There is just so much wrong here. Check out Alan Schwartz’ NewYork Times article, “Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School.” It’s not about college kids looking for an advantage.
The upshot is this: if you’ve been wondering whether there are a bunch of fake diagnoses of convenience among the nearly 10% of our school kids today diagnosed with ADHD, the answer is yes. There are doctors, parents, and teachers out there who really do just want a quick fix, and pills are cheaper than behavioral therapy, cheaper than school programs, and easier than parental discipline.
One of the families highlighted in the article has all four of their kids on medication, despite one child having already suffered the side effect of a psychotic break and a week in the psych ward at age 10. The reason given for putting their daughter on meds was merely that she was “a little blah.” All four also need another medication to counteract these stimulants and help them sleep at night. Their dad rationalizes: “If they’re feeling positive, happy, socializing more, and it’s helping them, why wouldn’t you? Why not?”
Here’s why not: The drugs are powerful, addictive, they have dangerous side effects (as these parents ought to know from experience), and we still don’t even understand how they affect the developing brain. Do these kids even know who they really are inside? Their behavior has been regulated by medications for practically their whole lives. Do they have any confidence in themselves, or are their abilities only conferred by meds? Are they worthwhile citizens only thanks to a pill? Are they a full-fledged person, or some kind of medical construct? How do they make decisions on behavior? As the 11-year-old in the article says of his meds, they “help me focus on my school work, my homework, listening to Mom and Dad, and not doing what I used to do to my teachers, to make them mad. If I don’t take my medicine I’d be having attitudes. I’d be disrespecting my parents.” Sounds to me like he sees his own personality and choices as originating with medicine, and not with himself. As if he is incapable of making the right choices without the medicine. How will he ever develop his own decision-making ability this way? What must he think of himself after his sojourn in the psych ward? And what will he think when he’s older and realizes this might have been thanks to his parents exercising a convenience to themselves and the schools, rather than a medical necessity for their own child?
This is not just one anecdote. The article cites a school superintendent who says that as school funding declines, ADHD diagnoses rise; it’s a systemic phenomenon. I think we can all agree that budget cuts don’t cause ADHD. What they do cause is fewer, more harried adults with fewer resources trying to keep order among kids in larger classes, and dealing with little zombies is easier than dealing with little hellions, especially in an era when teachers and parents alike are not allowed to use corporal punishment, shaming, or embarrassment. So we love our magic pills, and gloss over the serious side effects.
Am I favoring a return to the harsh punishments of older generations? Maybe. Way back in the stone age when my generation was in school, the teachers were allowed to rap our hands with a ruler. They were allowed to shame us in front of the class. At home, spankings and going to bed without supper were pretty common punishments in those days. And you did not want the teacher calling your parents, because then you would be punished at school and at home. Such things don’t kill you, but you certainly do not want to repeat them, and you know what? This is how you learn to weigh consequences. Growing up, I might think something like: “I better not, because I don’t want Mrs. Smith to embarrass me,” but by God, it was my own thought. I weighed the consequences of my contemplated actions and decided I didn’t want any of that, and made my own choice using my own brain. And all without psychotic side effects!
Today’s parenting world is totally alien. What sense does it make to shield our little darlings from any harsh words, set expectations, or demands, only to drug them into a psychotic break in an effort to make them into pliant little Stepford Children? How is this different from slipping a little brandy into the baby bottle, or loading your kid up with Valium before a flight? Is this okay just because a doctor prescribes it? No. Doctors like the one in the NYT article, prompted by parents and teachers, are just providing an easy way out of the hard work of parenting school-age children, and the kids are paying with their health and development.
Related article: Our Over-Medicated, Unfit Youth
globalfreeopinionator
October 11, 2012
I’ve heard this sort of thing more often in recent years. It makes me wonder if those parents had any clue about what is involved in raising children or if they really wanted them in the first place. Some people fail to understand that these are small human beings, not wind-up toys that can be put away when one is bored. It’s tragic for the children,
The Color of Lila
October 11, 2012
Opinionator, totally agree. This sort of ties back into the “Never Wanted to Be a Mommy” article. Can’t recall the exact statistics at the moment, but a large percentage of the children born in the US today are not planned. This doesn’t mean they aren’t WANTED, but it does mean that Mom and Dad didn’t put a whole lot of thought into exactly what they were getting into – responsibilities, finances, time, attention – and it is no easy task.
