Neal Boortz and ADD

www.boortz.com ^ | various | Neal Boortz

[Houmatt]

The following are short pieces recently written by Neal Boortz regarding Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, appearing in Neal's Nuze:

DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO THIS. JUST KEEP DRUGGING YOUR KIDS.

More and more medical and psychological professionals are speaking out against this phony disease of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dr. Bob Jacobs, a psychologist, is on the advisory board of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. He recently told a conference in Australia that ADHD is a behavioral problem, not a medical disorder. He correctly points out that there is no proof that ADHD exists.

Jacobs notes that many children who are “diagnosed” with ADHD – children who it is said can’t pay attention – are perfectly capable of sitting still with a video game and paying rapt attention for hours on end. He also points out that when parents pay attention and change the way they are treating and handling their children, the ADHD symptoms go away. “A real diseas doesn’t go away when somebody else does something.”

I just love it that this debate is surfacing again. Sure, Ritalin works. It’s a drug, of course it’s going to have an affect on children. It makes them more docile and compliant. Take that word “compliant” and put it next to “government.” Would anyone argue that government doesn’t just love a compliant citizen? Then why wouldn’t a government school teacher love a docile and compliant child? It sure makes their job easier, doesn’t it?

In 2001 U.S. drug companies made more than $600 million profit in ADHD drugs like Ritalin. If ADHD goes away … so do those profits.

It’s time for you parents and teachers to stop looking for the easy way out here. Your easy way out is a potential disaster for your child.

I’M STILL HERE …

The controversy over my comments on ADD/ADHD continues. Station management continues to feel the effects of an organized campaign to have me either silenced or fired. Hey, I don’t blame these people. If I was drugging my child for a non-existent disease I wouldn’t want anyone reminding me of my irresponsibility either.

Just to fuel the fire, here are some excerpts from letters and e-mail I’ve received in the last few days:

I am a Special Education teacher in Kansas --anti-NEA, extremely conservative: endangered species. Agree with you on ADHD. Problem - liberals insist all students with behavior problems have the right to disrupt the education of others, so meds used to control behaviors. In Kansas, ADHD students receive special education services under the label of Otherwise Health Impaired (OHI). Some of us know that OHI really stands for Otherwise HOME Impaired. Please do not use my name publicly -- retaliation from liberal dominated administration probable

Before you delete this please read on. I am ecstatic on your position on add and ADHD. I have a son that was so diagnosed, they, she who is always right, put him on Ritalin. it is a devastating drug, they are doped up and not themselves. Chris is adopted has a handicap and parents that care. i took on the problem, the problem was not a condition it was a matter of wills. i withdrew him from the medication and worked my ass off making the difference. Neal is right, get off the medication, instill confidence, give a damn about how they behave and stand firm. today my son has a 4.0 average in his junior year of high school and has been accepted to Penn State, will get a partial scholarship and is a GREAT KID. Not bad for someone the system wanted to put into a stupor. Dad's can make a difference, although you may not be the most popular guy around. God Bless

Man, when your right your right! The stories that I could tell you about my ex-wife and hooking my son on this drug since he was two are unbelievable. Parents and teachers are not alone in this. Doctors who are prescribing this and other mind altering drugs are the number one problem. My ex-wife found a doctor in Miami that did "testing" on my son only by giving him some blocks to assemble, and when my son started looking around instead of putting all of the blocks in place that was it, instant A.D.H.D. Oh yeah, this boy was not only A.D.D. He was hyper as well.(here's a clue HE'S TWO YEARS OLD!!) Needless to say this eventually lead to our divorce, but to make matters worse, there are judges out there who believe this crap also, so I did not get custody. He's now 15 and my Ex-wife and I have another court appointment to settle this issue.

AND NOW --- INTRODUCING YOU TO “ODD!”

