One In Five Boys Take Ritalin--This Isn't True, Is It?

Factual Questions
1

The other day on a talk show (I know, the best source of information), an “expert” claimed that one out of five boys take Ritalin. I guess she meant one out of five adolescent or pre-adolescent boys who attend school.

I know Ritalin is a very popular drug and that a lot of people think it’s over-prescribed, but still . . . one out of five? That seems like an awfully big number. Except for medicines like apirin or something, I doubt that any drug is taken by one in five school boys.

I’m having trouble finding a good source of statistics on this. Is there anybody here who can confirm or deny this statement?

For the record, the person who made this claim was on a panel of parents and various “experts” on kids, drugs, and ADD/ADHD. I have no idea what kind of credentials these people had.

2

The sites below say around 3% of students overall which would possibly translate to 6-9% of white boys in that girls and minorities (according to the studies) are prescribed Ritilin much less frequently than white males.

Ritalin patterns tracked - Prescription rates vary across country

Ritalin (Methylphenidate) Use Lowest For Minorities, Highest For Special Education

This Doctor cites rates as high as 20% for certain ages in certain districts. So yes it might be as high as 20% in certain circumstances, but not nationwide. Still a scary statistic no matter how you cut it.

3

Wow.

That’s some disturbing stuff (to me anyway).

And thanks for the links, astro!

4

This medication of children has got to stop. ADD is an amorphous thing, and its being used as a cover to dope up any kid who shows any spark, personality or energy. It’s vulgar that schools are pushing this garbage on kids.

Every passing day, I’m more and more glad that I just threw that junk away rather than take it.

5

While I agree that there are far, far, too many kids out there who are being slapped with the ADD/ADHD label, and given medicine for no good reason, that does not mean that there aren’t cases where it is in the child’s best interest.

My son has been hyper his entire life of 7 years. He had some behavioral issues in pre-school, but they weren’t too bad. They exploded in Kindergaten. At the time my son was at a very small private school, and my ex-husband was certain that the problem was with the staff’s misunderstanding of our son, rather than our son, himself, so nothing was done. Last year, he moved to public school for first grade, and his behavioral problems escalated to a level where he was nearing expulsion(in 1st grade). Now, he is not a bad kid, but he was completely unable to control his compulsions, and acted accordingly, acting out on every whim. We had started him in counseling last spring, with small success, at first, but by 3 weeks ago, he was absolutely, and completely out of control. Now, I know that you do not know me, my ex-husband, or my son, but believe me when I say that it was not a matter of a lack of discipline at home. Finding appropriate, and consistant means for it was the very first thing that we did, in order to help our son.

In the end, we made the decision, nearly 2 years after the initial indicator of a true disruption(verus him just being highly active, as he had always been), to try medication. We did not jump the gun at the first suggestion that our son might be ADD/ADHD, and the goal of giving the medication is not to dope him up, and it doesn’t. He’s been on Adderall for 2 1/2 weeks now, and the improvement in his behavior is astounding. He is now able to think ahead, and process the possible ramifications of certain actions, and make thought out decisions, rather than just simply doing them out of impulse. He still doesn’t always make the right decision, but he’s a lot less apt to do so out of compulsion. He is no less himself, than he ever was, as far as how he thinks, what he likes, etc. He pursues the same interests as he did before, his sense of humor hasn’t changed, and he is not, in any way, shape, or form, doped up, he just takes longer to make more informed decision, and is able to stay on task for longer periods of time. It has been an incredibly positive experience.

As for schools, they are in no way “pushing this garbage on kids”, as schools are not physician’s, and cannot prescribe medication, or distribute medication without a doctor’s prescription. Nor can they take a child to a doctor to have a script written. It is the parents who are making the decision to have their child seen, and to fill,and administer, the medication to their child(ren). In my son’s case, we were in very close contact with his school’s principal throughout all of the last school year, especially in the last month, as our son is also gifted, and we’re trying to make the best decision for his placement for next year, and also to get an IEP set up, for his benefit. When I told the principal that we had finally made the decision to try medication, he immediately responded that he is not an advocate of medicating children for ADD/ADHD in the slightest, but that he had seen some cases in which it truly was a benefit. I think that he would agree that my son falls into that catagory.

