I apologize for the lateness of this post! My baby Benjamin is sickly and has needed my undivided attention these past few days. Thank you for your patience!
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I believe that the school-age children in America are over-medicated. It is not that I believe that their problems do not exist. On the contrary, I believe they have more reason than any other generation to be distracted, depressed, hyper-active, and moody. But I believe that, for the most part, pills are not the answer.
This was not one of the original What I Believe subjects I brainstormed when I created this series. Cloth diapering, breastfeeding, co-sleeping, anti-circumcising were all on the list.
Medicating children was not on the list until one day, I was perusing the local Kroger’s “Back to School Savings” ad a couple weeks ago and saw this:
Here’s a close up:
Generic ADHD medications – 20% off. And in a nice red attention-grabbing star you see that they’ll even give you an extra medication vial for school.
What a steal!
Is generic Ritalin is now part of the supply list? Are there that many children taking these drugs that the stores benefit from advertising them along with folders and crayons?
When I was in school this was almost unheard of. Are there more diagnoses because there are more cases? Or because the screening process has become less rigid? If there really is a rise of ADHD, is it to be blamed on genetics? Television? Daycares? Divorces? High-fructose corn syrup? Or an overall lowering of standards for our children?
This resonates particularly strongly within me. When I was in grade school, I was one of the “unheard of” children who took Ritalin. I did not put effort into my work. I did not DO homework. I did not concentrate on lessons. So I was medicated.
My childhood was one big garbled mess. There could have been several factors that led to my short attention span. It could have been because of the divorces, the moving, the rejection from my father, the friction between my mother and myself. It could have been a “chemical disorder”. It could have been genetic. Or it could have just been that “hard work” was not on my list of fun things to do with my free time. I just wasn’t motivated.
I was on Ritalin until high school, when, in honor of the all-consuming desire of teenagers everywhere to “fit in,” I quit the drugs. Oh, and there was this side effect that I wasn’t very proud of: stunted growth. I was the short, chubby girl. My sophomore year, I grew four inches. At least.
I also failed English. Twice.
Coincidence? Should I have gone back on the medication? I didn’t.
My junior year came with more adolescent drama and I ended up moving to live with my dad and attending a different school. I met and fell in love with my now-husband. And was he ever my opposite! He had dreams, goals, and the will to work towards them with a force I had never seen before. He was applying to *gasp* colleges!
Hmm. Maybe, if I want to end up with this guy, I better pass my sophomore English class.
Long story only slightly shorter, I ended up not only graduating high school, but attending a Christian college and graduating Magna Cum Laude. With tassels and everything.
As a result of these experiences, I have developed some strong beliefs about medicating children. I believe that, yes, you can alter the behavior of the child with medication. But what are you teaching them? When they hit high school, they will shy away from the medication, just like I did. Only, at that age, it will be much more difficult to change their behavioral habits. What will they be left with? The inability to concentrate.I believe that concentration is a skill that must be taught. It must be expected from a young age. It must be modeled to them throughout their life. The expectations and modeling must be consistent.
I believe that television shortens the attention span and wastes away at the muscles of concentration and imagination. I believe that high-fructose corn syrup (along with a host of other unhealthy ingredients) can be blamed for hyper-activity, followed by exhausted sluggishness – neither of which is conducive for concentrating. I believe that every child is different and must be trained according to their bend (in the way they should go); some children are naturally more active, and there are ways to teach them just the way they are. I believe that a child raised in a daycare situation does not receive the training and modeling in routine and concentration that a child who stays at home with her parent (potentially) does. I believe that divorce and rejection rob children of the ability to concentrate on anything other than their current throbbing pains.
I believe that the reasons children need medication are avoidable, yet will continue to occur until the Kingdom comes. I believe that instead of medicating the wounded soul of a child suffering from rejection, the healing salve of the love of our Lord should be applied. I believe that the aimless mind-wanderings of a child can be focused once they realize they have a purpose in life. I believe that the desire to fulfill that purpose will strengthen as they realize how much they are loved by their Abba-father.
