In yesterday's Times, L. Alan Sroufe argues that we are over medicating our kids with Ritalin and other ADD drugs. He argues that these drugs have serious side effects and that the concentration benefits wear off over time. (At one point in the article, he says the side affects are serious and permanent, but later claims that the side affects are temporary. Confused.) He said that ADD  is misunderstood. It isn't a neurological problem, but a behavior problems that is caused by bad parenting. 

Behavior problems in children have many possible sources. Among them are family stresses like domestic violence, lack of social support from friends or relatives, chaotic living situations, including frequent moves, and, especially, patterns of parental intrusiveness that involve stimulation for which the baby is not prepared. For example, a 6-month-old baby is playing, and the parent picks it up quickly from behind and plunges it in the bath. Or a 3-year-old is becoming frustrated in solving a problem, and a parent taunts or ridicules. Such practices excessively stimulate and also compromise the child’s developing capacity for self-regulation.

At this moment, I'm drumming my fingers on my desk, while I try to decide how much personal information that I should reveal. Answer: not much. Let's just say that my views on the topic are based on some family experiences,  conversations with neurologists and parents, and whatever scholarly articles squeak through the paywall. 

Attention problems aren't just because of bad parenting. That's a ludicrous, old fashioned, and annoying notion. Attention problems are clearly neurological. You'll see the gene passed down from parent to child and you'll see differences among children within one family. It seems highly unlike that a mom was in the habit of plunging Kid #1 in a tub of water, but not Kid #2. The Bad Parent theory fails to explain ADD.  

While Sroufe's Bad Parent theory makes me vomit, I am very sympathetic to his concern about the over medication of kids. 

I think there is a rather large population of kids who have trouble concentrating in school. They are smart, wonderful kids, but they simply cannot sit still in a desk for seven hours a day, while a teacher talks about the GDP of Peru. With the rise of high stakes testing, there is even more pressure on schools to reign in these daydreamers and force them to the concentrate. Rather than creating learning environments that will suit the daydreamers, schools are growing less and less tolerant of them. 

To meet the demands for high test scores, schools are pressuring parents to medicate the kids. (I have lots of anecdotal stories here, but I'm not telling those stories right now. ) It is much, much cheaper to medicate a kid, then provide him or her with a classroom aide. These medications do have temporary side affects that are rather gruesome. Some cause the kid to pull out hair or pick at his skin until it bleeds. 

The problem is that these drugs work to a certain extent. They do help the kid get through a boring day at school. I just wish there was a drug to give the schools that would help them be less boring.