~V

6

I have no issue with your personal observations re the appropriateness of your decision to medicate your son, but in the above cited statement you are completely and utterly incorrect insofar as the process of how Ritilan (and drugs in it’s class) are usually promoted by school districts. Let me give you a concrete example of how the process works because I was in the middle of it several years ago.

My daughter had significant attention problems and some inappropriate behaviors that were brought to our attention by her teachers. One teacher (with the best of intentions) took the trouble to give us reams of literature on ADD/ADHD and told us that, in her opinion, our daughter hit 9 out 10 parameters for ADD and suggested we have her tested. We had her tested and the Psychiatrist told us she was an 11 out of 10 and needed to be medicated. We took her to the Pediatrician who prescribed Ritilan for her. She had a very adverse reaction and we discontinued it immediately and just decided to work with her and hope that she would grow out of it, which she did in a year or two.

I have plenty of friends and acquaintances who have kids and grandkids on Ritilan and it’s cousins. In virtually every case it was the school that suggested ADD/ADHD as the main possibility. In virtually every case at the end of the referral process the child was diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and put on medication.

Now you are correct insofar as the school does not write out the scrip for the medication, but if the school authorities tell a frantic parent that Johnny is probably out or in Special Ed unless you begin the process to confirm a suspected ADD/ADHD diagnosis what is a normal, concerned parent going to do? Does this constitute “pushing Ritilan” on the slippery slope of semantics or benign guidance? Who knows, but when the process ends with the vast majority of the kids put down this path being medicated I don’t think the semantics matters. Schools are a huge
influence on what direction the parents will go in looking for solutions, and if Ritilan is a preferred solution for keeping kids quiet and on task that is where the kids will wind up.

BTW as a side note there is a flip side to the medical model of postive and caring attention you got for your child. I have leased commercial space to three medical groups over the last several years that dealt with “problem children” in one form or another and I have visited their offices several times over the term of the lease(s) regarding various issues and have gotten to know their office managers quite well. Make no mistake, in the vast majority of circumstances it is a pure numbers game in the end regarding the available time, attention and resources that parents, teachers and doctors have in dealing with children that aren’t tracking to specification or or being disruptive.

The mainly middle and lower middle class kids in these offices are queued up like paratroopers ready to jump for their 10-15 minutes with the doctor, who writes a prescription and are then shuttled to the nurse or assistant for follow up. I asked the regional manager of one of these groups that has four of these kinds of offices throughout the region (it’s a big business) why it was done this way and he was quite candid.

He said “Astro… we deal with middle and limited income people who have seriously mis-behaving children with serious issues. There are any one of a number of things we could do, but medication is the most affordable and most effective way to solve the problem quickly. Is it the best? Maybe not, but the other solutions are unavailable to our patients and their parents from a resource perspective so we do the best we can with drugs. That’s the way the world works son.”

7

Fortunately for people like me and many others (even as adults) Ritalin has been a miracle medication that has helped me in countless ways.

If you choose to debate the issue, take it to GD but I wont be there because I know what it has done for me and many other people with ADD/ADHD.

As for the OP, I don’t have any statistics to say whether or not that is true. I highly doubt that Ritalin is prescribed in 20% of the young male population, I would gather that maybe 10% is more like it.

8

When I was 8 years old (and that was 30 years ago!) I had a 2nd grade teacher who spent the entire school year trying to get my parents to put me on drugs because I was, in her opinion, hyperactive.

Her reasoning? I wanted to play tag with the boys during recess instead of playing hopscotch and other, more “ladylike” pursuits with the other girls. And I used to catch the boys while playing tag. And I raised my hand too often in class. And I did my assigned work too fast.

I don’t know where she got off thinking she could make such a diagnosis, much less insist on drugs, but apparently she pulled this stunt with anyone she considered a discipline problem or abnormal in any way (like wanting to play tag instead of marbles or something). When she couldn’t get through to my parents she tried to lean on the principal to get my parents to “see reason”.

