ADHD: Possible Misdiagnosis of Millions of Kids

on August 25, 2010 at 5:45 PM

I went through kindergarten to 8th grade with the same 36 kids (give or take a couple). I remember my fellow students from grammar school so well that I can still name every one in alphabetical order. Now that I have my own kids and have looked behind the curtain, I often wonder what today’s child psychiatrists would have made of certain hyperactive, lower-functioning classmates of mine.

Conversely, I find myself thinking about what pediatricians of the '70s (okay, I dated myself there) would do with the many children I know these days who have been diagnosed with behavioral disorders and prescribed stimulants.

I have a hunch that at least a few of my childhood peers would've been given a daily dose of Ritalin and, on the other hand, a lot of little patients today would be left alone to spaz out.

As we were such a tight class, I still keep in touch with the majority of my fellow alum, and it's interesting to me that more than a couple "problem kids" have developed into responsible, successful, and happy adults -- drug-free.

That’s why a recent study out of Michigan State University indicating that close to one million children are potentially misdiagnosed with behavioral issues has my mind reeling. The research from the study simply suggests that the diagnosis of ADHD is disproportionately handed to younger and less mature children.

According to Michigan State Assistant Professor Todd Elder, whose work on this subject is to be published in the Journal of Health Economics, "If a child is behaving poorly, if he’s inattentive, if he can’t sit still, it may simply be because he’s 5 and the other kids are 6 .... There’s a big difference between a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old, and teachers and medical practitioners need to take that into account when evaluating whether children have ADHD.”

Looking at a sample of 12,000 kids, Elder's research reveals that the youngest in kindergarten classes had an almost two-third greater chance of getting an ADHD diagnosis. As the kids grew, this same young subset was more than two times as likely to be given the behavioral-altering drugs.

I worry enough about unnecessary vaccinations, so this is really something to chew on.

What do you think of this research? Do you think too many kids are prescribed drugs for ADHD?

Filed Under: behavior, drugs & alcohol, in the news, kid health

Comments (15)

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on Aug 25, 2010 at 9:58 PM

The diagnosis of children with 'behavioral disorders' is an absolute disgrace in our society. You've got parents and teachers all over the place that are not capable of raising children and managing classrooms and so they look for the quick fix-prescription drugs. I am a teacher (worked in urban, rural and suburban areas) and parent of 3 and how an adult who is supposedly trained to be an educator can not maintain a positive and successful environment in an elementary classroom should be fired - PERIOD. How parents can allow their children to act in the disresectful and selfish ways they do is appalling. And then these parents do not support the teachers - rather they blame the teachers and refuse to be cooperatvie in order to educate their children. It's all so disgusting. All of these kids are medicated due to adults' inability to behave as adults. These drugs are so terrible for children. The note about immaturity is so true in this article. Parents can't stand being parents and so they send their just-turned 5 child to full day kindergarten far before the child is ready for such an environment and then they medicate them to control their behavior that is perceived as 'bad' rather than the truth that it is simply immaturity.

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A child may be intellectually ready for something but not emotionally and socially prepared...but parents are in such a hurry to get their kids out of their hair that they don't even think about these things. Parents can't afford daycare and so they send their kid too early to the public school kindergarten. It really is disgraceful and before these kids are medicated there should be required family counseling and a closer look at the classroom teacher if the teacher made the recommendation for testing and medication. The doctors prescribe meds to get parents off their back. Where I live parents are able to collect a level of social security money if their child is diagnosed with a learning disability...so you've got all these parents in poor urban areas pressuring docs to diagnose their kids with these types of issues. Disgusting.

MomIWant

on Aug 25, 2010 at 11:05 PM

I think research is probably dead on right! My son's kindergarten teacher wanted him put on it because he had trouble sitting in his seat for more than 2 hours. Our pediatrician did not prescribe an aspirin lightly so she required testing, counseling and more testing prior to prescription - THANK GOODNESS! The final assessment, his IQ was higher than the average 6 year old and he was BORED!

