It takes a village to destroy a child

[dave502d]

The explosion of new ADHD cases in the 1990s, which continues today, can be traced directly to a 1991 change in eligibility for federal education grants allowing schools to be paid $400 in annual grants for each child diagnosed with ADHD, after classifying it as a handicap.

http://usabig.com/autonomist/articles10/ritalin.html

[Skittles]

1. I wonder if the explosion in childhood ADHD

coincided with the addition of sugary drinks and snack into schools

[Gemini Cat]

4. That and the lack of play time in the lower grades.

[madrchsod]

12. increased homework

taking away play time after school..i or 2 hours of home work for first graders? yup my nephews had i hour in first grade now they are up to 2-2-1/2 hours in 3 and 4th grade..it sucks to be a kid now days

[ulysses]

2. any links

other than from a shrine to Ayn Rand?

[teach1st]

3. I can't speak for all schools and districts...

Quoted from the link in the OP:

Yet, with the money pouring into school coffers, education officials, acting like local street pushers, keep forcing it on unsuspecting, worried parents and their innocent children.

I can't speak for all schools and districts, but in my district we're not allowed to suggest, force, push, or prescribe. All we can do as teachers and staff members is describe behavior, and, if asked by a parent if we think a child is ADD, to ask them to see a physician for a professional opinion. We don't diagnose, and we don't prescribe.

[dave502d]

5. Good for you teach1st.

I live in a town where if the teacher think the kid need it they get it.

[teach1st]

8. That's unethical, in my opinon

We're not trained to diagnose. Another consideration is that some parents push for an ADHD diagnosis because it can qualify the child for social security benefits.

I've seen meds help some kids with attention difficulties, but overall I'm not impressed with that sort of treatment. We can affect a more lasting treatment with sound behavioral and educational interventions. Just my opinion as a teacher and the father of an ADD child.

[China_cat]

6. Here the schools can REQUIRE

you to medicate your child or they won't allow him/her into classes. If a teacher recommends it, it becomes absolute and non-refutable.

[Matariki]

7. SERIOUSLY?? All it takes is ONE teacher and you have to medicate your kid?

That is EVIL. Where do you live?

[Ilsa]

10. China cat's profile says Charleston SC. nt

[China_cat]

13. Charleston

[madrchsod]

9. same thing around here.

teacher and school health care worker

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. Or, it takes a village to raze a child

:-)

[LWolf]

14. Schools don't diagnose ADHD.

Doctors do.

Having sat through many interminable budget meetings over the last 3 decades, poring over school budgets line by line and category by category, I can say with a clear conscience that I have never seen any grant money coming in for "ADHD" kids, have never heard a teacher, school psych, administrator, or anyone from the business office of any district mention it.

I believe that kids can get some special ed services on a 504 plan or an IEP, but the school still hasn't done the diagnosis. Perhaps this federal "grant" money is part of the federal funding for special ed services?

Regardless, this article is disinformation. Schools are not diagnosing kids with dangerous drugs to rake in an extra $400 bucks. Having worked with many ADD/ADHD kids in the school system, I can say that there are many options instead of, or in addition to, drugs to help these kids. Meds are a parent's choice, not the school's.

The jury is still out on the cause of adhd or whether or not it is increasing. It is not, however, something invented by schools to drug kids for money.

http://www.umm.edu/mentalhealth/addcause.htm