This will be the next great fad disease for school age children. Oppositional Defiance Disorder. The “ODD child” is a child that gets angry or frustrated and defies authority. In other words … a child. He argues with adults, he loses his temper, he has a negative attitude, he blames others for his mistakes. Teachers.net has a chatboard discussing this grand new disease. One post by a teacher says: “Today was a really bad day. I have been teaching grade seven for four years and today was the first time I was called a "Whore," by a kid who has Oppositional Defiance Disorder.”

Stand by folks, this is soon going to become a full-fledged disease and some drug company is going to develop some mind-altering drug that will make these kids compliant and passive. Oh man, are the parents going to love this one. Here’s a link on this new fad-disease so you can start getting your excuses ready. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/9346/odd.html

http://www.4troubledteens.com/odd.html

ADEQUATE DICIPLINE DEFICIENCY

There’s been quite a firestorm of controversy on the show since I started talking about the various experts who are debunking the ADD/ADHD craze. We had Dr. Bob Jackobs, a psychologist, telling a youth conference in Queensland, Australia that there has never been any proof that ADHD exists. Then there was neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman Jr. who, in a 1998 letter to Attorney General Janet Reno called ADHD “the single biggest health care fraud in U.S. history.” This has all been very unsettling to parents who have decided that drugging is certainly easier than parenting when it comes to controlling the behavior of their children. These parents really know that ADD stands for “Adequate Dicipline Deficiency.”

But, alas! There are many parents out there who have been unable to find a doctor or a shrink who will write that invaluable Ritalin prescription. Wow! You poor saps have actually had to deal with your children being … children!

Well, maybe there’s hope. There’s a new disease on the horizon out there. It’s called ODD! Oppositional Defiance Disorder? With any luck, your child may have this nifty new disease! As a public service, here is some help diagnosing your very own child to see if they might have ODD! The symptoms are:

Arguing with adults. Losing temper. Angry or resentful of others. Actively defies adult’s request or rules. Negative attitude Blames others for their own mistakes misbehavior Seems touchy or easily annoyed by others Deliberately annoys others Acts spiteful or vindictive. The psychiatrists are telling us that if your child displays four or more of the above traits … you may be a winner! You may have a child with ODD! Now you don’t have to feel so left out when the neighborhood moms get together to discuss their children’s afflictions. Looking at that list again, I would suggest that if your child doesn’t display at least four of those traits, he’s probably in a coma on a respirator.

Now … the really good news! The Psychiatric Alliance of the Blue Ridge is studying an “investigational medication” that may help children with ODD! So, in the very near future you may not only be able to discuss your child’s hideous new disease, you may actually be able to DRUG him!

[FourPeas]

A vast majority of schools just lump all this into "ADD/ADHD" without bothering to learn what the true issue is the cause.

While I'm not part of the ADD-doesn't-exist group, I certainly agree with you here. It's simply easier to drug children and keep them quiet.

[LizardQueen]

While I agree with you that good nutrition is important, is does not "cure" ADD/ADHD

I agree. But I also wonder how many cases of ADD are misdiagnosed and are actually nutritional issues. You never know until you try it, if it fixes it great, if not, then you go onto the next possible solution.

LQ

[Zavien Doombringer]

Been there, done that...actually just before you posted. I am calling her school in a few...the line was busy.

[Johnny Gage]

Sounds to me like you have a very bright and intelligent young lady. She's learned quickly the the "bad kids" get the rewards. It sounds like your typical liberal NEA driven school.

It could be nothing more than a case where she was bored because the class work was "underneath" her learning level.

Have you considered and smaller "charter school" or private school. Otherwise Homeschooling would be good to.

If you think there might be something else behind it, have an IQ test administered, and go from there to determine if there might be other underlying issues.

Dyslexia really doesn't manifest itself until about the 3rd grade. because it's at that point where the education system has completely shift from "pictures" to "words".

Hope this helps.

[thoughtomator]

If the cause is in fact information-based society, that strongly reinforces the idea that ADD is behavioral and not medical at its source.

