Everywhere I turn, people are revealing they have ADD. Kids of friends I have, work peers, friends and people who I meet and maybe even my daughter. The apple doesn't fall to far from the tree. Is
it because we are more aware of what ADD is? We certainly have the resources and tools to better understand the condition and diagnose it.
Even though it's raining ADD, metaphorically speaking, it is not raining ADD assessment or support. While we continue to see interesting educational support and brain research facilities open up, the wait list for assessments is enormous. Take my daughter as an example, she is currently being assessed for ADD. It took 3 months to get into see the specialist to start the process. She now requires a psycho-education assessment and the wait for that is in the area of 4 months. 3 months plus 4 months equals 7 months to just get to a place where we understand what challenges may be in front of us.
This is clearly not a viable time line to allow parents anywhere to understand what challenges their kids may face with ADD, in order to make adjustments academically and ensure children's needs are going to be addressed. With adults, the cost of not assessing, diagnosing and moving for2ward with a strategy has a huge impact. As I blogged about back in 2008, there is definitely a cost. As an ADD'er, I have become aware that there is a financial cost to not properly managing ADD. According to NewsMedia.net, U.S. household income losses due to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) total nearly $77 billion each year!!!
It's really amazing how ADD has such an impact on people in our society, yet so little attention and medical funding is offered to assist. Just think about how you or someone you may know is impacted. ADD can impact a career, a marriage, spending habits and so many other aspects of life. Each one of these impacted parts of a person's life is financially affected, be it good or bad. Seems like we've stumbled across another reason to work on managing ADD, the cost of not doing so can be expensive.