As for the school discipline vs. home discipline issue? I lay much more on the parents’ shoulders than I do the teachers’. All a teacher really had to do to make us behave was threaten to talk to our parents. And if we acted up in school and they did complain to our parents, the parents were nearly always in sync with the teachers. I attended six different schools K-12, and can only recall maybe two problem students whose parents refused to believe their little darlings had any issues. Both boys were bullies that everyone avoided.
These days it seems like parents are much quicker to defend their kids than to close ranks with the teachers.
Then again – there’s hardly any common sense in the schools any more, either. Kids are getting suspended for having aspirin in their possession, or six-year-old boys are accused of “sexual harassment” for kissing a little girl on the cheek. Teens have been convicted of “child porn” and put on SO databases for sexting their own images in moments of youthful idiocy. A teen was suspended for standing up to school-bus bullies who were picking on a disabled girl; ironically SHE was accused of bullying. Meanwhile, nothing seems to happen to the real bullies who hound their peers, sometimes even to suicide.
Gen. Cornwallis’s fifes and drums played “The World Turned Upside Down” after his surrender. Good theme song for today, methinks.
Lauren Davis-Todd
October 12, 2012
ADHD is not only a controversial mental disorder that manifests in dysfunctional behavior, it continues to be greatly misunderstood. I taught school for 26 years and my focus when I got my masters degree in Educational Psychology in 1994 was ADHD.
It is distressing that there has been so much abuse of the ADHD medications, because it has made many parents whose children are seriously affected by the disorder adamant about their kids not using medication, without even becoming educated on all the implications.
There are possibilities of side effects with the ADHD meds, as there are with any medications, but parents often are not aware of the serious “side effects” for an unmedicated child who can’t control his impulses or pay attention in school. Accidents because of engaging in risky behavior, especially with cars and weapons, inability to hold onto a job, divorce and/or domestic abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, and incarceration for criminal activity rank high on the list.
It has been estimated that a huge percentage of the repeat criminals have ADHD because they don’t learn from their mistakes or care about consequences in a normal way and can’t control their impulses so they don’t think before they act. Many chronic homeless suffer from ADHD that has never been diagnosed and treated.
I think most, if not all doctors have never visited a classroom and seen how these kids stand out. Parents are often too subjective and too much in denial to recognize how obviously disabled their child is. ADHD isn’t all or nothing and some kids, especially the more intelligent ones who are mildly affected don’t need medical intervention. ADHD runs in families, so I was always talking to one or both parents in conferences who were also ADHD, which made it very difficult for them to keep their kid on track. It’s family dysfunction.
It can be a very tough situation for all involved and I hate it when people minimize it by saying it is just easier to medicate. I had several students who couldn’t stay focused on a lesson one-on-one with a teacher, even in a small room without distractions. I have had children who could not get though one recess without hitting another kid or shoving someone into the drinking fountain. Kids with ADHD without hyperactivity, have what’s been called “sleepy brains” and they can sit at a desk all day long, day after day without picking up a pencil, because it takes so much effort for them, let alone complete an assignment or turn in any work. Most have very low self esteems and few if any friends.
Medication for these seriously affected kids does not make them someone else. It makes them who they were meant to be with their brain chemistry working properly. The choice, of course, belongs to the parents and it is a dilemma when they think it is just a teacher wanting to make their work easier. I have had kids who would get up during a lesson and go around swiping work off of other kids’ desks, kids who would break 10 or 12 pencils a day and grind them up using their desks or shoes or put holes in their clothes with them. Some ADHD kids are literally non stop talkers, even when no one is listening. They can constantly agitate other kids, react loudly and inappropriately when a fly lands on their desks, loose everything they need – jackets, books, pencils, lunch money, work, – everything. Even two adults, ie their parents often can’t ride herd on them, let alone a teacher with 33 others.
