[wintertime]

Some advice:

Run from any school official, social worker psychologist, or psychiatrist that is suggesting that your child have OCD. True OCD is a very incapacitating disease, and the medications used to treat this disorder are extremely powerful and debilitating themselves. Some can, and do, cause a weight gain of 50 or more pounds in adults. They blunt emotional expression and feeling, and dull intelligence and creativity. They are very hard on the liver, kidneys, and other vital organs, and the patient **must** be tested regularly for signs of damage.

Before starting on any of these programs hire a **private** reading tutor at a reputable tutoring center. Do this first. It would be cheaper than seeing psychiatrists and buying this awful medication.

If at all possible, remove your child from government or private school. This alone may cause an immediate improvement.

For those people with true OCD, the medications are literally life saving, and they do help these poor souls regain some normality to their lives. There is no way that I would give these drugs to a child with signs that "may not be strong".

[pollyannaish]

these poor souls

Sounds to me like you have made your mind up that folks who are imperfect or suffer from mental disease are somehow "less" than everyone else.

Is ADD it over diagnosed? YES. But is it real? Yes. Sometimes things just aren't black and white.