OK, so this is something that's really bothering me, and I thought I'd just throw it out there for debate. If it qualifies for a debate, that is. I did do a quick search and didn't come up with anything like this topic, so...

This past Thursday, I picked my daughter up from her elementary school early for a doctor's appointment. While I waited for her to come down from her class, I was chatting with the secretary and noticed that there was a line forming outside of the nurse's office across the hall. I asked the secretary if they were doing screenings for something. Her response: "Oh, that's just the Ritalin line."

Me: o_O

Yeah, the line of kids waiting to get their AD/HD (For those who might not know, that's Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meds from the school nurse. The line was out the door. Some of the kids were like 6 years old, maybe even 5. And there must have been 20 kids in line. Mind you, this is a (very) rural school district. There are only about 250 kids in the whole darn school, across 6 grades. Am I to believe that about 10% of the kids have AD/HD?

I don't think so. I don't deny that AD/HD is real, certainly, but I think it not so common. I think the real problem is twofold. 1) Kids have energy, and lots of it, and like dogs they can be disruptive or even destructive when they have no outlet for their energy. 2) Parents seem to lack the ability to control their kids nowadays, and this likely isn't helped by the fact that traditional disciplinary measures have now been labeled abusive or damaging to self-esteem.

This is a bad combination. But instead of dealing with the issue -- controlling and disciplining their children -- it seems parents have bought into the whole "Oh, he just has a medical condition" excuse, and then out come the drugs. Quite frankly, if I was a kid I'd rather have a spanking now and then than be doped to the gills on a powerful drug that has definite side affects. And as a parent I'd rather make the effort to discipline my kids than have them doped up on an addictive drug that can severely alter their personality and also stunt their growth and cause other physical issues.

What do you all think? Is this an overdiagnosed condition? Is it even a real condition at all, or is it just "kids being kids"? Does anyone here take this medication or a similar one, and how did you come to be on it? Do you think doping for this is appropriate? Do you think schools are actually in favor of the drug use, that they may even encourage parents with "difficult" kids to have the kids put on it, because then the kids are easier to control in class? (This was seriously the vibe I got from the secretary, who said something like "Some of the kids in this school aren't disciplined at home and need to be calmed down. The counselor meets with parents to make recommendations...")

I'm seriously creeped out by this. Call me sheltered and insulated, but I had no idea that this drug was so commonly used, even on very young children. When I said something to the secretary about being concerned, she said something like, "Well, you don't have to worry because you have good kids."

Um, yeah. Because I made them be "good kids" instead of just letting them "be kids." Which, translated from YuppieSpeak, is: "Being little monkeys who can do no wrong and even if by chance they do something wrong God forbid you say a word to them or else their pwecious self-esteem might be damaged." Yeah.

I think 95% of all kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD are misdiagnosed. A very small minority have it, and the other 95% are just kids. Kids have short attention spans, this is nothing new or shocking. Get kids started popping pills by age 5! What a fantastic idea!!!! NOT.

My brother has ADHD, and I can safely say that it is very, very real and very difficult for everyone who has to deal with the sufferer on a regular basis. He is 20 now, and although from a very young age it was extremely obvious that there was a problem with his behaviour, the schools he went to did absolutely nothing about it. He wasn't diagnosed until he was about 14/15 by which time a lot of irreversable damage had already been done. When he was finally diagnosed he was prescribed a 'diluted' form of Ritalin, but he only used to take it for school, and it helped so much because it calmed him down and meant he would actually do his school work which was definitely suffering (and he is such an intelligent man), so in his case it was a really good thing that he could take it. I don't think he's really taken it since leaving school four years ago, and as he's got older he's started to grow out of it.

The worldwide prevalence rate for ADHD is approximately 4%, so I am surprised that that many children at your daughter's school were taking it. It is painfully obvious when a child has a real behavioural problem. In the case of my brother, his behaviour stood out so much, particularly so when you looked at it in the context of the family: two very well-behaved girls (my sister and me) and one very naughty boy. We came across a lot of ignorant people who just found it easier to blame his behaviour on my parents than to acknowledge that there was something wrong with him. However, I do think that some parents, teachers and doctors will say a kid has ADHD when they don't, simply because it's easier to throw medication at the problem - which has been caused by environmental factors - than to actually look at, and treat, the cause (which seems to be our health services' answer to everything). These mis-diagnoses then have a negative impact on people who are really suffering with such a disorder because it creates a stigma whereby the public believe that such disorders don't exist, which in turn has a huge negative impact on the child and their family (I think that anyone who doesn't believe ADHD exists should go and spend a week with a family of someone who has it, I can guarantee that would change their minds!).