But, finally I need to add that I learned to “work around these kids” when I taught, because I didn’t have a choice. And, because I loved all of them in spite of their disruptive behaviors. They tend to be a couple of years behind their classmates in maturity and in the younger grades they like to hang with their teacher. I did everything I could for my little ones with ADHD who were not given medical intervention and my heart still aches for them knowing what could be ahead for some of them. Those who do outgrow their ADHD, often don’t until they are about 35 or 40. Many never outgrow it. Many learn to cope with their disabilities and learn how to be successful adults. Many do not.
There is no doubt in my mind that ADHD kids have it way harder than most of the others. They need people to educate themselves on this disorder before they go off on a rant with their unhelpful opinions. And, for the love of God, the last thing they need is for a very helpful medication to be abused by doctors and unaffected kids so it becomes more scary to parents whose kids really do need it.
This is longer than I meant it to be, but I waited until this evening and noticed there were not very many comments yet. Sorry, I am retired now, but still on my soap box about this. I appreciated your post, Lila, about these abuses.
The Color of Lila
October 12, 2012
Lauren, soap away! It’s great to hear from someone who’s actually been in the trenches.
What’s your take on the skyrocketing diagnosis rate? I get that it’s a continuum sort of disorder, but where to draw the line? Same thing with autism – it’s a spectrum, diagnoses are skyrocketing, and where to draw the line? Is nervous energy a disorder? Nerdiness? Unintelligence? I would say no, but maybe parents and docs lump these folks on the “disorder” side of the line.
Then there are physical ailments like allergies and asthma, also on the rise. Why? There are theories about chemicals, over-cleanliness, hormone-soaked meats etc. But when such high percentages of our kids – KIDS – need one or more full-time prescriptions, there’s something seriously wrong going on. Why is our population so fragile, sick, or maladapted? That’s the larger underlying question.
Lauren Davis-Todd
October 12, 2012
I believe the skyrocketing diagnosis rate is probably due to just what you posted about, ie. doctors who diagnose and prescribe too indiscriminately, and the rising abuse of this drug, but also because society has become so fast paced and the amount of knowledge needed has grown so much and so fast in such a short time span that there are normal kids, as well
as adults, who find it overwhelming. They can’t learn enough fast enough to cope with it all.
Educators struggling with this have tried a lot of ineffective things, probably because real change is hard and many people feel they are already affected a lot by things that are out of their control. Advances in technology is major with the constant updates and upgrades, as well as totally new products. The jargon alone blew my out of the water when I was trying to learn blogging, and I am educated and intelligent. I will admit it also pissed me off at times. I mean, WTF? a “widget?” a “gravatar?” a “askimet?” Even calling what essentially is a template in the vernacular is called a “theme.”
There is increasing globalization meaning we all have to become accustomed to new cultures and religions that are quite contrary to what we are used to seeing. And, we are in this unique position here in good ol’ USA where these cultures and religions can be pushed into our faces and we are being politically incorrect by objecting. This is stressful and sometimes infuriating.
Until I was in high school, there were only three television channels. Now we have cable, iphones, smart phones, lap tops, dvr’s, video games, tablets, Facebook, Pinterest, and whatever else. All these devices provide stimulating entertainment and diversion with little effort, other than the time for the learning curve. And, that’s where the time seems to be sifting away instead of in other areas of learning. We have a bunch of 5th graders with cell phones who are fairly tech savvy on their play stations, but think California is a country, Florida is a city, and don’t know how many oceans the world has. Beginning second graders often haven’t learned how to form their letters, including those in their names, but they can sure work the remote.
Along with all our constantly shifting culture and advancing technology, came our ten year torture with No Child Left Behind from President Bush. The assumption behind this very flawed mandated program was that every child could become proficient in core subjects if teachers just taught them correctly and if they didn’t the schools would be punished. There is so much wrong with reducing a child to a state test score and education to what is tested on a state test, besides a lot of flawed reasoning and misunderstanding of child development and learning. If you are interested I have added a couple of websites to peruse.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/education/no-child-left-behind-whittled-down-under-obama.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/no-child-left-behind/
Special Education, which also has federal and state mandates, has given the power of decision almost exclusively over to parents. This costs exorbitant amounts of money. Parents are known to bring their attorneys with them to IEP meetings. One autistic girl I had, had her own shadow aide K through sixth grade. Yes, that’s right, she was assigned an aide all day, every day to help her in class.