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For more reading on treating ADHD without medication:
http://www.healthcentral.com/PrinterFriendly_hc/drdean/408/60935.html
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Post a link to your What I Believe post in the comments below along with a brief summary. Rule are here. And remember, if I get more than five contributions, I’ll fork out the $5 for a subscription to Mr. Linky!
http://aintnoplace.blogspot.com/2007/09/carlie.html
adoption and abortion
I have a kid in my class right now who’s mom dosn’t believe in properly medicating her child. He is ADHD, and if you look up ADHD in the dictionary you will see his picture.
He needs medication. He isn’t getting the right kind. Parents don’t always necessarilly understand that these kids are going through puberty and need constant alterations on their meds because of it. He can’t concentrate. He is unable to sit still. When he talks, it is a mile a minute. He is one of many that I see during the day like this.
As a special education teacher I see lots of kids with ADD and ADHD. Having ONLY this dosn’t always qualify them for special education services, as this is considered an Other Health Impairment, and not an eligibility for special ed unless it is paired with another disability. (just some background info)
I would say that 30% of the kids I see are on ADD or ADHD medications. 25-35% actually need them. There are also 5% of kids who are going completely unmedicated and definately need it.
I have kids who refuse to do their homework and fail classes. This dosn’t mean they are necessarilly ADD or ADHD. This is why the school psychologist works with the case conference committees and GEI committees go through behavior rating scales. There are, of course, parents who totally do not communicate with their students schools andjust go ahead and medicate by getting a scrip from their family DR (who has no communication with their child’s teacher).
Thanks for your beliefs!
What I believe: Doing, not hearing- There is more to the Christian life than just believing. In fact, actions ARE the Christian life!
http://krismich.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-i-believe-doing-not-hearing.html
Here is my link to my “I Believe”. Just for you Beth! 🙂 Internet mayhem may ensue for touching on the vaccination issue, but I’m ready!
http://monkswife.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-i-believe.html
Interestingly enough, I think it could fall in line with your post, particularly this spot:
“There could have been several factors that led to my short attention span”
I think vaccinations could have contributed as well. We just don’t know.
I also agree with our food containing the high fructose corn syrups and other garbage. But my REALLY big beef is a lack of recess. When I was in elementary school in the 70’s (yes y’all, I’m THAT old) we had 3, yes 3, recesses every day. One 15 min in the morning, 30 at lunch and 15 min in the afternoon. These kids today get *maybe* ONE 10 minute recess. Children need time to blow off steam. They need to get into the fresh air and run around like crazy. It helps their bodies and their brains. It could also help with childhood obesity (hmm…sounds like another “I Believe” post coming to life here!).
I also agree with your point about different learning styles. The schools today expect everyone to be a round peg and fit nicely into their round holes. Sorry. There are going to be kids who are square pegs that just simply aren’t wired to fit into those round holes. I don’t think medicating them will ever change their learning style. It might drug them into submission so they don’t interfere with the other “normal” learning children and what does that solve?
Great post, as usual. Very thought provoking. Obviously by the novella I’ve written you struck a chord with me! 🙂
Michelle – Good point about the lack of recess! I don’t think God created children with the intention of having them sit all day! (Hmm, could this be a reason to homeschool?)
I’ll be looking at your post soon, can’t wait!
Beth! I participated too! I believe everyone is fascinating and worth listening to.
As for medication, I totally agree with you. I had a friend that went from being unmedicated to medicated while I was close to her, and I saw her wilt. Yes, she was able to focus on her schoolwork, sure, but she wasn’t herself anymore. She definitely had emotional problems that the medicine couldn’t fix, it just thinly suppressed for a while, until it wore off. And the side effects were not worth it at all. To this day, she may still be medicated. I look forward to the day when she can blossom as Herself again.
http://www.beautyfromchaos.com/?p=197
There’s my WIB post. I’m still reading your WIB, so i may comment again..
I have to admit that I honestly think 50% of kids who are on medication shouldn’t be.
I also have to admit that until 2 summers ago I didn’t think ADHD really existed. I thought it was just lack of discipline, too much sugar and yes, TV.
I worked for a day camp where there was a boy who was on medication for his ADHD.
I have NEVER seen a boy like this before. He was a genius. Super smart. The kid would sit and read for hours. There was another side of Ashton that I saw way more than that though.
