Neal Boortz and ADD

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

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.

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.

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

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!

Bad behavior in school can be the result of numerous other factors as well, not just ADD/ADHD.

1) Dyslexia
2) Skill Giftedness (causing extreme boredom)
3) Sleep Apnea

You can get some links to more information on my profile page.

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

I feel for you and agree. I grew up in a very loving Catholic home, and my mother, who was contantly belittled by nuns who looked at her older brother (who eventually became a bishop)and asked why she couldn't be more like him, took no crap from these women. If we were bad, my mom was there finding out the problem, if we were punished unfairly, BOTH my mom and dad were there. The old women may have been on power trips but my parents were very involved as well. This was the beginning of mother's who worked and not all of them were involved.

May I ask, do you have any knowledge of a drug called reboxetin? (Trade name in Europe: Edronax from Pharmacia & Upjohn)

My physician has diagnosed me with adult ADD and says this might help me.

I'm not really looking for medical advice, but maybe a link or two to more information before I start taking a drug with potentially severe side effects.

I have long been saying ADD is just an excuse for bad behavior. And then Neal Boortz comes along and validates it.
You shouldn't be flamed for having an opinion. But if you're looking to a radio talk show host to "validate" what you have to say, I'll match mine up against yours any day. Like me, Mike Gallagher has a son with ADHD. Because of his personal experience and knowledge, Gallagher has the courage to go against the grain of the rest of conservative talk radio and discuss the reality of this neurological disorder.

The Dr. Bob Jacobs referenced in the Neal Boortz pieces isn't a medical doctor, and he serves on the advisory board of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. Sounds like an impressive organization, doesn't it? It was founded by Peter Breggin, who at least has an M.D., but who is shredded by Quackwatch. In addition to claiming there is no such thing as ADHD, Breggin says there is no such thing as schizophrenia or any other brain disorder whatsoever that has a genetic or biological component. I wouldn't be surprised if he blames Alzheimer's on "bad parenting."

And in some odd cosmic coincidence, Breggin recently took up residence in none other than the City of Evil itself--Ithaca.

Well, you don't have to feel sorry for me, I learned the "truth". All that took was some simple reading of the Bible. (which the church told you not to do - for that very reason) They ( the nuns) were on the very edge of abuse, but are protected because of religion. Go figure...
Must of us rebelled not because we were ADHD, or ADD but because we were just "bucking" the system.

I didn't say you are connected with Scientology, but you have certainly been influenced by "research" which is funded and pushed into the media by Scientology. Just like A.N.S.W.E.R., Scientology employs hordes of "useful idiots" to achieve its objectives.

The fact there's a huge supply of examples of phony ADD diagnoses, hardly proves that there are no real cases. I heartily agree that discipline, diet, elimation of video games, etc. need to be employed first, before any proper diagnosis of ADD/ADHD can be made. And I heartily agree than in a majority of diagnoses, this has not been done. But there are also plenty of examples where it has been done exhaustively, and the problem remained serious, and was significantly improved by medication. More importantly, there is some evidence to suggest that medication during childhood may increase the chance that the child outgrows the problem (most children who use Ritalin during their school years do not continue to need it as adults). Waiting until past the childhood/adolescent period of high neurological malleability could result in the problem becoming permanent, when that could have been avoided.

He correctly points out that there is no proof that ADHD exists. I am 35 a conservative and a Republican I can tell you that when I go off of my medication there is a huge difference in my whole life. My life until being diagnosed with ADHD was total Chaos. You are totally over reacting to these nut-cases on TV. Wow imagine that. Yes it is diagnosed wrong, but look who is doing the diagnosing. Most of these people can’t hold a real job and we are going to over react to their mad ravings? Come on guys, no one is holding a gun to these worthless parents heads.

The people who over react are the one’s who liked to beat the crap out of us. I know they liked it because I remember the look on their faces. No matter which way you slice it you are worse than any misdiagnosis ever.

I heartily agree that discipline, diet, elimation of video games, etc. need to be employed first, before any proper diagnosis of ADD/ADHD can be made.

On discipline, I only discipline when the kids "dis-obey", not when the accidently make a mistake... On Video games, mine hardly play at all, my daughter (who is ADHD)doesn't play them. On Diet, you may be on to something...My daughter hardly eats, I don't know if it is drug related or not. But I am willing to try to see if diet can help improve her condition. Any suggestions?

Thank you from a someone who has to deal with this rediculous condition as an Adult. Having to take medication just to be able to do something everone else does really sucks. What is worse is there is no readilly apparent (visible) sign, so fools can't SEE what is wrong. Having the Liberals on our side only hurts matters. Now I know how poor people feel. With friends like these.... Well you know.

Every state is different. My comments are for Virginia's laws and policies. That is where I live; I know what they are.

They can't get these records if they've been destroyed. Even if they haven't been destroyed, records policy/law still requires written permission from the student to release them.

Now if you want to argue that policies aren't followed, fine. At least tell about some situations where this happened--if you know of any.

As far as the other concern, the case where someone begins work or school within 5 years of graduation is adequately handled by the part of the policy, which I mentioned above, that requires written permission from the former student for the release of the records.

Further protecting the release of this information is the fact that in Virginia, records are divided into Category I and Category II records.

Category I records are things like grades, standardized test scores, awards won, etc. Category I records are kept "forever" and are the records that will be sent if a request for the records is made with written permission from the student.

Category II records are things like special education/health/etc. records. These are only kept for 5 years after graduation and will only be sent if a request is specifically made for "category II records" with written permission from the student.

If, hypothetically speaking, I were to have been taking ritalin when I was in elementary and middle school, you would find NO record of it in my school files.

If (that's big IF) you tracked down the doctor that originally made the ADHD diagnosis, there might be some records of it; that would still require written permission from the patient.

I don't consider ADD a disease. 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).

Jean here,

My mother is a teacher in a High School. She will tell you that ADD actually exists... in about a third of a percent of all diagnosed cases. She's taught for seven years, and she knows. When a real ADD or ADHD kid comes along, they are usualy some of her hardest working kids. My mom is usually called the strictest, most disciplined, and hardest test giver at the school, yet these real ADHD and ADD students thrive in her class.

However, more often than not, she get kids who are merely diagnosed with the disorder and could function fine without any drugs. But usually by the time they get to high school, they have been taught they're the victim and incapable of controlling themselves. They use the disease as an excuse not to do work. If they do badly on a test, all they need to say is they couldn't concentrate even though they had taken they're drugs, and suddenly it's my mom's fault they got a bad grade. Cause she doesn't treat them special (like every other teacher they have ever known). Note: the real sick kids never EVER make this complaint.

To a fellow Virginian to another, I must admit, I do not know the policies concering the category II school records.

I didn't know they existed. I know that when I went into the service, they had information on a couple offences I made. (distruction of property - Writing on a desk, who isn't guilty?) Several detentions...etc. My recruiter read them outloud to me! But I never considered categories...

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