Whilst I am not medically trained, and my opinion is based on experience rather than any medical credentials, I can’t help but wonder if ADHD even exists. If it does, then surely the seemingly rampant overdiagnosing of ADHD together with the overprescribing of Ritalin-type drugs, isn’t doing the legitimacy of the condition any favours.
I have written extensively about this issue and recounted my frustrations watching students prescribed drugs for conditions I was positive they didn’t suffer from. It seems that there are a multitude of factors that don’t get enough attention before the drugs are administered such as: diet, home life, self-esteem and social life.
Should I really be surprised when I read that some children are misdiagnosed?
Children who were born late in the school year and so are almost 12 months younger than their oldest classmates are more likely to be diagnosed and given medication like Ritalin for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, it was found.
They are being ‘inappropriately labelled and treated’ the authors said.
Greater caution should be given to making the diagnosis in order to prevent children from being given potentially harmful medicines without justification, they said.
There are thought to be around 1.7m people with attention deficit problems in Britain with between three and seven per cent of school age children affected.
There is no data collected on how many children in Britain are on drugs for the problem but in 2010 there were over 850,000 prescriptions dispensed for medicines to treat the condition in England and Wales at a cost of almost £44m.
The study was conducted on children in British Columbia in Canada where the school year coincides with the calender year.
It was found that children born in December, so the youngest in their school year, were 40 per cent more likely to be diagnosed and almost 50 per cent more likely to be treated for ADHD than children born in January, the start of the school year.
It;s time doctors were open to more scrutiny about their ADHD diagnosis.
Tags: ADHD, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, British Columbia, Children and Medication, Education
Topical Teaching 
April 16, 2012 at 2:05 am |
“Whilst I am not medically trained, and my opinion is based on experience rather than any medical credentials, I can’t help but wonder if ADHD even exists.”
Wow. Amazing.
And you are a teacher? I am extremely happy that you are not my son’s teacher. Perhaps you should re-read your first sentence again. It’s almost as good as “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on TV”.
Certainly it is possible that some children are mis-diagnosed and/or over-medicated, but it is a huge leap to come to the conclusion that a condition does not legitimately exist.
April 16, 2012 at 7:08 am |
Thank you for your comment CJV. I would argue that my views on ADHD doesn’t in any way hamper my ability to teach your son or prevent me from delivering the support and guidance that he needs from his teachers.