Drugging Our Kids

» bbleigh - Insightful Article

Patrica,

Thanks for writing this article and I hope it helps other parents and maybe educators to understand.

I have a child who was diagnosed with ADD and I can tell you for a fact that it was the schools poking and prodding and instisting that he be on Ritalin. They did the evaluations themselves and I recieved a letter telling me when to report with my child to the local child psychiatrist's office.

I think the public school system has a discipline problem that they will not address and so are insisting that more and more parents put thier kids on Ritalin instead.

I stopped my sons medicine with the advice of a child psychiatrist who like me believed that medication is not the answer and can have long term health effects on these children. The school wanted to report me for child abuse because I wasn't giving my son his medication. For three years they kept insisting that I was wrong and demanding that he be put back on Ritalin.

I tried to explain that my son didn't act that way at home and that I could in fact make him behave. They were the ones with a discipline problem. They didn't want to hear that. I said simply, "If he doesn't finish his work keep him in at recess." Oh no we can't do that. So I said ok, "if he doesn't behave or wastes your time, waste his time give him extra work." Oh no we can't do that. So their fix was to drug kids up so they don't have to be bothered with discipline.

It's wrong and it is coming from the schools. My son is now in junior high school and I haven't yet had to deal with the problem. Since we are military and move every few years, I have dealt with schools all over the country and in Europe (DOD), and the same practices are taking place in all of the elementary schools.

The teachers are insisting on Ritalin as a way to control the class. They used to even write me notes wanting to know if his dosage should be increased. Since when do teachers start practicing psychiatry?

-- posted by bbleigh

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» colleenmwilliams - Patricia

Thanks for sharing your views on this controversial topic. I think the prescribing of drugs is best left to the experts, as is the teaching of students. Let the doctors do their jobs and the teachers do theirs.

-- posted by colleenmwilliams

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» sungraph66 - Re: Insightful Article

In response to message posted by bbleigh:

Dear Wendy, I'm hearing more and more that the younger grades do advise the use of ritalin. My experience is all high school and that hasn't been my experience. We've seen what happens after years of abuse. I'm so sorry that you had that experience. Raising children is hard enough without fighting those outside battles.

Thanks for responding.

Pat Behnke

-- posted by sungraph66

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» sungraph66 - Re: Patricia

In response to message posted by colleenmwilliams:

Colleen, I agree with you that experts need to do their job. Now if the experts will really sit down and do some good diagnostic work with our children then perhaps the overdrugging will stop. Thanks for your response.

Pat Behnke

-- posted by sungraph66

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