There has been a large rise in the number of kids diagnosed with ADD in the last few years. If the school you child went to told you you eather had to put him/her on medication or he/she would be transfered to a school for special needs. What would you do and how would you handle the situation?

(this is just out of curiosity, I do not have any kids)

When in school, i had issues (especially during language arts, and history) where while reading test questions, I would read the whole entry, and not remember what i read, causing me to have to re-read the question between 5-15 times to understand. Not that i didnt understand what they were asking, I just got distracted, so my eyes would read, but my mind wouldnt listen. They did tests, and found i have an "Over active mind". Meaning instead of running at normal speed, analyzing the one question, I'd be thinking of multiple things at once. Which is good for problem solving (allows me to "see" many problems at once, and run through possible solutions very quickly), but bad when trying to recall things. So after ample tests, and seeing "special" teachers I was placed in a Learning Disability class. I found alot of the people in that class, were just lazy and didnt want to learn, but a rare few actually had issues learning. They never put me on meds, even tho the school was suggesting it. How ever I was in these "classes" ever since the 7th grade. I wouldnt call my self stupid, I had all A's in advanced science and math, however, English and history was poor for me. I'd say, if a parent spent enough time with their child (feel as if parents should teach their child more than school can) then they should see it before the school does.

They said my little brother had ADD.
They put him on meds.

In reality, he really just needed to get his but kicked.
He was simply a lazy jerk.

15 yrs later, he's had the jerk kicked out of him but he is still lazy.

To label a child as such can be very detrimental for the student. As a former psychologist, I feel that all bets are off until someone has been properly diagnosed by a qualified MHP. This is not to say that I am lacking sympathy for the teachers, whose ratios continue to grow. The school has no right to extort someone like that, but they have to offer an IEP to be within legal compliance.

One of the things you have to keep in mind is that Doctors ( medical ) often take a chance and perscribe medications to children for any manner of "difficulties" which they exhibit. Fidgety children ( who in the past would have been labelled as such) are now called Hyperactive. ADD is probably one of the most misused and least understood diagnosis of our time. Its a shame because it devalues how the real people with ADD feel about themselves. It hurts when a condition that has challenged you suddenly becomes the new "off the hip diagnosis". Another plus to the equation is the actual recognition of the condition. Now that we can recognize it, it will be diagnosed more often and thus the numbers will show a rise.

I have treated both ADD children and lazy little miscreants and I can tell the difference, but to most people they look the same. Medication has become the replacement for discipline and respect that we used to give our teachers. Simple childhood traits like being impatient and wanting to be anywhere but school are seen now as "Aberant behavior". In the past, we would have given them the lecture about how teachers give part of their lives to help young people and how lucky they were to get it. Nowadays if you say anything of the kind, you are verbally abusing the students. The ones who would be on the edge in an earlier rendition of our society suddenly become candidates for ADD.

However, if my child were actually diagnosed with it, I would start a medication regimine and then show them how to turn these traits to their advantage once we got them under control.

ADD is a complex and insidious condition. A lot of people blame behavioral difficulties on it and use it as a blanket term for basic child stuff. But there are some out there who have it and were my daughter one, I would give her whatever she needed to level the playing field.

SJ

Thank you SJ. That is probably the best description of the ADD situation that i have ever heard. I had been diagnosed with it when i was in second grade and my mother took the time to put me through many (probably more than 20 hours worth) tests before she would agree that i had ADD and put me on medication. What i think is funny though is that being an ADD person, i can tell who actually has it and who has been misdiagnosed. It is funny because to me it is obvious. I would not be able to function without my medication.

These thing are never as simple as a poll question. If your child has obvious problems that you can see they may really need help. In some cases teachers want anyone that is a distraction to be put on meds. I've heard of school districts in Virginia (where I used to live) that have as many as 35% of kids in the school on Ritalin. This was required by the teachers (backed by the principals) not doctor initiated. I'm sure that there are some kids that truly have ADD and need help but it can't be ADD if more than a few percent of kids.

Ritalin is a form of speed, the question is, do you want your kids on speed
even if it is beneficial?

While medication can be effective they are treating the symptoms an not the underlying problem. Helping the kids learn to focus seems like a better solution, than just throwing drugs at problems.

I would try Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. It is usually used to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but has been effective with ADD and ADHD cases.

It is a non-drug therapy, and from what I've read about it, I like it.

