There are so many concerns surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of ADD/ADHD that parents must be knowledgeable and cautious.  It is usually the school that approaches parents to have an assessment for ADD/ADHD and parents often feel pressured in having the traditional drug treatment to ‘correct’ their child’s behavior.

What should parents do if the school identifies a child with potentially having ADD/ADHD?

• Have the school put their concerns and directions in writing.  Hold them accountable.

• If the school tells you that your child needs medication to control his or her behavior, remind them that medical help does not necessarily mean taking medication.

• If you are told to sign a release for your child’s medical records, ask to see that law in writing.

• Whenever you have a school conference or go before a school review board, record that meeting on a tape recorder.  The recorder should be in plain sight.  If you are told that the meeting is confidential, remember that confidentiality is your child’s right — not the school’s right.

• Children who have an ADD/ADHD diagnosis normally have an above-average IQ.  Ask the school why it is so difficult for them to teach the smartest kids in school.

• The federal government allots over $2 billion to local school systems under the Individual Development Assistance Act of 1985.  Ask the school officials how much money their school and school system gets when a child is coded as needing special education services.

• Find out what percentage of students in the school system are taking ADD/ADHD medication.  The average number is between 3-5%.

Although no chemical imbalance has ever been proven, health professionals prescribe psychostimulant medication (such as Ritalin, Strattera, Adderall) as the primary treatment in correcting the ‘chemical imbalance’.  In 2000, more than 19 million prescriptions for ADHD drugs were filled, a 72% increase since 1995.

However, with the known side effects of these drugs and without knowledge or evidence of long-term results on growth and development, is medication really the best option?

Parents should know that the psychostimulants normally prescribed for ADD/ADHD help all people — with or without an ADD/ADHD diagnosis — to focus attention more easily, depending on the dose.

However, these drugs are not without serious risk.  Between the years of 1990-2000, over 569 children were hospitalized, 38 of them were life-threatening hospitalizations, and 186 died from Ritalin.

It is well known that psychostimulants have abuse potential.  Very high doses of psychostimulants, particularly of amphetamines, may cause central nervous system damage, cardiovascular damage, and hypertension.  In addition, high doses have been associated with compulsive behaviors and, in certain vulnerable individuals, movement disorders.  There is a rare percentage of children and adults treated at high doses who have hallucinogenic responses.  Drugs used for ADHD other than psychostimulants have their own adverse reactions: tricyclic antidepressants may induce cardiac arrhythmias, bupropion at high doses can cause seizures, and pemoline is associated with liver damage.  (Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, National Institute of Health)

Many parents do not realize that if their child takes Ritalin or other psychostimulant medication past the age of 12, according to the 1999 Military Recruitment Manual, that child may not join the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, or National Guard until after a doctor has signed a paper stating that the person has been off the medication for four years.

Also, if a child uses Ritalin or other psychostimulant medication, the state or federal government cannot hire him or her if the job involves state secrets or national security, because that child is a Class 2 drug user.

If a child uses Ritalin or other psychostimulant medication, some insurance companies will turn down that child for being a Class 2 drug user, and may even turn down the entire family.  Other health insurance companies will raise rates and write in a pre-existing condition clause, excluding some coverage for the ADD/ADHD child.

Psychostimulant medication are drugs that are commonly abused.  Some unprescribed users of Adderall, an amphetamine, and methylphenidate, more widely known as Ritalin, are adults.  But experts say many are young people, as young as 11, who get the drugs from peers being treated for ADD.  Users often crush the pills and snort them to get a cocaine-like rush, as these drugs and cocaine have more similarities than differences.

Students who take ADD/ADHD medication are often asked to sell or trade their drugs, and many know students who have given away or sold their medication.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a study of students in Wisconsin and Minnesota showed 34% of ADHD youth, ages 11-18, report being approached to sell or trade their medicines, such as Ritalin.

There are so many concerns surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of ADD/ADHD that parents must be knowledgeable and cautious.  It is usually the school that approaches parents to have an assessment for ADD/ADHD and parents often feel pressured in having the traditional drug treatment to ‘correct’ their child’s behavior.

Although health professionals often state that ADD/ADHD is a brain-based biological disorder caused by a brain chemical imbalance, there is simply no reliable test to prove this — no physical or chemical abnormality validates ADHD as a medical disease.

Before accepting a diagnosis of ADD or ADHD, parents should rule out other conditions that show similar behavior symptoms.

Attention Deficit Disorder describes the characteristics

of inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity

that may be present in some children and adults.

Although health professionals often state that ADD/ADHD is a brain-based biological disorder caused by a brain chemical imbalance, there is simply no reliable test to prove this — no physical or chemical abnormality validates ADHD as a medical disease.

Since there can be no diagnosis without a disease, what is there?

There is a description of behaviors — symptoms — that health professionals use as a checklist in deciding whether your child has an attentional disorder.

However, symptoms do not necessarily mean there is a disease. To determine disease, there must be an objective test (such as blood text, X-rays, CAT scans, etc.).

There is no independent valid objective test for ADD/ADHD.  Instead health professionals rely on:

• a list of behaviors (primarily, inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, academic underachievement, or behavior problems),

• diagnostic interviews,

• anecdotal information from family and school staff.

ADD/ADHD behaviors are found in the The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision that forms the accepted guidelines for what are considered to be ‘mental illnesses’, or as they are more recently referred to, ‘mental disorders’.  This reference text is the “bible” of the mental health industry.  ADD was added to the DSM-IV in 1980 and ADHD in 1987.  Read the American Academy of Pediatrics’ guidelines for diagnosing ADHD.