Anyhow, while I fully agree that properly used medication is a godsend to those who truly have ADHD or related conditions, there is also an element out there who are entirely too eager to dope up kids. This is tragic for the kids who don’t need medication, but also for the kids who do because it causes people to doubt they have a “real problem” (they do) or hassle them for doing what they need to do to deal with their problem.

9

Disclaimer: IANAT, and this is not directed specifically at anyone who has psoted thus far - these are opinions I have heard./discussed with my mother and other teaching friends, and I just feel I need to stick up for them, because they work harder than some people think they do.

So…

Just to stick up a bit for the teachers - my mother is an elementary school teacher, in the past 25 years she has taught kindergarten, gr 1, and gr 2 at various points in her career. She is now teaching grade 2. Her response to people who accuse teachers of “pushing drugs” is to say that, unlike many parents, she sees these kids all day and has to deal with them in a much more controlled environment. She has 20+ (often 27 or 28) kids to look after for 6 hours out of the day, and she must teach them what parents DEMAND that schools teach (readin’ 'riting, 'rithmatic) while dealing with the children that do not stay seated, or that consistently steal other kids work or pencils, or erasers, or glue, or those who talk constantly, even 3 minutes after being told not to…etc. She, after many years of dealing with children, and after having 3 herself, has learned to recognise PROBABLE signs of ADD/ADHD, as well as just the kids who finish their work “too quickly” because they are smart enough and can get the work done quickly, but may be bored and looking for something to do afterwards. So, once the “probable” cases are identified, it is best to begin an early prevention or treatment program, otherwise there is a good chance that that child will be “left behind” in his/her schooling, and that is to be avoided as much as possible.

So my mother has suggested ritalin, or other courses of action for children in her classes. She has also followed up with the prescibing doctor, to notify them of any changes, and whether or not the treatment is working. She has also designed and employed independant educational plans for these children, as well as “gifted” ones, or those who are struggling more (she once had as many as 11 independent plans in a class of 24 (or more - I don’t remember her class load that year) kids).

So you can accuse her of “pushing drugs” as much as you like, but she is in a situation where she can see first hand how a child behaves, and how treatment might affect that behaviour. She has always waited and implemented her own learning plan first, to see if that could help, but sometimes, ritalin or something like it IS the best answer. And parents don’t, or won’t, always see that, because at home, when there are no “requirements” of sitting still, or being quiet, or of doing a particular task at a particular time, then the child might not be behaving any differently than any other “active” child.

I can understand how being told that a child needs ritalin is somewhat devastating to the parents, and I understand how its a bit of a scapegoat drug, and that parents might feel like the teacher is blaming bad behaviour on a non-existent disorder, but keep in mind the teacher’s everyday view of your child, and of other children, and take the time to inform yourselves about other children that teacher may have suggesed had ADD/ADHD - was it an accurate assessment? In a decent school, with decent teachers, youll find that quite often, it is.

10

I smell herring here. Red herring, to be precise. “Stimulant drugs” includes caffeine, which is probably present in one or more items of cafateria food. Chocolate milk, anyone? Coffee and tea at home, perhaps? The article quoted implies that these are stimulant drugs such as Ritalin, prescribed specifically for ADD/ADHD, but it doesn’t say so.

There’s a lot of misunderstanding about attention deficit disorder out there. Many people, for instance, think it means that the kid just wants to play video games all day, by which argument most school-aged children would be ADD. The daughter of a friend of mine is ADHD, and she can’t even concentrate on her video games. There is a real disorder here, but folks cry wolf too often to see it when it does show up.

11

Of course, Ritalin, as a variety of amphetamine, will not “dope up” any normal kid–it will hype the child. (When junior high kids on Ritalin ditch their own prescription to sell it to classmates, they sell it as a stimulant, not as a depressant.) The notion widely touted (by opponents) that Ritalin is massively overprescribed to create little zombies and automatons fails on this particular point.
(That is not to say that every prescription is appropriate or that no one has ever pushed the drug when it was not needed, but Ritalin simply does not damage “spark” or “personality” and it enhances “energy” so repeating that tale does nothing to advance the discussion.)

