I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, and as far as I remember back then kids who would now be classed as ADHD would have been called "poorly parented", "antisocial", or even just plain "bad".
In the 1960s every child was *expected* to sit quietly and do as the teacher told them to. I cannot remember seeing any child being permitted to get away with behaviour that disrupted the classroom - I know I was caned for speaking when the principal was in the classroom.
I certainly don't remember hearing anything about ADHD until I was already a parent - in the 1980s, and even then it was initially considered a parenting issue rather than a medicable/treatable illness.
Things might have been different in the USA, but certainly where I grew up there was no overt medicating of hyperactive children, and certainly no over-diagnosis for those who were gifted. I was considered gifted myself at school and the only "treatment" proposed was to allow me to skip the 8th and 9th grades in order to study language at a more suitable level at an alternative school. My parents didn't permit this and I continued to attend the local highschool.
In the 1960s every child was *expected* to sit quietly and do as the teacher told them to. I cannot remember seeing any child being permitted to get away with behaviour that disrupted the classroom - I know I was caned for speaking when the principal was in the classroom.
I certainly don't remember hearing anything about ADHD until I was already a parent - in the 1980s, and even then it was initially considered a parenting issue rather than a medicable/treatable illness.
Things might have been different in the USA, but certainly where I grew up there was no overt medicating of hyperactive children, and certainly no over-diagnosis for those who were gifted. I was considered gifted myself at school and the only "treatment" proposed was to allow me to skip the 8th and 9th grades in order to study language at a more suitable level at an alternative school. My parents didn't permit this and I continued to attend the local highschool.
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