The little girl was fine, and did not need the aide at least not by 2nd grade, but the parent insisted. Another special ed. child was quite impulsive and reckless, but the parent insisted he was not ADHD. He was forbidden to be on the play structure in the school yard because of accidents he’s caused, some involving hurting other kids. So, he snuck over one afternoon after school was out, got on the structure, fell off, broke his arm….wait for it……Mom sued the school principal. I don’t know what the outcome was, but it shorted out that principal’s effectiveness for years.
A final component making so many kids seem maladjusted and not making the grade is an abhorrent lack of exercise and gross eating of junk food and fast foods. Kids don’t walk two blocks to school in their own neighborhood in the suburbs because their parents think it is unsafe. Big kids drive themselves with their own cars.
Only about 3% to 5% of children actually have ADHD and many of them don’t need medical intervention, but because of the above, it isn’t surprising that many parents and kids feel inadequate.
Alex Meryn
October 12, 2012
A terrifically accurate post! You are bang on with so many points. I think you’ve already hit on the answer to your question.
“But when such high percentages of our kids – KIDS – need one or more full-time prescriptions, there’s something seriously wrong going on. Why is our population so fragile, sick, or maladapted? That’s the larger underlying question.”
Society has taken away parents’ ability/authority to raise/discipline their kids.
I was an adamant anti-ADD/medication proponent, until my oldest proved me wrong. Finding the right cocktail for him was such a long and arduous process that, in the end, he opted for self-medication with illegal substance abuse. We gave him every chance possible, but finally had to throw him out of house for good last year. For him, a day without meds is a day with a fist-fight. Lauren, your description is the best I’ve ever read, and am indebted to you for taking the time to offer such an informed viewpoint.
My other four kids, one of whom has Down syndrome, are the only thing that convinced me that ADD existed for the other one. The stark contrast in behaviours was impossible to ignore. With the same environment, the same parenting style and expectations, this one son was dancing to his own drummer.
As a mom who made the dad take the eleven-year-old down to the local women’s shelter on Christmas morning, loaded Christmas stocking in hand, to donate all of its contents to a child who would be spending Christmas in chaos, simply because she huffed and puffed over the fact that there was only one present from Santa under the tree for ‘everyone,’ I constantly fight this new norm in parental (lack of) involvement. I have taken a LOT of flack for this, and other ‘alternative discipline’ tactics we’ve come up with over the years. But the fact is, that my kids are fine upstanding citizens, with conscience and manners. Even my lost sheep has a huge and generous heart. I am allowed to brag about them a bit, if only because I really would be the first one to throw them under the bus if they screw up!
All teenagers now, they respect us for imposing strong and consistent rules and expectations. It’s a travesty that so many other families have lost sight of this simple but necessary investment.
Anonymous
October 12, 2012
Interesting viewpoints here. Please don’t misunderstand. I realize that there are some kids who truly need medication to function. I’ve known people like that and am glad there is something to help them. What I object to is the misuse of something intended to help those in genuine need. I find it very difficult to believe that so many children are autistic or have ADHD. It seems to be way out of control. And I agree that parents need to be parents again. I don’t think that means abuse but discipline is not the same as abuse. As for the BS in schools, someone somewhere needs to pull their heads out of their heinies and get real. I have my suspicions about how this sort of thing gets started but can’t prove it. Overall,though, it’s the parents responsibility to teach their children how to behave or to obtain treatment if the child is genuinely ill. Using these meds to make your own life easier is contemptible in my opinion.
The Green Study
December 3, 2012
What I find so disturbing about the frequent prescription of psychotropic drugs for children, is that these young brains are still forming and making neural connections well into their early 20s. Some children would certainly benefit in having the time to outgrow behaviors. I’m against corporal punishment in any form, but in terms of real “discipline”, people forget that discipline is about the teaching and teaching takes time. So much of this inability to teach children how to behave and cope and compensate is mired in the lack of time.