To all no I didn't just research and do a speech on this I had a son that was diagnosed or should I say misdiagnosed with ADD. If you read the book about ADD by Julian Habert who is a reasearcher and peditrician he has the best view of all I found. I'll post the name I don't have it with me.
We were pushed by school officials to put Anthony on Ritalin, I since found from research he probably had dispargia an inability to put information on paper that your thinking. It has to do with the brain and hand coordination. ANthony DID NOT GROW 1" on Ritalin. He became angry and this is a side effect of the drug. They also link suicide and homicide to these drugs. For children that aren't supposed to be on it it can be a horrible. When Anthony was taken off of it by Thunder and I he grew 4" in a week.
The point is that pharmecuetical companies aren't testing these drugs for children nor or they made for kids. Any other drug that was used in such an irresponsible manner would be pulled by the FDA.
My point of my post is that parents need to be educated of all the risks and side effects. They need to know that ADD/ADHD is misdiagnosed every day in our country. There are many, many different disorders that mimic this disorder hearing, peti mal seizures etc. For parents just make sure that you have all the information to decided what is best for your child.
Even Julian Haberts books says that there is a disorder discovered in 1940's that is ADD/ADHD but that it is not as common as the school and psychiatrist's would have you believe. In one case half of the class at a perochial school was on Ritalin the girl Mary, was supposed to have ADHD. Her father happend to be a doctor he had the pharmacy at his hopital make some placebo's (sugar pills) when Dr. Habert called in 2 weeks her behavior was "much improved" because the teacher "thougth" she was medicated. Needless to say the doctor removed her from that school.
Yes, Autism seems to respond to this drug and yes there is a brain chemistry problem for those with ADD/ADHD but for someone without that problem it is playing with fire.
Also again why is all the pharmecutical information saying DO NOT PRESCRIBE FOR CHILDREN scary huh? For children that have attention problems Ritalin doesn't help them learn unless the school changes how they start teaching all ADD/ADHD not only are on the drug but also they have what is called a 501 plan that modifies the way in which a teacher teaches and interacts with the child. Anthony still is on one even though he is not medicated.
Also I do not understand why this can't be discussed without the anger, many of you "ASSUMED" that I didn't know what I was talking about because I was on my way to school and made my post short without explaining about my son. TSK TSK This is supposed to be a discussion group if you doubted my information all you have to do is do a search on ADD/ADHD and you will find that it states what I have said.