this condition. In fact, many of them don’t know what or whom they’re talking about, but it doesn’t stop them from having opinions. That is emblematic of stupidity and it makes me sick.

rpence63, it is surely tempting to paint those opinions that differ from your own as “emblematic of stupidity” and feel “sick” about them. Please, however, be aware that there are professionals who thought a lot about ADHD and still don’t buy into it. ADHD is a legitimized multi-billion drug business of medical and pharmaceutical industries. It relies on its victims taking “medications properly”. [See for example, B. Ravenel & J. Rosemond, "The Diseasing of America's Children: Exposing the ADHD Fiasco and Empowering Parents to Take Back Control".]

Dank48, as I already said I do aCCoMModate students with ADD (and students mostly don’t make a secret of their condition when they request it), as I am suppossed according to rules of my institution. However to claim that “nobody should doubt the reality of ADHD” even outside the classroom is going too far. In science scepticism is good and acceptable, to a degree that might vary with the topic. Many medical professionals doubt the existence of ADHD. Not many doubt the existence of cancer, arthritis, deaftness or bipolar disorder, right? Doesn’t this fact speak for the robustness of the ADHD concept to you?

I taught at a highly selective liberal arts college in the 1990s, and at that time, the processes and procedures for accommodating students with documented learning differences were poorly formulated and haphazardly administered. Students could provide “outside” validation of learning differences to health services or be tested on campus. The admissions office marketed the institution’s willingness to accommodate these so-called learning differences. In a principles course I taught my first year, one student proudly proclaimed he had 91 documented learning differences.Students, in conjunction with student health services, were supposed to provide written verification of learning differences and need for “extra time” or untimed exams PRIOR TO the first graded event in class. [The letter did not indicate the exact condition, merely that a learning difference had been documented and that accommodations were required under ADA.] All too often, this documentation was not provided and then students would show up at the first exam and state: “I get to take the test untimed.” Faculty members are then put in an awkward position as to whether to allow the untimed exam without proof of learning difference or deny the accommodation and risk the threat of a lawsuit. Sending students to take the exam at the “learning center” where the exam was allegedly proctored was a travesty. Exams were required to be submitted 2 weeks prior to the scheduled date and it once took a month to retrieve an exam administered there. As a result, I had the joy of proctoring 17 special needs students out of 70 students one semester. I will never forget one student who required untimed exams taking a midterm in my statistics course. He started the exam at 3:30 PM, and then worked until 6:00 PM, at which time he announced he was going to eat dinner. He returned at 8:00 PM, worked for another 90 minutes, and said he needed a snack at the student cafe. He returned at 10:30 PM, worked another hour on the exam, and then told me he was tired and was going to call it a night. Yes, that was my life as a junior faculty member. Waiting on unqualified charlatans gaming the system, staying in the office past midnight, driving an hour home and then getting up at 5:00 AM so I could be in the office to prep for my 7:30 AM class. I left before my young daughters were awake and returned home after they were asleep. Meanwhile, my student with 91 learning differences turned a 90-minute in-class stats midterm into a three-day affair. As others have indicated, the problems lie much deeper than a few students gaming the system, academic deans and “student support” offices have become unfettered advocates for students, removing any and all obstacles to students doing what they want, when they want. On several occasions, administrators forced me to give students make-up final exams months after the course was over because the student claimed to have an episodic learning difference brought about my emotional stress. This system undermines standards, and does a disservice to all students, including those with learning differences. When these students leave their undergraduate institutions, they will enter the workforce and be faced with managing multiple projects on tight deadlines; there will be no accommodations in those environments. Anecdotes of “the cruel professor” are unconvincing to faculty members who have seen the entire spectrum of behavior.

Attention Deficit Disorder is a chronic neurological disorder that is primarily diagnosed in the children. Statistics estimates that two to five percent of the population are affected by the ADD, considering the rare possibility in the case of adult ADD. ADD is a pediatric disease worrying the United States, five million are affected by this disorder. Attention Deficit Disorder is the former name of the disease with characteristic symptoms of hyperactivity, inattention and impulsivity, which was later renamed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The disease is classified into three distinct subtypes, ADHD predominantly combined type, ADHD predominantly inattentive type and ADHD predominantly hyperactive impulsive type, on the basis of characteristic symptoms marked.
http://www.disorderscentral.com/symptoms-of-attention-deficit-disorder.html