Troubled Teens Resources

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)has been debated for the last twenty years with many parents still feeling confused when their teen is diagnosed.

What we do know for sure is that teenagers who display the noted traits of ADD are vulnerable to more at-risk behaviors, if for no other reason than that their inability to pay attention and tendency to cause distractions sets them up to be viewed as a trouble maker.

One parent pulled her son from the public school he attended and placed him in a troubled teen boarding school. Not because she disagreed with the diagnosis but because the public school’s method of dealing with ADD was so counter productive. When speaking with the public school counselor about her concerns that one of Ritalin’s long term affects might be a shortened life span, the counselor blithely responded that even if that was the truth, better a short “quality” life than a long life as he was.

If they had no more vision for her son than that, she would place him in the hands of those professionals who could teach him the coping skills that have proven effective in teaching teens to mitigate and control the effects of ADD. She found that the training he received at boarding school taught him to use his ADD as an asset by employing methods to utilize it instead of be ruined by it.

The poor behavior that he had begun to exhibit was soon replaced by self-discipline, conscientiousnes and a strong sense of responsibility. Instead of heading down an ever spiralling self-destructive path, he is now preparing for college.