The Story of Fidgity Phillip by Heinrich Hoffman

The very first written description of ADHD was in 1845 by a German psychiatrist, Dr. Heinrich Hoffman. His description was not in a medical journal or paper, but rather in a book of children's poems. Unable to find any suitable books to read to his four year-old son, he wrote and illustrated a series of poems for children, entitled Struwwelpeter. Included in this series was the following:

"Let me see if Philip can
Be a little gentleman;
Let me see if he is able
To sit still for once at table:"
Thus Papa bade Phil behave;
And Mamma looked very grave.
But fidgety Phil,
He won't sit still;
He wriggles,
And giggles,
And then, I declare,
Swings backwards and forwards,
And tilts up his chair,
Just like any rocking-horse-
"Philip! I am getting cross!"

See the naughty, restless child
Growing still more rude and wild,
Till his chair falls over quite.
Philip screams with all his might,
Catches at the cloth, but then
That makes matters worse again.
Down upon the ground they fall,
Glasses, plates, knives, forks, and all.
How Mamma did fret and frown,
When she saw them tumbling down!
And Papa made such a face!
Philip is in sad disgrace.

Where is Philip, where is he?
Fairly covered up you see!
Cloth and all are lying on him;
He has pulled down all upon him.
What a terrible to-do!
Dishes, glasses, snapped in two!
Here a knife, and there a fork!
Philip, this is cruel work.
Table all so bare, and ah!
Poor Papa, and poor Mamma
Look quire cross, and wonder how
They shall have their dinner now.

So........there you have a perfect description of what we now know as ADHD--in 1845. Dr. Hoffman thought the problem was poor behavior, rather than a condition he inherited from his parents. In 1902, Sir George F. Still published a series of lectures to the Royal College of Physicians in England, in which he described a group of impulsive kids with behavioral problems. He suggested that the cause was genetic, not poor child rearing.

His lectures and papers started an avalanche of studies and papers on ADHD, providing information on the symptoms, diagnosis, cause, and treatments.

If you have any comments of ideas of things that would really help you, email me at:

DrJerry@ADHDStrategies.com

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Jerry Rodgers, M.D.