[GovernmentShrinker]

From what I've read, SOME ADD kids do show dramatic improvement and even complete "cure" from dietary changes (though perhaps this is an indication that the cause of their symptoms wasn't really ADD in the first place). Other severely ADD kids have been completely "cured" when video games were eliminated from their lives. There seem to be a lot of variants of this condition, and maybe further research will show that they are really different conditions that happen to have similar symptoms. Interestingly, dietary hypersensitivities have been definitively conected with autistic spectrum disorders. Of course, no matter how dramatic the effect of changes in diet or video game habits, the underlying hypersensitivity reamins (at least until it is outgrown), so these measure are never properly classified as a "cure", any more than successful insulin use "cures" diabetes.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I think Neal is pointing out that the parents who are outraged by his comments, are those who are angered that anyone would intimate that they are knowingly drugging their children, instead of parenting them. The ones who have a clear conscience are not lashing out at him. Those parents who feel that they are guilty of SOMETHING are the ones that are screaming the loudest.

And, I was specifically commenting on my sister, and her child. Trust me, she is a terrible parent, and now has a terrible child to show for it. She should be proud.

[LizardQueen]

My grandmother told me that my father had "ants in his pants" in elementary school. Nowadays he probably would've been diagnosed as hyperactive.

Luckily he had a really tolerant teacher who would let him quietly pace in the back of the room during class, as long as he was quiet and didn't disturb the others. She taught, he paced (quietly) but got all his work done, the other kids sat, and he eventually outgrew it.

LQ

[who knows what evil?]

...if you want to try diet for your child I suggest the following: A good multivitamin, and a balance of nearly equal parts of protein, complex carbs and fat (good fat like olive and fish oil if you can get it into them. Stay away from the hydrogenated fats in chips etc.). Lay off the sugar and food with a lot of preservatives.

Hear, hear! The voice of reason has finally reared its head on this topic. Case study after case study, especially in Europe, have shown repeatedly that a CHANGE in diet will often "cure" children previously diagnosed with 'ADHD'. Ever wonder why people over fifty NEVER dealt with 'ADHD' when they were kids? We didn't have the plethora of sugar and caffeine-laced 'nutritional neutral' CRAP available to us that children have access to nowadays. (Sodas, chips, fast food, on and on...) Add to it the millions of lazy parents who find it more convenient to drag the kids off to McDonald's than it is to get fruits, nuts, and vegetables down their throat on a daily basis. Too tired after work, ladies? Then you were TOO BUSY to have kids in the first place. (No flames, please...I realize MOST people never consider the 'unintended consequences' of a trip to 'fifteen minute paradise' in their younger years...) LQ is dead on right...poor, and I mean POOR nutrition, is a significant part of the problem here. (Take a look around...look at all the obese children...can't burn off all the energy when you're all doped up while eating foods high in sugar, caffeine, and 'bad fats'.) Parents who have changed their children's diets have seen major changes in their behavior in as little as one week. Will changing their diet work in every instance? Who knows? But changing their diet is a hell of a lot safer than subjecting them to mind-altering chemicals whose long-term effects have yet to be proven.

[iranger]

As opposed to: "and looks like in capsule form, dark beige/brown... I give it to her every morning at 7:15 am..."

[Colonel Kangaroo]

"And, another thing....school (education?) is soooo boring to boys who have been programmed to expect change every 3 - 5 seconds (TV)......."

I'm begining to think television is the cause for a lot of problems for kids today. I think the best TV for children is no TV at all.

[Houmatt]

Michael Fumento is a fantastic researcher, even when I don't like the way he says things.

Yes, I agree, Fumento is a good researcher, but in this case he makes the fatal mistake of putting credence in the mental health profession, which every sensible, reasonable and rational person knows has a credibility factor of absolute zero.

Take the BS away, and Fumento does not have a case.

