A piece in today’s New York Times describes how doctors of students who attend low-income schools resort to prescribing psychotropic drugs, like Adderall, to help students concentrate better on their schoolwork, whether or not a classical diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (A.D.H.D.) has been made.
“I don’t have a whole lot of choice,” the paper quoted one pediatrician who treats many patients from Cherokee County, Ga., north of Atlanta. “We’ve decided as a society that it’s too expensive to modify the kid’s environment [in school and in the community]. So we have to modify the kid.”
The Times reported that they tried to talk with several educators but very few were willing to go on the record because they considered the subject of A.D.H.D. too controversial.
“It’s scary to think that this is what we’ve come to: how not funding public education to meet the needs of all kids has led to this,” said one school district superintendent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, referring to the use of stimulants in children without classic A.D.H.D. “I don’t know, but it could be happening right here. Maybe not as knowingly, but it could be a consequence of a doctor who sees a kid failing in overcrowded classes with 42 other kids and the frustrated parents asking what they can do. The doctor says, ‘Maybe it’s A.D.H.D., let’s give this a try.’ ”
How many students have A.D.H.D.
The disorder known as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (A.D.H.D. for short) is characterized by an inability to focus or concentrate and a tendency for impulsive behaviors. In other words, the focus of the child’s attention rapidly shifts from one thing to another in his environment, and the shifts appear to be random.
There is no simple test to determine if a child is suffering from A.D.H.D., but children with some degree of the disorder often have a hard time paying attention, daydream, seem not to listen, become easily distracted from schoolwork or play, forget things, be in constant motion or unable to stay seated, squirm or fidget, talk too much, not be able to play quietly, act and speak without thinking, have trouble taking turns, and interrupt others.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 9.5 percent of children, ages 4 to 17, have been diagnosed with A.D.H.D., representing almost 5.5 million students. This is absurd. Most healthy 10-year-olds have trouble paying attention, let alone poor kids, who probably have an unhealthy diet, let alone kids who attend Chicago Public Schools, which do not provide a recess period.
Yet we’re going to give 10 percent of them drugs and pay for those drugs with our tax dollars instead of trying to help them get a healthier diet and a healthier dose of physical activity each day at school!
The Food and Drug Administration classifies most of the stimulants used to treat A.D.H.D. as Schedule II controlled substances, which means they are at least somewhat addictive. Furthermore, the long-term effects of many of these drugs are not well studied.
It turns out, though, recess is more costly for schools that are having trouble making ends meet, so the burden of controlling normal childhood behavior is shifted to the families. And so, the poor get poorer, the inattentive child learns that the way to get better grades is to take a pill, and the misbehaving child learns that he makes more friends and doesn’t get in as much trouble when he’s taking his medication. If only adult life were so easy, right?