So doctors are now warning that ADHD is being over diagnosed. Over diagnosed by whom?
By dentists?
Vets?
Beauticians?
Doctors have been savagely over prescribing medication (Ritalin prescriptions have risen by 72% in Australia from 2000-2011), often for as little as concentration issues in class. This is not a reason to give children medication!
Why is it that we focus on the child that is not concentrating rather than the teacher that isn’t sufficiently engaging his/her class? How can we blame the student when the teacher has often invested nothing more than a trip to the photocopier machine in planning for their lesson.
Remember, the very same teachers that complain about the lack of concentration in their class can often be seen dozing off during a staff meeting or professional development seminar. If poor concentration is all it takes to earn a prescription, then teachers at staff meetings make for great Ritalin candidates!
For too long we have been allowing our children to be the guinea pigs for our obsession with the quick fix solution. I would have thought that one cannot make a proper determination about a child’s ADHD status until they have ruled out social issues, home life issues, dietary habits and sleeping patterns. But this due process often goes out the window, because those matters take time, patience and sensitivity. Who has got time for that when there’s a wonder drug that turns a daydreamer into a concentration machine?
So the doctors think too many children are diagnosed with ADHD. I wonder who they have to blame for that.
Click on the link to read my post on Shock Horror: Sleep Deprived Children Diagnosed with ADHD Instead!
Click on the link to read my post on ‘If my Son was a Dog, I’d Have him Put Down’: Mother of ADHD Child
Click on the link to read my post on Why Are There So Many Children Exposed to Prescription Drugs?
Click on the link to read School Nurse Arrested for Stealing Students’ ADD Pills
Click on the link to read The Rampant Misuse of ADHD Pills
Click on the link to read Is There Any Student Left Without a Disorder?
Tags: ADD, ADHD, ADHD medication, adhd medication over prescribed, adhd over diagnosed, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Children and Medication, Education, Health, Medicine, Teaching
Topical Teaching 
November 12, 2013 at 6:38 am |
I suspect what turns children off in the classroom is the same diet that turns teachers off in staff meetings. I am reminded of a statement by Alonso in Scene 1, Act II of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” where he complained, “You cram these words into mine ears, against the stomach of my sense.” He had other things on his mind than what his staff were prattling about.
Good grief! If teachers are bombarded with drivel in staff meetings, it’s little wonder they do the same to children in the classroom.
I think the verdict is everybody’s talking but nobody’s listening.
November 13, 2013 at 7:27 pm |
Too right!