Posted on 09/24/2008 9:27:12 AM PDT by Maelstorm
Ritalin should no longer be given to hyperactive children.
The drug should not be prescribed to children under five and used for older children only when they have severe ADHD or as a last resort, the guidance says.
Instead, parents should be taught psychological techniques for changing the behaviour of unruly youngsters diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The guidelines were issued by the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health.
The directive says parent training and education programmes should be offered as a first-line treatment for ADHD, both for pre-school and school-age children.
The programmes show parents how to create a structured home environment, encourage attentiveness and concentration, and better manage misbehaviour.
Research has shown they can be highly effective, helping children do better at school and lead more normal lives.
Teachers should also be involved in the management of school age children, says the guidance.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
Uh, duh! I could have told them that the day they started prescribing this to children.
My Father's Method of AHAD rehab pre Ritalin.
do you know how many adults are on this stuff? I have 4 friends, back in Michigan, who were convinced by their doc, to begin taking it...
folks need to stop thinking there is a magic pill.
They are already diagnosing ADD, of course they should be involved in the management of children, after all it does require a village right?
My principal’s, too.
Face it. Parents aren’t going to do the work. As long as they aren’t troubled by the behavior, it’s not happening. Having an ADHD or Autistic kid in a class is like having a fire alarm that goes off at random times.
we used to be able to open the door and shoe them out for the day into a safe neighborhood to run off that energy......not anymore.
Two things
When we were kids, there were painful penalties for disrupting class.
Kids who couldn’t maintain control in school weren’t allowed to go to school.
Reason number 1 why my child has never attended a public school and was in a private school for only 2 years. While he had no behavioral issues, the chance that he could face a teacher wanting to prescribe medication chased me into homeschooling.
Medicating children to attend school has always disgusted me.
Unfortunately, today we have children raising children. They can no more make a structured environment at home for their children than they can for themselves. We’d have to go back a couple generations to turn things around. I wish it could be different, and some parents do a great job of this and keep their kids off the medication. But others are unable to understand what structure is, themselves.
It's a pain in the butt getting refills, since each time the pharmacist has to have a paper prescription....no faxes, no phone calls.
Let me make it very clear that teachers are PART OF THE PROBLEM in this, we know this first hand years back. We refused to follow their advice (and the Doctor’s—there’s a big industry built around drugging children) and are thankful that we stood firm. Everything worked out well.
A wonderful old-style teacher told us that in today’s world teachers and the “teaching industry” expect cookie cutter results with cookie cutter techniques, they do not teach to the individual which is what she and by the way, my teachers did in the 40s and 50s. She said it best when she said ,”They used to call it TEACHING”.
Now they just drug kids to make them all compliant which is a myth. Is it any wonder that we have school shootings, escalating school violence and other criminal behavior gone nuts? No mystery here. Liberal “teaching” techniques and PC are self-destructing at the expense of harming if not destroying children’s lives in the process.
I forget his name just now but one of the MAJOR speakers in the world of ADHD used to ADVOCATE finding methamphetamine in pill form as it was the “best” of the stimulants for these kids.
Yes, he was basically recommending that people put their little guys on crystal meth!!! Soooo healthy for you, as pics of meth addicts show.
So Michael Savage was right.
We resisted any intervention for two of our children who are clearly affected by ADHD symptoms. We thought for sure that medicating them was the wrong approach. However, when my wife reported that every day was an impossible struggle with our 8-year-old’s meltdowns, screaming fits, and tantrums, we had to reconsider our decision. (Note: My kids are homeschooled, so all of this behavior was happening during school time. Our son was learning nothing, and my wife was spending all of her time trying to deal with the 8-year-old and not being able to spend the time she needed with our other five children.)
We had him evaluated, and followed his doctor’s recommendation that he be put on ritalin. The difference was amazing. Yes, we have seen some of the side effects listed in the article. But the trade off is that our son is now able to function, particularly during school time. He’s gone from being a boy who needs constant attention to a boy who can work independently. The effects of the drug were immediate and incredible - When my wife asked my son why he was suddenly able to do his work without tantrums, his response was, “I can hear you now.” Imagine living in a world where people are expecting you to do things that you don’t know how to do and you can’t hear their explanation of how to do it. No wonder he was so angry and out of control.
Based on the success of ritalin with our younger son, we gave our 17 year old the option of trying it. (He’s been a difficult student his whole life. Very distractable. Doesn’t want to do his work ever. Always a struggle to get him to apply himself.) He decided that he wanted to give it a shot. Again, the difference has been incredible. No side effects with him. He is now able to focus and get his work done independently. The quality of his work has increased. Again, it was the right choice to give it to him.
No one can judge another’s choices in this matter. But don’t make the mistake we did. We listened to other people who didnt have any problem kids telling us that ritalin is horrible. Well, they don’t have our kids, and we are delighted with the positive impact this drug has had on our children who needed the help.
I have a genuine ADHD child...any health care person that prescribes drugs to a child under 5 is an idiot..the key is to find a professional that is not in this for the quick cash, but who specializes in this condition...and NEVER trust the schools or government with this diagnosis...i had a teacher try to tell me my youngest was ADD...after my oldest, who is genuine ADHD, i knew what to look for, and the age category to begin to watch...this was when he was in the first grade, and any professional worth their weight will tell you that a diagnosis cannot be acurately made until the child is at least 10 years old..
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