I Knew It, Goddamn It
A recent Penn State study concluded that elementary kids, especially boys, are being over-diagnosed and over-treated for ADHD. I’ve been harping about that for years. It’s worse than T-Ball. Ya know how it goes, a kid gets bored in school, does a little creative mischief, talks too much, and guess what …the teacher yaps to mom and pop that if the kid doesn’t change, he’ll be sent to Juvenile Hall for disrupting the progress of others. And off to the pediatrician they go. And sure as shootin’, they warn little Ferris Bueller on the car ride over not to act up in front of the doctor. Keep your mouth shut, kid. Then the poor little bastard walks out of the doc’s with a prescription for Ritalin.
Not long ago, the New York Times did a story saying that Ritalin was a gateway drug. For a kid, it breaks the seal on the idea of taking drugs every day. I know a few kids who were on Ritalin real young and ended up heroin addicts. It’s usually the class clowns who are put on the drug. To tone down their energy. But like Buck Norman says, “Just remember, bub. The valedictorian always ends up working for the class clown.”
Another culprit is that a lot of schools today have done away with recess. If little Jimmy Johnson gets nailed for mischief in class, he’s not let outside to play. That does more harm than good, and the punishment eventually backfires on the teacher. With no outlet for play or physical activity, the kid is really going to really go wacknuts. You ask me, recess should be longer and math class should be shorter.
Take a look at this ad we ran a few years ago. We got a lot of response to it, especially from pediatricians who, off the record, said it was right on the button.
Did you know that Europe has far lower rates of diagnosed ADHD? But like OxyContin, ADHD drugs generate big bucks for big pharma in this country. Keith Conner was called the father of ADHD and knew more about it than anybody on the planet. Before he died, he said he regretted its current misuse, blaming it on doctors who are under pressure to build patient volume and often recommend Ritalin after only a 20-minute evaluation session with a kid. I’ve always said I thought Ritalin was chemical warfare on a kid’s brain.
Keep your dukes up—and stand up for kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27ieQVZpX5Y
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