Mothers of children with Attention Deficit Disorder must inevitably make decisions regarding their children's diagnosis within a context of competing discourses about the nature of the disorder and the legitimacy of its treatment. They also make these decisions within an overriding climate of mother-blame. Claudia Malacrida's Cold Comfort provides a contextualized study of how mothers negotiate with/against the 'helping professions' over assessment and treatment for their AD(H)D children.
Malacrida counters current conceptions about mothers of AD(H)D children (namely that mothers irresponsibly push for Ritalin to manage their children's behaviour) as well as professional assumptions of maternal pathology. This thought-provoking examination documents Malacrida's extensive interviews with mothers of affected children in both Canada and the United Kingdom, and details the way in which these women speak of their experiences. Malacrida compares their narratives to national discourses and practices, placing the complex mother-child and mother-professional relations at the centre of her critical inquiry.
Drawing on both poststructural discourse analysis and feminist standpoint theory, Malacrida makes a critical contribution to qualitative methodologies by developing a feminist discursive ethnography of the construction of AD(H)D in two divergent cultures. On a more personal level, she offers readers a moving, nuanced, and satisfying examination of real women and children facing both public and private challenges linked to AD(H)D.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references (p. [281]-293) and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 362.1/968589/00942
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 21
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn---
- ISBN
- 0802087523 9781442673038
- LCCN
- RJ506.H9
- LCCN Item number
- M34 2003eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (x, 304 p. : forms)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00600949 (OCoLC)752417811 (CaOOCEL)418441
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- CONTENTS 8
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 10
- Prologue 14
- 1 Why Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder, Why Mothers? 24
- 2 Methodology 55
- 3 British and Canadian Con(text)ual Spaces 76
- 4 Mothers Talk about the Early Years 114
- 5 Ideals and Actualities in Identification and Assessment 151
- 6 Challenges and Conflicts in Treating AD(H)D 192
- 7 Resistance, Risk, and the Chimera of Choice 226
- Conclusion 254
- Epilogue 264
- APPENDIXES 270
- 1 ICD-10 (1993) Diagnostic Criteria for Research 270
- 2 DSM IV (1994) Criteria for AD(H)D 273
- 3 Brief Biographical Details of Participants 275
- 4 Interview Guide 285
- 5 List of Textual Materials Examined 288
- 6 Sample Parent Assessment Observation Checklists 289
- REFERENCES 292
- INDEX 306
- A 306
- B 307
- C 307
- D 308
- E 308
- F 309
- G 309
- H 310
- I 310
- K 311
- L 311
- M 311
- N 312
- O 312
- P 312
- R 312
- S 314
- T 314
- U 315
- V 315
- W 315