I think that schools need to be better educated on all disorders that give children special needs; it would make theirs and millions of parents' lives so much easier.

ETA: I apologise for the essay, this is a subject I have very strong opinions on having had to endure 20 years of ignorant people's criticism towards my parents and brother (who are all brilliant).

I think part of the problem may be due to the way kids are expected to behave. Children have almost every moment scheduled out - not just school, but at home - ballet, soccer, swimming lessons, piano practice, tutoring, bedtime... combined with parents not allowing their kids to play outside without constant supervision because of some nebulous fear of abduction. Kids aren't really allowed to run around like maniacs and, y'know, like kids. They've got a lot of energy, and need to burn it off somehow. You can't expect any child, no matter how "good" they are to sit quietly and pay attention if they never have any unscheduled time to run around, get dirty, and blow off steam. Toss 'em out the backdoor with a bicycle and directions not to come home till dinner unless they've broken a bone or are bleeding to death, and let them just be children.

Some kids are certainly more prone to bouncing around distractedly than others, but I don't really believe AD/HD exists except in -very- rare cases. The story told by iCad is both shocking and... not surprising, if that makes any sense. So much easier to just give your kid a pill to dope them up than to actually work on things like discipline, and just accepting that kids are sometimes uncontrollable little nutcases. Even so, I don't believe drugs are a good solution either - something that messes with the brain that much can't be good for a young child. Better off trying to treat it with other methods (alternative learning techniques, identifying the issue and working with the child, etc.) and failing that, duct tape the kid to their chair.

el_flel, I'm sorry to hear about your brother, and I'm glad to hear that he's doing well. I do believe, like I said, that the condition in question is real, definitely. I've seen some kids who really can't control themselves, and it's really obvious, like you said, when the other kids in the family all behave normally. I just don't think it's very common, and your 4% figure would appear to agree.

And it's sad that real cases get drowned out by the people who have their kids diagnosed ADD -- and the doctors who confirm the diagnosis, of course -- when, really, it actually is just a disciplinary problem. Because then the people who actually do have the problem and their parents get stigmatized and trivialized as, "Well, you just need to spank your kid more or give him more time-outs" or "You just need to buckle down and pay attention" or whatever. The message is that the parents of a truly ADD child have somehow failed when, indeed, they have not. The message is also that the child is a failure at self-control and it's all his fault, when that isn't the case either. That's truly tragic.

I'm wondering if there isn't some shady/incompetent doctor in my area who hands out Ritalin prescriptions without a second thought. I actually have to take my daughter on a 4.5-hour drive, one way, to Albuquerque for her monthly doctor's appointment, as her problem is ongoing issues with having been born very prematurely, which is not something that anyone in this one-horse town has experience with. I'm kind of glad she isn't seeing any doctors in this area, now that I saw the "Ritalin Line." My son does, though, so I'm tempted to see if I can find out who's prescribing this stuff so much and then maybe raise some awareness. Particularly if it's my son's pediatrician. (There are only two in this entire area, after all.) I can be a really confrontational poop-stirrer when I want to be, I'm afraid...

And yes, HP, I totally agree that kids' lives are far too regimented nowadays, in an effort to make them "superkids." My daughter is heavily into music, but it's her choice to be that way, as her time out of school and after her homework is done is entirely her own. Her physical issues don't allow her to be physically active -- She has a somewhat major heart defect that isn't really operable, other than the pacemaker she already has, as the problem is electrical and not mechanical -- but she puts a lot of effort into her flute, practicing for about 4 hours every day, all by choice. Still, she doesn't get antsy at school. Just bored out of her skull. But maybe this is partly because she does have some control over her life and her days aren't planned.

I wonder how many of those "diagnosed" with ADD or ADHD could be cured by parents simply cutting their sugar intake so they aren't so hyper?

And I completely agree, kids are too regimented...they need to have lots of time for "just play" scheduled. Kids need to be allowed to just be kids. To have hours of completely unstructured play time, using their imaginations, etc, rather than having their entire lives planned out on some calendar.

