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Living Labels: An intergenerational examination of the impacts of parenting with ADHD Sarah J. Duncan St. Francis Xavier University Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is now considered a learning disability and is perhaps one of the fastest growing diagnoses in North America. While originally thought to be a behavioural problem children would grow out of, it is now well-accepted as a lifelong condition affecting many adults throughout their lives. This makes ADHD a major factor in Adult Learning today. As an adult living with ADHD and a parent educator, it is of great interest to me to examine how this situation affects the way parents raise their children. Parenting is now seen as the hardest job we’ll ever have, and one which comes with little to no preparation. Adults living with any kind of disability take on this role with even greater obstacles and burdens facing them and their families. In the case of ADHD, an invisible and sometimes undiagnosed condition, parenting becomes even harder since many of the behaviours we, as a society, value are the very behaviours ADHD parents often struggle to perform and model for their children. Children learn many important behaviours through observation and modeling. When a parent cannot adequately perform behaviours and tasks such as focusing, cleaning, follow through, exhibiting tact, etc, the child may not learn them sufficiently. Many of these skills are considered essential for success in our culture. Compounding this challenge is the fact that ADHD often runs in families, and the children may themselves be living with ADHD. The history and pathology of ADHD is far too complex to discuss in detail, though a brief overview will be provided. This paper looks at the impacts ADHD has had on one family where at least four generations have displayed the characteristic behaviours of the disorder. At each stage the parent and child struggled, living under the labels common to that era. Generation #1 – My Grandmother was “pixilated” Generation #2 – My Father was “different” Generation #3 – Me, I’m just “lazy” Generation #4 – My son has a “disability”? The presentation will provide highlights of the behaviours displayed within this family structure as they impact on the parenting role. Diagnosis happened for this family in 2000 when Generation #2 was already 70 years of age. The legacy of ADHD as a factor in parenting strategies will be the focus of the presentation, and most importantly the paper will attempt to investigate the ways in which the legacy may be different now for the 4th and future generations given parent awareness and education initiatives. Sarah J. Duncan, BA, M.Ed. St. Francis Xavier University 244 Spencley’s Lane Peterborough, ON Canada K9H 1R9 705-749-1459 sarahduncan@cogeco.ca About Sarah Duncan Sarah Duncan is a self-directed Masters of Adult Education candidate through St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. For over 15 yrs, Ms. Duncan has worked in the educational field as an editor, producer of multimedia CD-ROMS, Learning Designer and, most recently, Community College Professor. She possesses a Masters of Education in Curriculum Design from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.In addition to her M.Ad.Ed. studies, she is pursuing training to become a Parent Coach. Ms. Duncan lives and teaches in Peterborough Ontario where she parents her two young sons.
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