I think kids (usually boys) with behavioral problems getting misdiagnosed with ADHD is more due to the conformist structure of our godawful school system than d

I think kids (usually boys) with behavioral problems getting misdiagnosed with ADHD is more due to the conformist structure of our godawful school system than delusional parents. Parents want the best for their kids, and if the child is underperforming by the metrics of grades, focus and class participation, then naturally they will want to figure out how to compensate. The answer could be tutoring, better impulse control, change of diet or (gee!) learning environment, or the introduction of a psychiatric evaluation, and sometimes the last option is considered first. I was actually diagnosed with ADD when I was in second grade. My mom refused to acknowledge the diagnosis, claiming it was bunk and that it was the Montessori school's ability to run a classroom that was lacking, not my ability to focus. She reasoned that I could draw for four hours straight, so I must not have ADD. (This was back when all studies on ADD were on boys with hyperactivity as the main criteria - "hyperfocus" and "low arousal theory" were barely off the ground then.) My mom moved me to a public school and, wonder of wonders, the focused group environment of second and third grade was much more engaging for me. Then I got to the more rigid structure (separate desks, "all eyes on the blackboard" style classroom) and I started to slip. My mom made a little sign for my desk that said "PAY ATTENTION," as if that was going to magically snap me out of my daydreams. My poor performance continued all the way till high school - every report card insisted that I was bright, but not trying hard enough. Finally, when I got to high school, the challenges of AP classes and college prep got me motivated and goal-oriented. But once I was at college, all my old problems came back. It was like I was back at Montessori, totally lost and dazed and losing credits. Then I got RE-diagnosed with ADD, started medication and group therapy, and voila! I graduated. Had I tried medication in middle school and high school, who knows what I might have been capable of. For every diagnosis that you may think is unnecessary, I guarantee you there are kids (mainly girls) out there who are humiliated constantly by their mysterious "laziness" and "flakiness" who suffer in silence and parents who are frustrated and sad for their kids' unexplained struggles. Had I known that there was truly something about the way my brain worked that gave me these challenges, I wouldn't have gone through the shameful years that I hated myself for trying twice as hard as anyone else to do half as much as they could do without trying. The problem isn't cut and dried and your insistence on belittling the choices of well-meaning parents undermines those of us who are fighting to be understood. tl;dr - "ADD doesn't exist" isn't helping.