12

I still say that the majority of the “blame”, if you will, lays with the parents. If the school recommends to the parents that they have their child evaluated for ADD/ADHD, does it automatically mean that the parents of said child should ask “how high”? I don’t think so. It is up to the parent to decide if the suggestion is warranted, and to look into the issues themselves, and educate themselves about the potentials, so as to make the most informed decision, regarding the care of their child(ren). A parent who does that, is going to learn that there is a lot more to diagnosing ADD/ADHD than taking their child to the Pediatrician, and having them go through an oral check-list of potential symptoms. A course of action, that is taken in such cases, more times than not. Those lists are helpful, but they are very subjective, and not adequate diagnostic tools. We did go to our son’s Ped first, and fortunately, he was not one of the many who quickly slapped him with a label, and handed us a prescription. He recommended we take our son to a psychiatrist for testing, and the likes. We learned all that we could, and decided to try counseling, first. From there, when it became quite clear that a diagnosis needed to be done, we researched people in the field, and worked with our insurance to have our son evaluated by someone outside of the plan, who was not a psychiatrist(could not write us a prescription as soon as the dx was complete), but who was a psycho-educational specialist. This was, specifically, her job.

From my experience, all too often, it is the parents who are looking for a quick fix, “magic pill” to give to their child, to make them behave. It is, as previously posted, unfortunate for all kids involved, on both sides of the issue. There are far too many general practitioners willing to make a sloppy diagnosis, and hand over a prescription, pretty much sight unseen(as is illustrated well in Astro’s post above). I have had many conversations, with many parents, who, without having had their child seen, by even a GP, label their kids ADD/ADHD, and talk about the ins and outs of it all, based solely on going off of one of those check-lists, and self-diagnosing. Many of the kids involved in these cases, from what I could tell, were normal kids, with normal behavior for their age, and many times, lacking proper discipline from their parents.

I know that regulations vary greatly from region to region, school district, to school district, but perhaps the regulations in the district where my kids attend school is a new trend, that provides hope for helping to stamp out the number of kids who are placed in this catagory, and on medications, unneccesarily. At my first parent teacher conference last year, we discussed my son’s behaviors, and I brought up the possible ADD/ADHD issue with her. She informed me, at that point, that she was not, due to district regulations, able to make the recommendation to me, to have my son tested, let alone make the recommendation that he be placed on medicine. She was only able to bring the behaviors, and her concerns about them, to my attention, and allow me to decide what course of action, outside of what the school is able to do, myself. To say that I was pleased to hear that is an understatment. More districts need to enforce such policies, IMO.

As for the districts where such recommendations are allowed, I don’t have a big problem with suggesting to a parent that their child might be ADD/ADHD, if they have enough documented evidence to warrant it, but at that point it is, as it should be, left up to the parent. Going above and beyond that simple suggestion, and actively trying to push a parent to have their child treated, and worse, to go to the extreme of recommending medication, is completely wrong, IMO, and not anywhere in the teacher’s job description, as they are not doctors, and are not qualified to make such decisions.

~V

13

Now that’s the really scary statistic as far as I’m concerned. I have a difficult 2 yo, man he’s hard work. He is so much more of a handful than his two older brothers were, just on the go all time. I was over at the school with him the other day, when after seeing him for the first time (for about 30 seconds) one of the mothers said “He’s probably got ADHD, you should get him medicated” :eek: This is where my problem is, as has been stated by other posters, in using drugs as an easy and quick fix for behavioural problems. As far as the OP goes, I think that the statistics for Ritalin are a pretty rubbery set of numbers, with not only a big variation from state to state in the US, but an even bigger difference in rates of usage in the US as compared to other countries

14

whoops.
But whtever way you slice it, the trend is up

15

I would agree that prescribing Ritalin (or any speed) to children below five years of age is troubling–or, actually, scary. We certainly knew that my son was going to need some sort of intervention long before his fourth birthday, but we were not looking for a medical solution and no psych or med professional with whom we talked ever suggested it at that age. In fact, all of our contacts, and all the literature that I read, said that no diagnosis for ADD/ADHD was valid before the age of four because too many characteristics of Attention Deficit are the normal behavior for smaller children.