Pishyah

on Aug 25, 2010 at 11:25 PM

YES! I think that as a mostly sedentary society we have forgotten that children are SUPPOSED to have energy. We keep pushing more and more education on them, taking away so much of their play time, pushing harder school work on them, more home work, and it is TOO MUCH for NORMAL children. They NEED to run, it is what we were designed to do. We weren't made to sit behind desks all day, nor TVs.

KTMOM

on Aug 26, 2010 at 10:36 AM

I definitely feel that behavioral disorders are grossly over-diagnosed.

My son is a typical, social, happy kid and his first grade teacher was bound and determined to get him an ADHD diagnosis just to make herself feel better that she didn't know how to work with him. Thankfully after agreeing to meetings and all that hoopla and talking with my trusted pediatrician, I felt confident that he is just a BOY and is active and busy, but that does not mean he is abnormal or needs to be medicated into zombieland. I know there are children out there that may legitimately need help and meds to manage their out of control impulses or issues, but i feel certian that a good majority of kids would be fine with just a little more patience and work.

xavierlogan09

on Aug 26, 2010 at 9:45 PM

my two brothers were diagnosed with adhd. i don't think they had any issues. they were just really immature. one of them doesn't act really hyper anymore. he acts like any other normal teenager. my mom used to make my brother take his medicine because she couldn't deal with his immaturity and him being overly hyper. i can believe lots of children are misdiagnosed. because my brother was fine without medicine. he just got put on the medicine because his teacher and my mother didn't know how to be patient with him.

tabba2

on Aug 27, 2010 at 4:56 AM

I have a 7yr old and a 4yr old who are both ADHD and both take meds - however they both have traumatic pasts (their bio mom did MAJOR drugs while pregnant with them). They have a younger sister who was also given up and adopted who has the same issues. I do think that a lot of parents use the ADHD diagnosis as an excuse because they dont wanna deal with their kids, I know that both of mine went through test after test and plenty of evaluations before being put on meds for it. I think that all docs should be required to send kids for evaluation before drugging them. I also feel that schools should offer more play time - even as an adult I find it hard to sit at a desk for 8hrs and work.

sodapple

on Aug 30, 2010 at 9:22 AM

yes!, in my opinion just bacuse a child does not act the same way other kids do, does not mean that they have a problem.

Clairwil

on Sep 1, 2010 at 11:40 AM

The central symptom of ADHD is lack of control over the amount of attention paid.

Which mean that if a task is interesting, the person may pay more attention to it than is warranted, often hyperfocussing on it for hours, ignoring meals and time, hardly moving at all.

And if a task is not immediately interesting, the person may pay less attention to it than is warranted, even if it is a requirement for something that they will really enjoy doing later.

I say "may", because with external help or by expending a lot of will power, they may be able to overcome this. But doing so requires a great deal more effort for them, than it does for someone who does not have ADHD, often requiring that they may it THE most important thing in their life ant that one moment, and they have to keep making this 'willpower save' every few minutes, rather than decide once.

The physiological basis for this is a lower than average level of a particular neurotransmitter, leading to a reduced level of activity in the part of the brain responsible for self-monitoring and over-coming impulses. This is detectable using brain scanners (though the method is too expensive to use for diagnosis).

on Sep 1, 2010 at 11:41 AM

There are primary symptoms (lack of control over the amount of attention paid, and, optionally, impulsivity and hyperactivity) and secondary symptoms (social skills, organisational skills, self esteem, etc).

These lead to an effect upon behaviour, but it isn't a solely behavioural problem, and trying to treat it as such would be equivalent to punishing a short sighted person for not being able to read words on a blackboard, rather than giving them glasses.

There are things that modify how much the symptoms affect behaviour at a particular time, including diet, exercise, how structured the environment is, external monitoring or working in groups, and medication.

However, while the secondary symptoms can be worked upon and improved long term, the primary symptoms cannot be cured, merely temporarily aleviated or compensated for.