Parents: if there's a magical pill that can turn your kids from bad students into good ones, would you give it to them?
As a parent of a young child in first grade, I've been hearing a lot about how rowdy kids are increasingly being medicated - not necessarily because they have ADHD - but because that helps in school (or perhaps, help teachers keep them in line at school).
It seems that there may be something to the rumors, as Alan Schwarz of The New York Times explains in this post:
When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall.
The pills boost focus and impulse control in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although A.D.H.D is the diagnosis Dr. Anderson makes, he calls the disorder “made up” and “an excuse” to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children’s true ill — poor academic performance in inadequate schools.
“I don’t have a whole lot of choice,” said Dr. Anderson, a pediatrician for many poor families in Cherokee County, north of Atlanta. “We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment. So we have to modify the kid.”
But is it necessarily a bad thing if medication can turn a bad student into a good one?
For some parents the pills provide great relief. Jacqueline Williams said she can’t thank Dr. Anderson enough for diagnosing A.D.H.D. in her children — Eric, 15; Chekiara, 14; and Shamya, 11 — and prescribing Concerta, a long-acting stimulant, for them all. She said each was having trouble listening to instructions and concentrating on schoolwork.
“My kids don’t want to take it, but I told them, ‘These are your grades when you’re taking it, this is when you don’t,’ and they understood,” Ms. Williams said, noting that Medicaid covers almost every penny of her doctor and prescription costs.
Some experts see little harm in a responsible physician using A.D.H.D. medications to help a struggling student.
Link | Controversy of ADHD as a disease [wikipedia]
What do you think? Is society merely forcing square pegs into the round holes of public education through the use of pharmaceuticals?
That article about Adderall breaks my heart. As someone who works in public education in a low income area and also personally has ADD, I can say that drugging children to make up for issues caused by their surrounding environment is horrific. Yes, these kids NEED, desperately need, SOMETHING to help, but pharmaceuticals are not the answer.
Giving these children and their parents access to things like community child care, prenatal care, and early childhood development programs should be the goal. These children need stability. They need things like a proper diet and a good night's sleep. Their schools need to be a safe place for them to go. Schools should be a place with adequate funding for access to a well rounded education. Bankrolling the cash cow that has become the American health industry at the cost of side effects, potential drug addiction, and life long dependency is not a solution, it's a profit grab. It also creates another drug issue in communities where there are, historically, already drug problems and crime as a result. The many issues of educating low income children need to be addressed as what they are: a socioeconomic problem.
Adderall is a drug meant to help people with an actual mental difference/disorder that can cause learning difficulties. The drug does have its place, in an appropriate use for the disorder it was created to help people overcome. It is a valuable tool in the treatment of AD(H)D and can mean a world of difference and better opportunities for children and adults with the disorder. I can personally attest to that. AD(H)D is badly understood in our society currently. The potential for the disorder to be further misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and even dismissed as a result of doctors using the diagnoses to treat children without the disorder is troubling. Even more troubling is the fact that there already are problems with Adderall shortages because of the manufacturing quotas set by the Drug Enforcement Agency. If more prescriptions are written for children who do not have the disorder it creates the potential for someone who really needs the drug being unable to obtain it.
These drugs have side-effects that can be difficult for adults to cope with; I cannot imagine what children who truly need these drugs go through. Typically, drugs that alter brain chemistry and activity require close monitoring at the onset of usage because of these side effects, as well as continued monitoring for any issues that may come after prolonged usage. There has to be a clear understanding of what is an acceptable side effect versus the side effects that can be detrimental and even life threatening. Handing this out to children who an unstable home life and parents with poor parenting skills sounds like a recipe for disaster on many levels.
I was of the "Mom's popping her Valium" Generation, and - yes - I was a "hyperactive" kid. Truth be told: I was BORED.
About midway through Elementary School, I ended up being designated ("diagnosed?!") as "Gifted." This was actually back in the early years of "Gifted Programs." Actually, this was BEFORE accelerated, self-study Gifted Programs existed in my school district. Once I was placed in an environment where I had the Freedom to Choose what I wanted to learn, I began to excel, academically. That NEVER would have happened - had I been doped-up on Ritalin or Adderal (or what-EVER).
Side story: A Good Friend of mine has a son who would love nothing more than to follow in his father's footsteps and join the Military. He's a very bright kid (well, Young Man, now). Extremely intelligent and articulate - but I believe he had a legitimate learning disability: Dyslexia. Well, he got lumped-in with the ADHD Crowd and was on Ritalin during most of his school years.
This is just conjecture on my part, but I think the Ritalin pretty-much eliminated his "problem child status" and forced him to conform, so he made it through school and, ultimately, got his GED.
Now, when he applies to the recruiters, NONE of the branches of the military will take him because he has a history of having been on a "Psychotropic Medication!"
True story!
Don't get me wrong... I don't deny that there ARE kids out there with legitimate ADHD issues, but I think there is a tendency to paint FAR too many kids with (cough-cough) "behavioral issues" with a far-too-broad "ADHD Brush."
But "Better Living through Chemistry" is NOT always the answer!
Just my $0.02... Keep the change!