The angry, “i want to kill someone” Ashton was a child I feared on occasion. If Ashton’s mom forgot to bring his pills, we called her. There was no ‘putting up with a hyper kid’ for the day.
He was hyper without his med, even with his medicine sometimes he was too much to handle. He got on everyone’s nerves. he did things to purposefully irritate you.
I think the biggest thing that made that summer so hard was the other children in the camp. kids are Cruel. See, Ashton had a short fuse. He was easily excited, easily angered. And when he was Angry, he was aiming to harm.
Every day was a cycle, sometimes the cycle started at 8 when he was dropped off, sometimes it started at 12. Ashton would arrive ready for the day, most of the time happy. The kids would get bored, Ashton became their target and the adventure would begin.
The rare days (and by rare I mean 3 days of the whole summer) that the other children didn’t pick on Ashton, he was a great child. We could handle him. Sure, he got talkative every once and awhile, but he was a great wonderful boy.
I know Ashton needed something to help him control himself. I also know that if those other children would have left him alone I probably wouldn’t have thought he had ADHD.
My point is this. He made me realize that there really is ADHD in the world, there really are children who grow up in loving homes, with parents who love each other and the child, and discipline the child that are still hyper.
What I believe about sustainable farming
http://burkefarm.wordpress.com/2007/09/20/what-we-believe/
When we were very young my younger brother was diagnosed with ADHD. This must have been nearly 15 years ago (yikes I’m getting old). He was hyperactive and did need discipline, but some kids are like that. Anyways… my parents refused to put him on ritoline (no idea how to spell that). So the psychologist decided to try biofeedback therapy. I’m not an expert on it by any means, but basically it retrained his brain to focus. The problem with ADHD (according to my psychophysiology class in college) is that the brain can not focus on one task at a time. Generally the brain is able to block out certain things and focus on one thing at a time, but those with ADHD can’t.
So his biofeedback training included playing games on a computer that would force him to focus on certain things. It did help, according to my parents. He was probably 7 or 8 at the time.
All that said, personally I totally agree with the fact that children are over medicated. Also I don’t necessarily buy what the ‘experts’ say causes ADHD. I honestly think that it is a). caused by environmental factors and b). should be trained and harnessed rather than medicated. Also diet plays a huge roll. I believe it is diagnosed higher in boys than girls. Which brings me to the conclusion that boys and girls are different, should be educated differently and simply don’t think/learn/work the same way as girls do. Which of course brings us back to why we should homeschool, as you said. It doesn’t take medication or a village. It takes proper care and training of a child.
Mrs. S.
I disagree with some of the above posters and agree with Jes. I agree that children are over medicated but I COMPLETELY disagree that ADD or ADHD is caused by the things that are being listed here (parenting, love, faith).
Not all kids who are medicated for ADHD need it.
Those who do need it, really do need it. It isn’t a lack of parenting, a lack of discipline, a lack of Christian ideals, a lack of attention paid to the child, a lack of love, or a lack of anything……..
ADHD and ADD are signifigant disabilities for these students and affect their learning, their attention, and their lives. It isn’t a made up disorder. If you begin saying that it isn’t a real disorder or that these kids or their parents can just snap out of it, then you really arn’t seeing the point. Like I said before, most kids labled ADD or ADHD arn’t, BUT there are definately kids that ARE and either need to continue their meds WITH alternative therapies or need to be put ON something that they are not currently taking.
I personally find it a little offensive that people think that the reason that a child has ADD or ADHD problems is because of the school or type of teaching being used in the classroom. A true ADD or ADHD child will find it hard to function in a classroom no matter the teaching methods. They will also find it hard to function in life in general.
Sorry but this topic’s got me fired up since this directly coorelates with what I do for a living.
BTW – the reason we can’t have recess (let alone three recesses) in school is because of statewide standardized testing and meeting state criteria for academic standards. Basically – we can’t meet these standards and prepare for testing if we are constantly taking recess breaks. That goes for all grades. K-5 usually fit in a recess time, but after that, it is gone. These kids still usually have a gym class, although, or another related arts class. So they are not necessarilly sitting still all day.
