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Almost one million children in the United States are potentially misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) because they were the youngest and least mature in their kindergarten classes, a US study released Tuesday found.
One million children may be misdiagnosed with ADHD: study - Yahoo! News
Seeded on Sun Aug 22, 2010 11:55 PM EDT
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- Public Discussion (5)
Here's a comment left in the comments section for the article:
Do any of you know anything about the ADHD advocates a child is entitled to? I have an 8 year old son who they say is ADHD. He is very good and so sweet, but the teachers and school are giving me a hard time about not medicating him. He is not out of control, they just say he has trouble concentrating. This is the 2nd week of school and I am being told that if I had a diabetic child, would I withhold his meds?!!!! I laughed and told them, there is a big difference. A diabetic would die without meds, my son will not!!!! Just hoping some of you could give me some insight and advice! Thanks!
I find it disturbing that these teachers are pushing this woman so hard to get her child on drugs. I hope she stands her ground and doesn't agree to get him started on the medication merry-go-round. I cannot believe that a drug like marijuana is illegal and demonized yet teachers are pushing pharmaceuticals, and some parents are too willing to get their children on these drugs. Just because a drug is legal, does not mean it is safe. Many pharmaceuticals have dangerous side effects. A parent woud get in serious trouble if they gave their kindergarten child a hit of marijuana or some red wine to help the child eat or sleep, and rightfully so, yet teachers, doctors, and parents have no problem with children being prescribed drugs just because the child may be a little less mature than the rest of the class or very active. Surely there must be some way to work with these types of children without putting them on drugs.
- 3 votes
#1 - Mon Aug 23, 2010 7:23 AM EDTWell said. It's frightening how many millions of children are automatically being given these drugs which dull their personality, and the long terms effects of which we do not know.
- 2 votes
I agree 100% Bonos and Bernard. Some kids are just hyper that is just their personality and there is nothing wrong with it. It seems like if someone isn't following this mythical baseline of "this is what your child has to be like, if not then something is wrong" then start the medication.
ADHD is just nothing more than a lucrative business for the pharmaceutical industry.
- 1 vote
ADHD is very real, that being said, I do believe schools push to medicate children who are not easy to deal with. My daughters kindergarten teacher asked me the second week of school if I had ever thought of putting her on ritalin. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I told her absolutely no. She had never shown any signs of ADHD. She had been being a handful at school and it turned out she was getting too much sugar. I went to sugar free cereals and watched labels and viola, a week later she was back to her old sweet self. No problem the rest of the year. There are many things that can cause a child to have problems in school and all of those need to be ruled out first.
Bernard--you have my sympathy. 5 of the 7 grandchildren/nieces/nephews I babysat (for years!) were diagnosed ADHD--in PRE-SCHOOL!! The parents discussed this with me as I'd been sitting them since birth; my reaction? "Nonsense! They no trouble at home!" They were energetic little kids reacting to being over stimulated by large classrooms. In the well-populated environment of school, the teachers need the kids to be quieter than is normal for a small child, even if they have to resort to drugging them into submission. All the parents decided to remove the kids until they were older, let them explore their world at their own pace(s).
Upon entering first grade, only one was still viewed as ADHD. She wasn't, but was an active, extraordinarily inquisitive little girl. The teacher was told to deal with it or move her to another class because drugging was out of the question; she was moved and flourished. Never--I mean NEVER--let anyone talk you into drugs against your better judgment.
PS--I was working with a community health department when the over-diagnosing began (also the excessive accusations of sexual abuse!). In both cases, it began after the department of community nurses had attended some seminar--and returned experts on the subjects. Trust your own instincts, not those of a semi-professional with just a little bit of faux training!
- 2 votes
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