I agree that ADD exists.. But not to the extent that there should be a line out the door. o.o; I've only met two kids in my lifetime who needed those meds.. And they were CRAZY without them. When i worked at a childcare.. One would throw chairs and get angry and stuff. The other would beat up on you and other kids and have a total melt down. So, yeah... But i also agree that parents (at least some) feel they have no control over disaplining their children. I don't blame them... Its gotten crazy. I got spanked when i was a kid.. NO I DID NOT GET ABUSED. lol. Now that i'm older and i look back.. If i was my mom i'd spank me, too. XD She was too nice.
And omg let your kids play outside. Its sad how packed kids days can become now... Like my little cousin.. In sports, dance, girlscouts, and tutoring.. Plus school. Thats too much! o.o;

Actually, sugar intake doesn't really have much to do with hyperactivity. I don't have a source at the moment but I remember seeing a study where they separated kids into groups: some kids were given a sugary snack, and some were given a non-sugary one. Of the parents, some were told their kids had gotten a sugary snack which didn't, and vice versa. Regardless of what snack the children had actually gotten, the parents who had been told their kids had gotten a sugary snack overwhelmingly reported afterward that their kids were more hyperactive, harder to control, and observers noted the parents "hovered" over the kids a lot more with more "no don't do that!" type statements to the kids.

One of the grad students I know has a stepson who is apparently a bit of a smartass, several of his teachers advised afforementioned grad student to put the kid on Ritalin while another said that she enjoys the kid's antics but he should be talked to about not acting out quite as much. Based on that and class sizes, I would say that some of the problem is that kids who aren't as quiet and attentive are seen as problems and some teachers would rather have quiet drugged up kids than normal, obnoxious ones.

The worst thing about overdiagnosing anything is that the people who actually have the problem get less of the attention they so desperately need because too many other people are lumped in with them. I keep hearing that special ed classes are past capacity. And as I've always understood it, the whole reason that kids are supposed to be in special ed classes is that they need more specialized attention that they cannot get in classrooms of 30+ kids.

Thanks iCad he's so much better behaved now, but when he was a kid it was exhausting and stressful. I'm surprised my parents didn't have a breakdown. We did get some hilarious stories out of it though!

IMO I think people should only take medication if it's absolutely necessary to do so, and I would wager that most, if not all, of those kids at your daughter's school don't need to be on Ritalin at all. In true ADHD cases then I think taking such medication is a good thing in certain situations where good behaviour is really important, but not a good idea to take it all day, every day. The kind of behaviour an un-medicated ADHD child exhibits is completely unmanageable.

I totally agree about kids not being given the opportunity to be kids, and burn off their energy (a large portion of my childhood was spent barefoot running round like a loon in the garden, or going on 'nature walks' with my dad. Nothing like a three hour walk along the beach to completely wear you out!). It's also well known that more and more kids are spending increasing amounts of time in front of the TV and their computers, and less time doing energetic activities, as well as eating a bad diet.

I also think that people aren't very tolerant of children, and expect them to behave like adults which leads people to believe they are acting inappropriately when they aren't; they're behaving normally for a child.

The belief that sugar makes kids hyper is a bit of a myth, it's not been very well supported in scientific research. If there is a difference when processed sugar is taken out of a kid's diet then it is more likely to be a placebo effect caused by the parent's belief that it's going to work.

I agree that ADHD is over-diagnosed, that kids need to just be kids sometimes, and that parents need to discipline their children more. Just walk through the grocery store and the behavior is outrageous!

My older brother was diagnosed with severe ADHD at 5 years old (in 1989). He took several different kids of drugs to help it, but it never really did much. This is probably because he was later diagnosed in his early 20s as having mild Turrets and Autism! Terrible temper tantrums, acting out with violence, and embarrassing social situations were everyday occurrences. He spent years being drugged and his problems were a real strain on the family. He's 25 now and doing much better, but he got lots of professional help.

On the other hand, sometimes it does. I have no formal studies to back me up on this, either, but when my son was younger, like 7 or 8ish, he loved Sprite. It was like crack for him, and he would do anything to get it (which made it great bribe material, but that's beside the point ). It has a buttload of sugar in it. When I would let him have some, about 30 minutes after drinking it, sure enough he would go off the deep end on a sugar rush, just totally nuts. He had to go outside and run and do things that little boys do. He'd take off on his bike, and I'd not see him for a couple of hours, for instance. (Being entirely unparanoid about abduction, I was fine with that. And at the time, I DIDN'T live in a rural area, as I do now.) Now that he's a teen, he doesn't have that extreme of a reaction as much anymore, though Sprite is still his "energy drink" of choice when he's dragging. He says it works better than Red Bull for him.