So, if you agree that kids need recess, maybe you should let your state representatives know that you disagree with standardized testing and No Child Left Behind.
You can thank Bush for the NCLB and AYP (and lack of recesses).
I would have been completely arguing with Bonnie two years ago. I really felt ADHD was a load of poopy. Like I said, Ashton taught me a thing or two.
I do agree that there are other things besides medication that can be used to control minor cases of ADHD there might be some way other than pills to control severe case like Ashton.
The only reason I know that there are real cases of ADHD is because Ashton came from a fairly decent home. He was disciplined, his parents loved each other and loved him and his brother. The amount of sugar he ate was monitored, the amount of TV he watched was limited. Every excuse for ADHD I had ever thought of was proved false with him.
I DO believe there are children being medicated for disorders that they do not have. “disorders” that could be solved with a wooden spoon and less candy and soda.
I also wonder what the side effects of all the hormones they put in our food to make them “healthy” are causing. If you look at our country, ADHD isn’t the only disorder or disease that has sky rocketed in the past few years.
Actually…autism is also sky rocketing.
Yes Jes…totally agree.
The problem lies therein where kids being misdiagnosed with ADD/ADHD thus causing a headache for those who are truely ADD/ADHD and the parents and teachers who work with them and understand the difference.
Hmm, I wonder why we don’t go by the rules I learned in one of my classes in school that a child’s attention span is only as long as one minute per year old they are. That would get kind of crazy if we tried to teach on those guidelines.
Oh, and when I was in elementary school we did standardized testing and still had 3 recesses a day…. I did fine in school, I was above average on my tests, got all my work done and still caused problems for my teacher!! (I like to talk).
This is an interesting post, and I must say, I agree with your views. I was heavily medicated in my childhood due to severe stomach issues that were “in my head” and suffered greatly due to the nasty psych drugs I was placed on. Sadly, the problems “in my head” were finally diagnosed as celiac disease when I was eighteen years old. I wonder if my doctors had truly looked into my problems, rather than be so quick to jump to the bottle of pills, if my quality of life would have been better in the years I was VERY ill.
ok, i did it. 🙂
http://crunchydomesticgoddess.com/2007/09/21/what-i-believe-brad-pitt-kevin-kline-on-co-sleeping/
mine is about what i believe re: co-sleeping, especially in light of some celebrities talking about sharing a family bed with their children.
thanks! 🙂
amy
Jes- actually, I do teach on those guidelines in a way. My reading class is taught in 20 minute increments (actually it turns into about 17 min with transitions). My kids range in age from 12-14, so it is just a few min more than the age-minute theory.
Guess what? The kids with ADD/ADHD still can’t pay attention, even if it is a shortened lesson. Too much movement and fixations to deal with, and instructions to take in.
Jes- When you took standardized testing in grade school there wasn’t such a thing as No Child Left Behind or AYP.
This is what has changed (and why we can’t have much time for recesses).
I didn’t think those kids would be able to pay attention if we taught on short increments, I was just saying life would be pretty interesting if they did teach like that. I know when I was in school they didn’t teach like that. Or maybe it just seemed a lot longer to me when i was a child.
DId you do the post on circumcision? I am always curious as to why people don’t circumcise their boys. I can’t find it in your archives. Let me know. Thanks.
Zan
Don’t know if I’m too late to sign in, but mine is on the use of Fairy Tales– true, original fairy tales, and children.
is this a weekly thing? please email me and let me know if u get a chance. 🙂
This is my What I Believe Post (just a little late!). It is about the merits of International Living:)
Oops! The link is: http://thescrawnymommy.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-i-believe-international-living-my.html
mm… love it
My partner and I stumbled over here different web address and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so i am just following you. Look forward to going over your web page again.
push open te screen, standing at the window overlooking the distant building of drains and Anticipation Primary School, silent, nor rationale behind from the Koto.
Caressing breeze through the window Zhao Xin, elegant and beautiful locks. She stands like any statue. I do not recognize how long, Jiangdong broke the peace and quiet from. And shouts: Xin. He said only you word, unable to pronounce any kind of sound. Zhao Xin shoulder minor move, she sensed Jiangdong from returning towards the call.