No ADD/ADHD is not over diagnosed and no we are not overmedicating children l

1. No ADD/ADHD is not over diagnosed and no we are not overmedicating childrenl Karen Hicks Lenora Overstreet Radford University EDSP 651

2. History Fifty years back, we never heard of hyperactivity like we do now in schools. Teachers back then dealt with children as they knew how. Nowadays, children resist us more and they are now known to fight back with us – some even place their teachers in the hospital. Corporal punishment could be used back then but now the child and his parents will get lawyers to sue the school if we place them in ISD or ASD for their behavioral problems.

3. As a nation, I think we have forgotten that children are sometimes just difficult to deal with. They test our limits. If we reach for medication as our first preference, then we are doing damage to our kids. We need to show them good parenting and talk with them. We seem to be avoiding how to teach our kids to conduct themselves in a world that may not be the best for them but which they are totally capable of succeeding in. Medication should be the last resort.

4. Society as a whole learned more about the symptoms of this disability. “Even with the increase in the number of people aware of ADHD and seeking treatment, research shows that ADHD is under-diagnosed, not over-diagnosed. • Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found a large percentage of children, 32% boys and 55% girls, who met the criteria for a diagnosis of ADHD, were not receiving any type of treatment” (Bailey). • Wendy Reich, PhD, author of this study, stated “From a clinical point of view, this study affirms that for whatever reason, many children who could benefit from treatment are not receiving it.” (Bailey)