Given this, it would not surprise me if some kids' hyperactivity was due to excessive sugar intake. I mean, I'm an inherent people watcher, downright nosy sometimes, and I'll watch parents at the park when we go there. With some of their kids, it's just a constant stream of juice and sodas (Haven't these people heard of water???) and candy and God knows what else. Then they wonder why their kids are bouncing through the roof and they're screaming at them to settle down.

On the other hand, ALL food eventually resolves to sugar, whether it's an apple or an equivalent amount, calorie-wise, of candy. As far as the body is concerned, sugar is sugar whether it comes from an apple, a Snickers bar, or a plate of spaghetti. One's reaction to it, outside of conditions like diabetes, depends pretty much exclusively on one's metabolism. Kids, as a general rule, have much higher metabolisms than adults, so for them sugar burns off more quickly, giving them much more noticeable quick energy rushes than adults have. And, for those prone to it, probably more noticeable bouts of hyperactivity, too.

I agree, though, that if you tell a parent that their kid just had a buttload of sugar, the psychological effect is that they'll be all over their kids, just waiting for them to explode and, of course, seeing what is probably their kids' normal behavior as sugar-influence hyperness. The brain is a marvelous thing that way.

Oh goody, this subject again. Oh well, since it's here I might as well face it.

Hi, I'm SilentPsycho, and I have ADHD. I was diagnosed when I was about 5 years old, and initially placed on Ritalin, but that waqs discontinued after I had some bad side effects to it. I was then placed on suppliments, and after that I was on a specialised, no-sugar diet that did nothing to help me, before I was finally placed on Dexadrine which I take to this day. In addition, before anyone starts, I was disaplined as a child, and it's thanks to both my parents who disaplined me and the medication that I managed to grow up this well.

ADHD does exist. If it didn't, then the medication I'm taking would actually have the opposite effect on me than it should. ADHD isn't just a case of hyperactivity, it's a number of other problems. An example would be if your ball went into the middle of the road. Your first thought would be 'Go get the ball', but there would also be a second thought - 'Look out for cars first'. Children and adults with ADHD get the first thought, but not the second because it's harder to link. Hence the reason my foot got ran over when I was 11.

The situation in the school Icad mentioned is, however, not quite right. I will admit that it can be over-diagnosed, but like other people have said, that doesn't mean that all the kids do not have ADHD. In my year of about 80 students during high school, I was the only one with ADHD, but even that depends on a few factors, such as the fact that it was an all-girls school, and there's apparently a ratio of 50:1 of boys:girls that are diagnosed with ADHD, and the other fact that as it was a grammer school an exam is needed to get in, and it was because I was diagnosed early that I was able to get the basics in while I was still a child.

Effects I have when I don't take my medication include being unable to work well in crowded areas due to the surrounding noises. I get this occasionally even on the medication, but it's far worse without it. My brain bounces between everything I see and hear while being unable to focus on a particular conversation. Even talking to someone in a semi-crowded area such as a high street or on a bus is a hard task when I haven't taken my medicine.

I'd rant a bit more, but it's near midnight and I'm tired.

I think it's quite likely that 50% of children have a below-average ability to pay attention in class. :p

But seriously, I can agree that ADHD may be overdiagnosed, but it's certainly a common neurological condition. In fact, I say it's likely been underdiagnosed in the past, so most people seem to think it's just within the normal range of behaviour. But there are good diagnostic tests for it, with possibly the most pronounced effect seen with the Stroop test, so provided such tests are part of the diagnosis, I would actually say it's likely that 5-10% of adolescents have the disorder (though not all of those will be on medication for it).

But consider also that methylphenidate (usually marketed as Ritalin) improves attention and cognition in practically anybody who takes it, and it wouldn't suprise me if parents are getting their children on the medication simply because they know it will improve their academic performance whether they have a 'disorder' or not.

I do believe that there are a small number of kids that may be rightly diagnosed but there is another side to this story that no one has mention. Where I live the school district get x number of federal dollars for every kid diagnose and their parent got $500.00 a month from SSI. That $ amount may have gone up since my departure for some years where I had access to this information. I am sure this is not just happening in my area.

The gender effect is pronounced, but not as bad as you make out. It's between 3:1 and 10:1 (boys:girls) in childhood and less than 2:1 in adulthood. Girls are perhaps less likely to actually have their symptoms diagnosed as ADHD, as they are less likely to be disruptive (though more likely to be inattentive) and so don't get noticed as much.