[clamper1797]

Having fought ADHD all my life .. (thru 5 college degrees) ... I will assure you ... it is real. It took YEARS of practice and still takes strong willed CONSTANT disipline to combat it even while performing my engineering duties. When ADHD is coupled with a Mensan level IQ it produces a double whammy that is very hard to control ...

Every point below is what really happens to someone who is ADHD .... The first problem is that the person with it does not realize that most everyone else does not have it. They think it is perfectly normal to feel the way they do and don't realize that they are acting/behaving differently than others.

Quite frankly it is CRUEL and DISPICABLE to expect a child to be able to control something that they feel is normal and especially to punish them for something that takes years to learn to control much less live with.

SHAME on those of you out there who feel that a good spanking is all that is needed to cure a child with ADHD. I'll bet you'd spank a one legged child for not running as fast as the others too.

This is from someone who's had to live with it all his life ... and my father NEVER spared the rod.

Points that are true ...

Whether or not it is a true disorder is uncertain; however, it is real.

ADD is probably over-diagnosed and can be used as an excuse for unacceptable behavior, but that doesn't discount its existence.

Many children with ADD are not behaviorial problems at all; they often tend to be daydreamers because they easily lose focus or easily become distracted.

While a person with ADD can easily lose focus, they also tend to hyper-focus on things they find highly stimulating. And they look for highly stimulating activities on which they can focus.

ADD is more often diagnosed in boys; however, my sons were never diagnosed with ADD, but both my daughters were. All attended a Christian school (and have since graduated). The youngest has ADHD.

Medication is just one way of handling ADD. Parents and teachers often know how to structure tasks that aid an ADD child (as well as non-ADD children)

Last ... but very important point ... poeple who don't believe ADHD is real ... don't know what the HELL the're talking about

[GovernmentShrinker]

No, not really. It reinforces the idea the natural condition of a large segment of the human population is ill-suited to the demands of modern society/economy. This doesn't mean that the condition isn't concretely physiological/neurological. Certain ethnic groups (including American Indians) are severely allergic to milk, and never had a problem with it until milk-drinking society intermingled with theirs, and milk-containing foods and beverages became widespread. Are they "sick"? Well they certainly get sick if they consume foods and beverages that have little or no ill effect on most people, but their condition is certainly physically real, not "behavioral".

[TC Rider]

I went to Sister school in the 1st and 2nd ('58-'59) grades and the 11th and 12th grades ('69-'70). I've got the scarred knuckles to prove it.

I feel like I still came out better than the zoners on Ritylin.

[Zavien Doombringer]

As opposed to: "and looks like in capsule form, dark beige/brown... I give it to her every morning at 7:15 am..."

You really need to lay off the drugs pal, you aren't making any sense.

[GovernmentShrinker]

ADD is more often diagnosed in boys

And so is autism, further supporting my amateur theory that real ADD is related to the autistic spectrum disorders (the reality of which no sane person is challenging).

[Zavien Doombringer]

As opposed to: "and looks like in capsule form, dark beige/brown... I give it to her every morning at 7:15 am..."

You really need to lay off the drugs pal, you aren't making any sense.

[thoughtomator]

Where is the proof of now-or-never learning milestones? And how can one say that all human beings will have the same milestones? It seems to me that this is a very flimsy basis on which to be arguing for altering the brain chemistry of children.

The truth is we really don't have very solid knowledge of what these drugs do to children in either the short or the long term. We can study symptoms, but we don't know enough about the human brain to claim even a reasonable certainty as to what we are doing to these children. The child-druggers are consumed with hubris, playing God, and failing to practice responsible medicine or child care. Any reasonable person would take all other possible measures to correct a problem before resorting to this - and that diligence is simply absent, there isn't even a pretense of having the child's interests in mind.

Call me an extremist, so be it. Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice!

[technochick99]

But as I said in another post, just because Ritalin is overused does not mean that the illness does not. Again - what about adult sufferers of ADHD?

This is a very real condition. To say that mental health professionals have no credibility is naive. Do you think there is no such thing as mental illness?