16

Just to provide a little more input on what schools do as far as “pushing drugs,” my wife is a teacher and she is not allowed to even so much as suggest that a child be put on Ritalin or any drug. The most she can do is suggest that the parents might want to have the child checked by a competent professional for signs of ADHD. That’s it. Obviously things are different all over.
RR

17

tomndebb–have you actually seen the effects of Ritalin on kids? My niece and nephew have both been on Ritalin for years, and they so, in fact, turn into “zombies” at times. Blank stares, will barely speak to you, etc. So while it is in fact a central nervous system stimulant, it often ultimately promotes a certain quietude and docility, like a depressant.

18

er… and they do

19

After reading this thread, I’m rather taken aback…

When I was a freshman in high school, I was failing three classes in the winter when I made the decision to get tested for ADD. For a while I knew it had been a possibility, but neither my school nor my parents ever pressed the issue.

My parents and I went to a child psychiatrist to get diagnosed, and she referred us to a pediatrician who specialized in ADD. He started me on Adderall (very similar to Ritalin, only steadier and longer lasting) very slowly…starting with 5mg for 3 days, then up to 10mg for 3 days, and so on…until I started to notice a change. I was more attentive, more concerned with organization, et cetera…and my grades soared.

What apparently is unusual about my situation, based on what I’ve seen from this thread, is that at no time did my elementary school, middle school, or high school recommend anything to me or my parents, or even suggest the possibility of ADD, even though I was a rather obvious case, when I think back on it. And though I would like to have been diagnosed sooner, I’m quite grateful that I never ran into a teacher who demanded I be put on a pill in response to my daydreaming and lack of organization.

For the most part, I had good teachers in elementary school, even some great teachers, who managed to work around my utter failure to turn in most assignments. They did so because they knew I was smart and liked how I participated in class, even though I was sometimes a discipline problem and I was horribly plagued by disorganization–I had to borrow a pen or pencil from someone every day. Not that I was given special treatment, but that they often found different assignments for me or got me involved in the work one way or another.

If a teacher suspects a child has ADD/ADHD (and teachers ought to be among the most well-acquainted with its symptoms, both with and without hyperactivity), then he/she is obligated to let the administration and the parents know of his/her suspicions. Nonetheless, past a certain point, the more involved a teacher is in this process, the more aggressively his/her suspicions are pursued, the more it reflects poorly on him/her as a teacher. The teacher has his/her place in the process, but at a certain point it’s a matter for the parents, the child, and a doctor–and only those three. The school has an obligation to teach all children, regardless of whether the disorder exists, or whether it goes treated or untreated; and teachers and principals have no right to mandate pharmaceuticals.

As far as the effects of Ritalin and Adderall…I’ve only taken Adderall, but it’s a stimulant just like Ritalin. Ritalin ought not increase or decrease energy per se–it just makes you more mentally alert, more sharp, perhaps. Those who become “zombies” probably aren’t getting enough sleep to begin with–as with any stimulant, it can affect your sleep patterns, and you really shouldn’t take it if you plan on going to sleep in the next few hours.

That having been said, medication isn’t for everyone…my pediatrician said that Adderall works in only 80% of cases. For those who don’t respond to stimulants there are antidepressant treatments for ADD, but generally (and rightly so) these are reserved for adults and teenagers. Just because the medication doesn’t work, however, doesn’t mean the child is misdiagnosed.

The only other thing I can address is the skepticism regarding ADD that I hear from a lot of people these days. You’re ABSOLUTELY right to be skeptical. I wish more people were skeptical about it–it’d lead to fewer diagnoses and a better overall opinion of those who truly have ADD. However, ADD does exist. Not to the extent that you might believe, considering the sheer volume of kids on stimulant-based drugs these days, but it does exist. I know, because I have it. Kids with ADD take Ritalin not because it makes things easier for them, not because they’ve simply got a short attention span–they take it because they can’t function without it. When you physically can’t pay attention to something, like homework, for more than a few minutes, then it’s a critical deficiency, and it ought to be treated as the disorder that it is.

20

By suggesting that the child be tested for signs of ADHD, she is effectively telling the parents that the kid needs drugs. Ritalin/Aderall are the only drugs commonly prescribed for those disorders.