Tgreenwood

Before my current career, I worked with teen offenders who were classified as being of "special needs" caliber. I worked with them in small groups, they needed a lot of attention, and were frequently -- even in a school for the "miscreants" -- seen as being "unteachable". Some drove me crazy, but a very small portion.

Once those kids get someone who can spend the time with them they need, let know they are worthwhile human beings and occasionally get them to laugh (Okay, I confess. It was more than occasional. ) then they will learn things no one ever thought they could. Most of my students had absentee parents or parents who just didn't know how to handle them. And there is no easy solution for that.

Unless the government can see fit to spend millions (federally, I should say billions) more on education than it currently does, more and more kids will likely end up being doped. Some things that would help: improve the teacher to student ratio, don't cave in to parents who think the public school system should raise their kids and, if you feel really philanthropic, try a mentor program.

This is a hot button topic so what the heck, I'll weight in...

Well, I have to agree it is, and should be, considered more complicated than it may seem and thus requires lots of collecting as much info as possible and even trying lots of alternatives first. I think there is a tendency to focus on the kid but in reality there are significant contributions from the school side, the home front, other kids, diet, societal pressures, other health related issues, etc. For example, my wife is a HS English teacher. She typically gets the troublemakers/hard to teach kids that are more often than not already labelled as special ed (many on or recommended to be on meds for ADD and other conditions). She gets stuck with these kids for many reasons but mainly for two reasons, 1- she does quite well with them, often inspiring parents to do everything in their power to get their kid in her class, and 2- other teachers don't want them or won't take them.

This leads me to the more than just the kid point. She has literally seen teachers seek to force parents to put their kid on meds for no other reason than the teacher could not deal with the kid. Believe me, I recognize as well as anyone the difficulties teachers have dealing with hundred+ kids every day but don't think for a minute that there aren't situations in which it couldn't become school (system even) policy to shunt trouble kids into the "medicate them or we put them the school version of juvie" approach just so they don't have to deal with the kid (by making them more manageable) or so they can save on their expensive and difficult to find spec ed teacher assistants that would otherwise be legally required to place in the classes.

Of course, you also don't want to overlook the possibility of eyesight issues making a kid not pay attention or missing info, or potentially other health issues such as a dietary concern (such as hunger, limited nutrition which are all too common) and even recreational drug issues. There can be problems with other kids that translate to poor class behavior (oh man, my wife can tell you some stories on that one). And of course, although no one likes to admit this, home issues can bleed over to the kids class behavior as well. And finally, even if all the other factor/influences have been investigated/controlled and the appropriate diagnosis seems to fit, you still need to figure out if what is needed is simply more effort to help the kid gain self control using non-medicated means before going to the meds. This is especially important because there are degrees to every condition and just because a kid legitimately has ADD/ADHD does not mean it should automatically result in medication use. My cholesterol is high and I have to work pretty dang hard using diet and exercise to keep it reasonable. I could use meds but I would rather not unless I have to.

Consider also that there is mounting evidence that these meds aren't as benign as they were thought to be a couple years ago. No doubt there are legitimate uses and successes with the meds, but especially when it concerns the development of kids and potentially permanent changes/alterations (which one can only hope are for the better), it is worth considering every possibility and option before proceeding with long term medication in particular. The business folks call it due diligence, all the research and verification, before making an investment and I think the same thing applies here. Oh, and I have two kids, both have had this behavioral medication issue come up (only one specifically regarding ADD)- neither have or are taking behavioral meds and both are successfully managing/improving but it has taken a great deal of effort on our part (for one in particular). Personally, if our school took the approach you mention, we would likely pull our kids and maybe even move regardless of whether my kid, in the end, needed meds. This is because I think any school or system that takes that approach isn't one I am willing to have my kid attend.

I could go on but I shouldn't so that's my 2 cents worth of babel...

I have 2 children who were diagnosed as add and one also hyperactive.
My oldest boy was put on ritalin when he was 6,Now he is 29 and physically addicted to it.
My youngest was diagnosed when he was 8 by a teacher,when I told the teacher I didnt want him drugged like his brother I was told that if I didnt the school would have social services take him from me and they would do it anyway.
I took him to the doctor and got the script but instead of giving him the drugs I started giving him a cup of coffee before school never telling the school.
Within a week I was getting compliments on how well the "drugs" were working.
I have read several storys about people whos children were taken from them because they told the school they werent a doctor and had no right to demand that they drug their kids.

In case anyone is still interested, I came across this report on CNN today...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/...d.ap/index.html