Ah, okay. I was just going off something I was told once. It was a long time ago.

ADHD is real but I agree 100% with HP. Kids are bundles of energy and they need to expend it. Hell, I'm not a particularly sporty person or anything like that. My perfect weekend is curling up on the couch with a loved one with a nice bottle of wine or two.

But even I as a kid ran around like a maniac, climbed trees, fell off my skateboard, etc... Kids HAVE to do these things. A child who comes home from school and does nothing but watch TV or play video games is always going to act out, they haven't used up their energy and will do so through throwing tantrums, getting distracted in class, etc.

Personally I think we're making kids grow up too fast. Too many pressures for them to succeed at too early an age. We want them in scouts, we want them learning an instrument, we want them doing their homework, we want them to do so much that we forget one of the most fundamental parts of a healthy childhood - play.

The story in the OP scares and sickens me. There is a going prevalence of finding the quick fix in parenting these days. Sex education is now seen as the purvew of school teachers now when traditionally it was considered a parents job. Parents no longer play with their kids, prefering the TV or Xbox to do the job for them. Now I fear that parents are increasingly seeing psychotropic drugs as a quick way to deal with exciteable energetic children.

Parenting is a full time job people. You don't get time off. You don't get easy outs.

Surely the joy of having a child should make the effort you put in raising it all worthwhile.

There are kids out there who have serious behavioral issues but I can't believe all those kids in the Ritalin line classified.

It makes me very sad.

I was under the impression that dextroamphetamine acted as a stimulant and generally increased concentration even in people without ADHD (and that any negative effects would only be present in people who were extraordinarily good at paying attention). But perhaps I'm thinking of modafinil...

I think you are thinking of modafinil. I have to be careful about my medication and either keep it on my person or in a locked box because it's a type of amphetamine, and even then I only ever have it on me if I'm going to need it. I've seen several people get thrown out of clubs because they've had it on them and were planning to use it to get high.

People with ADHD have low levels of dopamine, and so the medication for it raises dopamine levels. If a person with normal levels of dopamine takes the meds then it gets them high.

I would agree with what's been said so far.

It's certainly a very real condition - my brother has ADD and growing up with him - prior to his diagnosis, and during the periods where he (understandably, I think) decided that he didn't want to take medication - were pure hell for me. As well as major concentration issues, he used to have problems with violent outbursts and temper tantrums, and I used to be on the recieving end. After having tried many things, he was put on Ritalin and he became a different person - his concentration improved, the violence decreased - and it was always very obvious to everyone around him if he hadn't taken the medication when he was supposed to. Like el_flel's brother, he has improved as he's got older. He's 22 now and no longer takes medication, but his concentration problems are still very apparent at times. If he's watching television for example, I have to repeat a question three or four times to get a response from him. If I need him to do a number of things, I have to ask him to do each thing separately because he can't concentrate on the whole list: he'll do the final thing and have no recollection of me asking him to do the other things.

That said, I think that it's one of the current 'trendy' conditions, and is certainly overdiagnosed. It sometimes seems, as others here have commented, that every other kid who behaves in a disruptive manner or otherwise acts out is diagnosed with ADD or ADHD and I think that not only is it a cop out, it probably makes life more difficult for the kids who really do suffer from it.

I have the same problem. I've managed to get to the point that I only need to take medication on days that I need it, i.e. when I'm going to a job interview, or when I do get a job I will use it then, but not at weekends or days off. Even so, if my parents need me to do something, I always ask them to write it down in a list. I'll listen to them, remember it and mean to do it, but as soon as something distracts me I forget it until someone brings it up later.

If it's written down somewhere where I'll see it, i.e. a small white board in the kitchen, or a piece of paper stuck on the mirror, I'll remember and do it.

Same. My brother was so horrible to me as a kid, always starting fights with me and hitting me for no reason, and because I was the eldest and because my behaviour could be managed I was always the one who had to stop it and not to retaliate, even when he made me so angry I could scream. We get on great now, and I have always been very defensive of him because I knew for the most part that he couldn't help it.

There is research to suggest a strong genetic link. As us kids have gotten older my dad has relaxed and seems to be regressing slightly back to his youth, and we always say to him that we can see lot of traits in him that are also apparent in my brother.

AD/HD is the biggest scam ever perpetrated by the medical community