Antidepressant Seen as Effective in Treatment of Adolescents

Actually Adrian, schools can't decide if a child should be medicated. In fact, teachers are not even allowed to bring it up. If a parent asks, we can explain behaviors of the child, but only a doctor can decide to give out any type of drugs.

Becky would know more about this than me, but medicating a child won't make him or her get with the program. If a child does have trouble focusing, then it will help them to do so. Other than that, it makes them a bit more sleepy than usual, nothing more. If a child hates school, they will act the same way regardless of the medication they are taking.

as I say. you tend to look for conspiracies and look into things way too much Adrian.

It shows the society as a whole has got a bit lazier with regards to parenting and sorting kids out but its not some sort of mass scam to get kids to sit through school and even if it is: why the **** not? thats what schools there for and I know I dont want kids going mad every 2 minutes in the class.

Schools are deciding if children need to be medicated. Parents Michael and Jill Carroll of Albany N.Y. were placed on a state list of child abusers when they threatened to take their child, 7 year old Kyle, off Ritalin, despite the fact that he was eating one meal a day and sleeping 5 hours a night. They're now fighting a court battle against the state of New York to clear their names. The Albany paper, Times Union reported:"Public schools are increasingly accusing parents of child abuse and neglect if they balk at giving their children medication such as Ritalin, a stimulant being prescribed to more and more students." A similar incident occured with Patricia Weathers of Millbrook, New York. Police and child protective services were called by the school when she took her 9 year old son Michael off his drug cocktail of Ritalin, Paxil, and Dexedrine because they caused him to hallucinate. Maybe schools aren't literally tying children down and dosing them with Ritalin over their parents protests, but they are taking offense (and legal action) when parents interfere with their "Individualized Education Plans."

Adrian

When my son was in kindergarten his teacher suggested that he had ADD.

My son is one of the calmest, sweetest kids of his age - and this is not just the Mom talking. She asked if ADD runs in either my or his Dad's family. I say no. She says, well he sometimes has trouble focusing (we are talking about a 5 year old that is not only in full-day kindergarten, but in aftercare also - he is in school the whole day) and seems to 'space out'. Now this 'spacing out' is very familiar to me and I tell her that I've observed that too, but think it is just that he takes a mental break and 'dreams' about stuff. I know this all too well from his father So, she suggested to have my son evaluated regarding ADD. Again, I ask her why exactly she thinks that. She again brings up that he doesn't always focus at 'carpet time' (all the kids sit on the carpet and go over the alphabet or something). I tell her that my son is one of the very very few kids that have always been able to play for hours by himself with lego or cars or whatnot. He never bounces off the walls or anything like that. I tell her that I equate it with me sitting through a long presentation/meeting and I too space out at times (please who doesn't?????). Her reply was that obviously ADD runs in my family as I just admitted to not being able to focus for a long long time and that my son apparently can only concentrate for a long time if he is doing something with his hands. (ah, isn't that somewhat normal????)

So, if I have ADD and never known it, I think my son can live with it too. I agree that I have a fairly short attention span, but not shorter than the average person - I don't bounce off walls and I don't disturb meetings when I start thinking about 'what's for dinner' lol. Obviously, I've managed to get through many many years of school and am pretty successful in my job, I expect the same of my child without having a label affixed to him and have him on meds.

I never did have him checked at the pediatrition as I think the whole thought of ADD is idiotic. But this is an example of where somebody else might have reacted differently. The teacher did not tell me what to do, but merely suggested what the problem might be.

It seems to be the trend these days to label kids with some kind of sickness.. my report cards only ever said that I was bad at concentrating for long periods of time and that I could be distruptive when bored (happened quite a bit...). I think these days I would have been drugged up to the eyeballs!!

What you just wrote still supports my response. Schools can't tell you that you HAVE to start your kids on drugs. Teachers can suggest, as Spunky has said, but the decision is up to the parents. If you notice, in both of those cases the children were already on medication to begin with. The parents are the ones who made the ultimate decision to start their child on drugs. As for those two cases, there may be more to the story. I've worked in a school for a long time now, and if a parent takes their kids off of a drug, there isn't anything we can do about it. Who knows what the situation was in the above cases. I can't pass judgement on it unless I know the entire story, which you don't either.

I agree with mouse and spunky. Teachers can give you an advise, but they just can't give your kids medication! If they do that, you can sue them.

Spunky, i also totally agree on the matter with your son. It's normal that a 5 year old kid cannot concentrate for a long time. That doesn't mean that he has ADD! Come on, that's way too overreacted. I dated a guy who had ADD. He couldn't make decisions by himself, he was always only thinking about himself and didn't ask me how I was doing etc. Is your son sociable? Does he have problems with making contact to other kids? If not, then he is just a normal kid. And if he still has learning problems or behavioural problems when he is 6 or 7 years old and when he is at primary school, you can still do some tests. But to do it now is too overreacted I think... (just my opinion )

Yes he is very sociable and has not problem making friends. He is almost 7 and I often have to tell him 3 times to put his shoes on because he gets distracted by whatever is on his way to the closet . Are there kids that concentrate better? Certainly. Are there kids that don't concentrate as well as he does? I am sure. He may not be perfect, but he sure doesn't need medication. I don't consider it a behavioral problem if he starts daydreaming - if he was disruptive in class - that would be a different matter.

Daydreamers are often very creative! Maybe your son will become an artist in the future

I will admit I don't know the whole story. But the guy who reported what I wrote is an assistant editor for the Las Vegas Review Journal, his whole livelihood depends on his accuracy, so I'd have a tendency to believe what he writes. And while your school may not take action when a child is taken off a medication...that's not to say that another school won't do something.

Adrian