Archived Forums

http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/katie-hopkins-stoops-new-low-5699829 This is what Katie Hopkins thought! I watched it. I totally understood the relief that Honeys mum felt when she was finally diagnosed. I certainly recognized a lot of those behaviours and it's very very hard when you're not being believed but are being judged as a rubbish parent. Poor kid. The little boy? Well, I think it was a difficult situation. His mum and grandma were both parenting him, but differently. His deafness was only touched upon? I wonder whether that should have been a more significant part of the story? For sure, he didn't look like my son looks when he's pre or post meds. So much more to ADHD than just behavioural issues.

I agree Don. I saw K.H's stupid comments. I think the title is a bit sensationalizing and the program certainly didn't show all the assessments that would have had to be done by the child and family before an Autism diagnosis is arrived at. I have seen a few comments agreeing with Katie Hopkins thinking that parents can get a diagnosis just like that if our child constantly naughty and claim benefits and that that is why Honey's mum is so pleased - she can get loads of tax payers money!

My daughter has PDA. It is worth checking it out if you are interested. It is not easy to get a diagnosis in this country, no matter what anyone says. Look at Theo on the programme, for example, where they were wondering if he might have adhd. The easiest way to tell if ritalin works on a child is to give that child ritalin. Up to that point everything is just surmising. As is often the case, the professionals decided it wasn't adhd and he wasn't allowed to try ritalin. But maybe it would have helped him. I was most surprised by the way they decided it was mum's fault. IMO he's 'splitting', with good behaviour for granny and bad for mum and this isn't necessarily mum's fault. And his hearing loss was barely mentioned as a possible contributing factor, when it might well be.

Yes it would be so much simpler if they just tried a course of 'Ritalin' to see if it works - would save loads of hassle and time wasting. It'll be interesting to see what this week's children are like, one is a 3 year old - a bit young to be looking at ADHD so wonder what their thoughts will be.

I have just watched this (recorded). I 'diagnosed' Honey with PDA after a few minutes (thanks to having read about it after Flosskirk recommended finding out about it a while ago - still think it fits better than anything else for my son...) I did think that Theo's problems may have been more to do with the family dynamic rather than ADHD which seems to have been born out by the professionals. I thought his mum was lacking in confidence and was pleased that the sleep and behaviour management strategies appeared to be working. What I was surprised at was that usually for a child of school age (which he was), school would have had to fill in a Connor's questionnaire. His behaviour in school wasn't mentioned. As a former teacher I know that children with ADHD (as opposed to ADD) would have made their presence felt in the classroom.

Hi Flosskirk I've never heard of PDA, and having had a brief read of symptoms on the PDA Society website, I'm fascinated. There are some symptoms which both my AC's show. If you have written a post about this before, would you be able to 'bump' it so that I can follow the thread? Many thanks

Yes Bermuda, none of the assessments that school, parents or children would have to go through are really properly explained so the myth that you can get a diagnosis as easily as that prevails, and still we get idiots like Katie Hopkins spouting off and people poo hooing PDA because it sounds like it is a made up syndrome. I had hoped that the series would dispel some of the myths but I don't really see it helping our cause.

I thought the little lad might have had some attachment difficulties..he certainly seemed to have a difficult relationship with his mum..they didnt summarise why or how they came to be living with the grandparents but it could have been a difficult pregnancy for the mum, stressful, her own relationship problems with his father, subsequent difficult post natal time with him? she seemed very on the edge with him, possibly slightly depressed.. Who knows..difficult without the full picture!

Skybluegrassgreen, I think I posted about it on the old boards. Use the search facilities to see what you can come up with. But really the best resource for information is the pda online support group. I think the educational guidelines are particularly good. My daughter does the role playing - this is something that often 'nails' it for a pda diagnosis, but not all children do it. But it can be subtle, like playing at being the perfect daughter for example (not that mine did that!). But it's not just pretending they are firemen or a dinosaur, like some people think.

Skybluegrassgreen, I have done a quick search for PDA on these ('new') boards and am hoping this copy /paste link will work http://www.adoptionuk.org/search-results?op=Search&search=PDA The National Autistic Society website has a bit about PDA on it, but I have just been looking at the PDA website (which has links to lots of other resources, youtube clips, training, diagnosis, professionals) and it is very good. http://pathologicaldemandavoidance.com/index.html

Dear Flosskirk and BermudaBlue Thank you both very much for your replies and suggested links. I will go take a look. best wishes to you both