[FreeRadical]

Putting this up asap to avoid double post, back in 10 with crosslinks to related material.....

[thoughtomator]

Count me in among the concerned. Kids being force-fed something an adult could spend years in jail for unlawfully possessing... there is something wrong with this picture, and it's not a healthy sign.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Well, I was a 'hyperactive' kid, inattentive, unruly, non-compliant, etc... and I never had to take any pharmaceuticals to change my behavior - and yet, now I am a responsible, well-adjusted adult... ;0)

[HEY4QDEMS]

I like Red Foremans cure for ADHD "A foot up your ass!!!"

[FreeRadical]

Here's a little more info:
CNSNews Commentary: Drugging our Children to Death
CNSNews Reporting: Federal Gov Sets up National Center on ADHD

FreeRepublic, related article from Australia:
ADHD just 'bad behaviour': US expert (drug company fraud?)
FreeRepublic, related article from Washington Times, Feb. 2003:
Research Questions Ritalin Use

[Zipporah]

I work with kids at 45 different school locations and I can tell you .. the number of kids that are medicated is astounding.. mainly boys. There are so many children that have a terrible time controlling behavior.. When we address behavioral issues with some of the parents .. they tend to say in the presence of their children, that they can't help it.. that either they are on new meds.. they forgot their meds or we should excuse their poor behavior because they are ADHD and that it's part of their 'diagnosis'.. kids are given a pass..

One additional thing, if these kids are diagnosed as ADHD ..they are classified as special needs.. the schools received additional funding for special needs kids and it is in the best interest of the schools to have special needs kids identified.

[Humidston]

Sometimes where parents made changes in the way they were doing things, the symptoms would go away.

DUH! Parents today are just weenies - trying to "befriend" their darlings and afraid to be parents!

My son was hyper growing up. He was dealt with consistantly and evenly. When he got "wound up" I made sure he did a few laps up and down our street to burn off his excess energy and it always worked.

He also learned the value of discipline. He's a fine adult today and a great parent.

[Lazamataz]

I have ADD. I know it exists.

[Lazamataz]

What were we talking about?

[Lil'freeper]

According to Baughman, 500,000 children were diagnosed ADHD in 1985 and between 5 and 7 million were today.

That many diagnoses in one day? Good grief!

[Noahs Rook]

My stepson has been diagnosed with ADHD. One interesting bit of info: Once something has his attention, he only focuses on that one thing...everything else is blocked-out completely.
I watched as he walked home from the bus stop after school, and saw that a fly captured his attention...he followed it out into oncoming traffic trying to swat at it. That's just one danger of this "disorder". This helped us decide, with the advice of his doctor, that medications pose the lesser risk.
Now, I'm not an advocate for medicating kids to make life easier on teachers or parents. But in my boy's (Bughunter)case, medications are working--for him.

rook

[PISANO]

Our society has excused virtually all bad behaviour as some sort of malady that requires medication, understanding and out right acceptance.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

It exists.

Unfortunately however, the lack of (ADHD-related) knowledge on the part of many parents, who in turn could educate others as well as ensure that their children were receiving whatever help they needed; and medication is not typically recommended as the first line of treatment, nor is it EVER supposed to be used as the only treatment; and WHY they need it, helps promote the 'stigma' often surrounding the issue.

[Johnny Gage]

stress management, identification of "triggers" of the symptoms....

From personal experience, I can tell you that the various forms of Dyslexia can mimick ADD/ADHD as well.

When a child with Dyslexia suffers "disorientation" they often exhibit lack of attentiveness...day dreaming.. pencil tapping, etc.

For more links you can check out my profile page for information on Dyslexia, as well as info on the possible link between Sleep Apnea and ADD behavior as well.

[John Lenin]

How about the link of Ritalin use to high school massacres ? The kid in San Diego who shot a few kids was taking Ritalin and I thought I read an article that linked a couple of other shootings to Ritalin use.

