Does ADD or ADHD really exist?
Do you think our kids are being over diagnosed with this. Are parents using drugs as babysitters?
Yes, Yes, and No is the opinion of this non-medical bio major.
Yes it exists, I have personally worked with 2 children whom I would consider ADD because they could not focus on any one task long enough to complete it, and were constantly disruptive of both their own work and that of others. For the record this was a language development program that I proctored in my spare time, through which I have worked with about 20-30 children with various learning problems.
Yes it is being over diagnosed. At least 3 of the kids I worked with were diagnosed as ADD, yet they seemed normal, even bright for their age. Their diagnose, it appeared to me, was a way to explain how they fell behind a grade level in one area while performing on par to above average elsewhere.
No drugs cannot be used as babysitters, though I would not be surprised if a few criminally negligent parents tried. Even with a greatly increased attentions pan children will tend to get into trouble. Its what they’re good at.
And, ah, “WOOT! First post!!!1111”
And it appears I cannot correct my grevious spelling errors. I apologize.
Welcom meanshark and Daydreamer!
To the best of my knowledge, no school system can perscribe medication. I wasn’t even allowed to give my students asprin.
I don’t understand the motivation for blaming ADHD over-diagnosing on the school systems.
I’m a teacher. Yes, ADD exists. Poor discipline also exists. Children who have ADD can be helped by drugs that help them focus in class. Children who have simply not been taught appropriate behavior would be better served by being taught how to focus in class.
But I don’t agree with those who say ADD doesn’t exist just because some people don’t have it.
Several of the following threads included medical and psych information as well as actual discussions of the laws and how they are implemented:
Disruptive Students Discriminated Against 11-30-2001
childeren, ADHD and perscription drugs 12-13-2002
Should We Give Our Children Ridelin? 04-29-2003
Date: Thu May 22, 2003 10:21:21 AM
US/Eastern House Passes the Child Medication Safety Act!!!
In an absolutely overwhelming majority vote of 425 to one the House
yesterday passed the Child Medication Safety Act preventing school
personnel, who are not licensed to prescribe medication anyway, from forcing
children to take mind altering medication.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Congress-Child-Medication.html
I used to be a teacher, and I can tell you that contrary to some opinion, drugs are NOT the first thing suggested for kids with attention problems.
And it’s true that schools have no say in prescribing drugs for kids.
At my school the process went like this:
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Teacher observes MANY instances of poor attention, distractibility, etc.
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Teacher shares observations with parent.
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Teacher, and possibly parent too, do a “Connor’s Scale” evaluation on the kid. It’s basically a log of various behaviors. The parent was usually asked to do it in order to compare home vs. school behavior.
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If the Connor’s Scale comes up in the high range, a suggestion was made to the parent that the child be brought to a doctor for evaluation. In some cases where the behaviors were found to be extreme and/or very frequent this we suggested a pediatric neurologist.
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If the doctor saw fit, they might then recommend some sort of drug protocol.
I remember seeing a number of kids who it seemed were helped by a good drug regimen. Dosages were tricky, and it took time to get them right. It wasn’t for everyone, and I honestly believe the schools aren’t pushing for it until there is evidence, and other approaches have been shown not to work.
Count me as one of those who really doesn’t get why people are blaming schools and the teachers for overmedicating kids.
Yes, we want children to behave themselves in the classroom and allow themselves and others to learn. The best option for that is to have parents who teach their children discipline and provide a consistent, predictable set of consequences for their children’s behavior. If that’s not happening, then the child probably will portray some of the classic symptoms of ADD/ADHD, but medication isn’t going to help them. It’ll probably only make the kid worse.
Medication should only be for - and really only works on - children whose symptoms have been evaluated and diagnosed by a medical professional with training and experience in pediatric neurology and psychology. Teachers can assist this process by providing information to the parents and observations to the doctor. They do not determine whether a child is ADD/ADHD, nor should they.
I am certain that this is a true statement. But the truth of this statement does not always stop teachers from pushing to medicate kids. When my oldest daughter was in the 5th grade, she had a very substandard teacher who kept telling me that my daughter needed Ritalin. I told her that our pediatrician disagreed. She suggested we get another pediatrician!! Every time I had any conversation at all with this woman, she sounded like a freakin’ parrot: Your daughter needs Ritalin, your daughter needs Ritalin, Awwrk!
I suspect that this teacher is very much in a minority. However, it’s probably a minority that is vocal and obnoxious enough to give the impression that it’s the schools who are “overprescribing” a substance that they cannot legally prescribe at all.
Will this Bill do anything, or is this just a piece of “feel good” legislation?
Even in the rather egregious case that norinew described, the girl’s teacher wasn’t forcing her to take Ritalin, she was merely making a very strong suggestion. I don’t see how this Act would make anything illegal that wasn’t already illegal before.
In norinew’s story, though, it’s reasonable to assume that instead of working with the child, the teacher would fall back on the idea that child just wouldn’t do better until her stupid, stubborn mom found the right doctor and got those pills.
That’s a problem. At least norinew had the confidence in herself and her child to ignore the teacher. Plenty of parents don’t have the time or energy or wherewithal for that. The might have blamed the child for having an expensive problem, or blamed themselves for not having the insurance or money or time to deal with the problem. Either way, the end result is that because a teacher believes Ritalin is the only answer, a child is sidelined.
I think that happens a lot and I think it’s a problem. Especially for boys, who are being put in special ed in record numbers.
** meanshark** - perhaps you should have soften the exaggeration in your OP with some qualifying language. If I understand, you’re really wondering how and to what extent recent information about ADD and other disorders enable public schools to look to drugs instead of teaching to solve problems.
You might want to peruse this nice teacher-lady’s blog: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig3/taylor2.html
You’re absolutely right. That particular teacher wouldn’t give an inch, and made it crystal clear that she’d become much more cooperative, if I’d give in to pressure to medicate my child. I worked hard with my daughter to bring up her grades. Over the course of one marking period, we brought her grades up from all D’s with one C and one F to all C’s with one B. When she showed the report card to her teacher as evidence that she could do better without meds, her teacher remarked “That report card is not good enough to be bragging about!”