ADHD Drugs Don't Boost Kids' Grades

Wall Street Journal ^ | July 8, 2013 | SHIRLEY S. WANG

[Tired of Taxes]

I am very sorry for your loss.

ADHD/ADD are now considered to be on the same spectrom as autism, which the most severe cases of autism have skyrocketed

I know many kids diagnosed with being on the "autistic spectrum." My personal opinion is that the numbers have increased because, in some cases, parents, teachers, and doctors have gotten better at recognizing autism, and in other cases, they're looking a bit too closely and over-diagnosing. JMHO.

The point I was making about ADHD is: ADHD is an easy label slapped onto so many children (and adults) today, ignoring all other possible explanations. Your example - Fetal Alcohol Syndrome - is a real diagnosis. Whereas ADHD is just a collection of symptoms. It doesn't tell us what's causing the symptoms. That's my beef with it.

I do have personal experience with this issue. I just have a different opinion. I worried and worried and worried about one of my children, especially when he was little. Then I read Thomas Armstrong's book, "Myth of the ADHD Child." And, later, I attended a seminar on learning patterns, and the researcher told me that kids with different learning patterns tend to be slapped with the ADHD label.

That doesn't mean that some kids don't have real issues that need to be addressed, maybe even with medication. But such a great number of kids are diagnosed with ADHD and medicated today that the whole system seems suspect.

BTW, this particular child always was a nice boy, and he has grown into a nice young man who has empathy for other people. He might not always know what to say in social situations, but, if you want something done, HE is the kid to ask: Zip-zip-zip. Job done. "Will someone take out the trash?" Done. "Will someone pick up that - " Done. Boundless energy that most people wish they had. I've come to see that he's really not moving too fast. If he seems impatient and fidgety, it's because the rest of us are moving too slowly. ;-)

[Right Wing Assault]

Why do you assume that everyone who disagrees with you has no knowledge?

I was saying that very thing about you when I sent you to read other posts, particularly, #31.

[ottbmare]

You don’t appreciate the anecdotes of your fellow Freepers, people who have first-hand knowledge of the efficacy of ADD/ADHD medications. You dismiss the formal medical knowledge of others. You reject the personal accounts of people who actually suffer from ADD or ADHD themselves. We would all love to know what information you have used to formulate your strong opinions. Do you have medical credentials? Have you taken part in clinical or statistical medical pharmacology research? Can you produce a suicide note from a child who had ADHD and ascribed his death to his drugs? Have you personally taken these drugs or administered them to a family member in correct dosages? Have you any training in special education? What experience, exactly, makes you write that these drugs are “poison”?

Because if you can’t cite some reason for writing as you have done and rejecting both the scholarly literature and the real-life experience of others, your views don’t seem to have much foundation in reality.

[grania]

I know of THREE people who killed themselves when that crap messed up their minds. There have been many reports that those mass-murderers of recent years were at some point involved with mind-altering legal drugs. I've seen kids in classes who were like zombies while doctors will still trying to adjust their prescriptions.

Think of the eccentricies of the very intelligent kids when you were growing up. Think how many of them did not adapt to classrooms. For example, a tour of Thomas Edison's house includes information that he was so misbehaved probably ADHD, that he couldn't go to school...you want to drug such brilliance away?

We just don't agree.