[Lady Eileen]

bump

[longtermmemmory]

I would love to learn more about this in order to start a class action case against schools and school boards that allow this. This medicating of children only demonstrates the ignorance of teachers. The result would be hopefully constructive and better schools and fewer teachers playing doctor.

[SoftballMominVA]

My 16 year old daughter was diagnosed with ADHD about 10 years ago. She has taken some combination of medication for that time. Ritalin was not successful, but Adderal was (it is a combination of Ritalin and dexadrine I think) She is an unusual mixture of ADHD, gifted in Language Arts, Learning Disabled in math, and gifted in Art.Plus ADHD girls are uncommon.

In her own words, ADHD medication is a blessing and a curse. It helps her focus in math, but dampens her creativity in English and art. Her school has bent over backwards to accomodate her schedule. She takes a short acting adderal in the AM, does math, and by the time it wears off, it's time for Art and then English.

She has discussed with her doctor possibly discontinuing her meds next year in school--a decision I support, not because I want her off meds but because I want her in control.

I agree that I have heard of instances where it appears that meds are overused, but in her case, ADHD is real and the medication allows her to acheive closer to her potential.

[G Larry]

Maybe if more parents were home to do a little "PARENTING" they could apply a little more traditional and effective form of behavior modification?

(save the med's for the nosey social services staff who believe "discipline" is a vulgar concept)

[FourPeas]

Recently I've had to face my skepticism about ADD/ADHD. After visiting his physician reporting difficulty concentrating, my husband was written a prescription for adderall. He frequently studies for and takes technical tests for his job. His performance was suffering. At his physician's appointment, his doctor asked questions: do you have a number of unfinished projects at home? (he has many, many of them); had he recently changed his intake of caffein (he'd removed it completely several months before). Perhaps it's only a "placebo effect", but my husband now reports that he's again able to get his work done.

At our five year-old son's check-up several weeks ago, I barely got my concern about his behaviour out of my mouth before my doctor concurred. It was apparent he's noticed the difference. There's definitely something different about my son. I'm a stay-at-home mom, a strict discliplinarian; my husband holds a regular job; we homeschool, regularly attend church. Although *I* choose not to medicate our son, I can certainly understand why people would do it. I have always, ALWAYS, been almost violently opposed to it but am now finding myself reconsidering. Due to his impulsiveness, my five year-old is having difficulties making friends. For me, it's a nearly impossible call, and much to my dislike, it exists. Call it ADD/ADHD or whatever, there's something different about my son.

[Redwood71]

My wife and I parented two with ADHD. Both were placed in hospital confinement along the way, daughter for 6 months and my son for two years. Both now are adults living normal healthy lives.

I believe one of the problems is that a lot of people do not understand what the illness is. In basics, it is the attempt of the body to go to sleep and the efforts of the mind to keep it awake. This causes a comflict that the mind wins by pumping adreneline into the body, thus creating a time bomb inside the child that cannot understand what is happening and does not have the adult skills of its recognition. This is why an adhd child gets uppers. So the body won't try to go to sleep, and the mind will not fill it with human made speed.

During these conflicts, the child hears, sees, and feels everything in a massive, mismash of sound and movement. Everything hits the child all at once, and forces outbursts. Some yell, some are violent, there are many reactions. This is what makes the illness so elusive. There are no solid consistent reactions. Every child is different.

I know this because there is evidense that adhd is hereditary. I know. I had it. In my day it was just called hyper and we were punished for misbehavior. We've come a long way with behavioral mod, and medication. I wish people would do a little research and they would find that this illness can be handled, if caught early, treated, and followed up.

BTW, parents, lots of luck. It will be a lot of tears, and takes a lot of self control and patience. But with the new treatments and drugs moving away from things like Melaril: which when used can makes kids act like zombies, novane: which can lock up muscles throughout the body, and all the other archaic bombshells, things are looking up. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. And please try to find it in your heart not to clobber me for my spelling. A lot of these drugs are in latin and I find plain old english a challenge on occasion.