NY Times: Drugging our kids

[Chucktshoes]

I know a lot of folks here don't care for the obvious liberal bias of the NYT, but sometimes they actually do some good work.

As someone who spent a number of years being heavily medicated with ADHD drugs this is a subject that hits very close to home for me. My parents were pressured by the schools to have me medicated because I was a "difficult" child to control. In other words, I was a 5 year old boy who wanted to be a 5 year old boy and play. There are other options besides medication, options that should be exhausted before giving a child a pill that will fundamentally alter the way his/her brain functions.

OPELOUSAS, La. — At 18 months, Kyle Warren started taking a daily antipsychotic drug on the orders of a pediatrician trying to quell the boy’s severe temper tantrums. At 18 months, Kyle started taking a daily antipsychotic drug on the orders of a pediatrician trying to quell the boy’s severe temper tantrums.

Thus began a troubled toddler’s journey from one doctor to another, from one diagnosis to another, involving even more drugs. Autism, bipolar disorder, hyperactivity, insomnia, oppositional defiant disorder. The boy’s daily pill regimen multiplied: the antipsychotic Risperdal, the antidepressant Prozac, two sleeping medicines and one for attention-deficit disorder. All by the time he was 3.

He was sedated, drooling and overweight from the side effects of the antipsychotic medicine. Although his mother, Brandy Warren, had been at her “wit’s end†when she resorted to the drug treatment, she began to worry about Kyle’s altered personality. “All I had was a medicated little boy,†Ms. Warren said. “I didn’t have my son. It’s like, you’d look into his eyes and you would just see just blankness.â€

The rest of the article is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/business/02kids.html?_r=1&hp

[Il Duce]

its true. too many parents etc are too quick to put their kid on a drug.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

its true. too many parents etc are too quick to put their kid on a drug.

A lot of times it is the the school system that forces

it on them for discipline reasons. Taking the easy

way out and solving the problem. Probably better

done by getting the kids diet and activity more healthy.

[kb4ns]

I bet kids would act better in school if they'd return to applying the paddle directly to the hind end. It kept me "actin' right" in school...

[peejman]

18 months old? Wow. My 2.5 yr old can certainly be a handfull, but I can't imagine having him on any sort of drugs. Sounds like she started out a lazy, uninformed parent. Heaven forbid that parenting be hard work. Good to read that they got him mostly straightened out.

Dr. Gleason says Kyle’s current status proves he probably never had bipolar disorder, autism or psychosis. His doctors now say Kyle’s tantrums arose from family turmoil and language delays, not any of the diagnoses used to justify antipsychotics. ...

Ms. Warren conceded that she resorted to medicating Kyle because she was unprepared for parenthood at age 22, living in difficult circumstances, sometimes distracted. “It was complicated,” she said. “Very tense.” ...

“They’re respectful, but they’re hyper kids,” Ms. Warren said. “Once he came off the medication, he’s Kyle. He’s an intelligent person. He’s loud. He’s funny. He’s smart. He’s bouncy. I mean, there’s never a dull moment. He has a few little behavior issues. But he’s like any other normal 6-year-old.”

And yes, a good whoopin' from time to time helps redirect the path back to the straight and narrow.

[vontar]

I tell my wife often that if I went to school under todays system, I would be drugged for ADHD.

They want to medicate kids because they don't want kids to be kids.

Here is my chief problem with the way schools handle things, they try to dictate what happens outside of school hours.

In my opinion, number 1 problem Assigned home work.

Here is how I example this opinion.

I had teachers that would use class time up and at the end of a class assign take home work, instead of assigning work that could be done while at school.

I am not saying a kid should never take work home if they don't' finish at school. My point is teachers should not assign work that is meant to be done outside of school hours.

I know it was not uncommon for me to take home reading assignments, history assignments, math assignments writing assignments.

When a kid is at school 8 hours a day and then given home work on top of that, we are requiring them to put in more then a 40 hour week.

I had teachers that assigned work for weekends.

For example, I was taking home math homework that even my parents could not do. Sorry my parents could not ofter me tutoring in some of my subjects because they did not finish school but they wanted me to.

It probably didn't help I was catching a school bus about 6:15 a.m. and getting home about 4 p.m. I had almost 10 hour days if you counted my bus time. First one on, last one off.

I really hated school up though 8th grade.

BTW, I am not talking about college. I am talking about mainly about elementary school.

By the time I go to college, it was different, I was paying for an education and it was more a do it or don't do it thing. I felt like doing it.

[Guest Drewsett]

I was a "difficult" child and was forced onto Ritalin while in Kindergarten. My parents switched me into a different school for first grade and took me off the drug because they said it turned me into a zombie. My "behavioral issues" returned. Then one of my teachers realized upon close observation that I was bored with the schoolwork they were asking me to do. She moved me up two grade levels in math and reading and voila! no more behavioral issues. The only reason I didn't end up like this woman's child is because I had a good teacher who wanted to take the time to figure out why I wasn't performing/behaving in school properly.

[Raoul]

A lot of times it is the the school system that forces

it on them for discipline reasons. Taking the easy

way out and solving the problem. Probably better

done by getting the kids diet and activity more healthy.

+1 on the diet. But where do you start. Have you seen the crap most kids are fed these days?

[Guest 6.8 AR]

I was a "difficult" child and was forced onto Ritalin while in Kindergarten. My parents switched me into a different school for first grade and took me off the drug because they said it turned me into a zombie. My "behavioral issues" returned. Then one of my teachers realized upon close observation that I was bored with the schoolwork they were asking me to do. She moved me up two grade levels in math and reading and voila! no more behavioral issues. The only reason I didn't end up like this woman's child is because I had a good teacher who wanted to take the time to figure out why I wasn't performing/behaving in school properly.

I've heard that so many times and seen bright kids essentially abused because there weren't

enough teachers like the one that helped you. I think most of the issue is an excuse to blame

poor performance on something else, instead of being proactive. Drugs are not very proactive

when used like ritalin has been.

[Guest Boomhower]

It drives me insane to see all these kids on medication these days. Parents are breeding for the tax breaks or walfare income instead of procreating for the human race.....Then you add these wack job doctors in the mix that think science solves it all, & you get the recipe for stupidity.

I help with the local cub scouts in my area & you can tell the kids that are dooped up & the ones that aren't. Some parents medicate them before they arrive. It turns those poor kids into mushmelons in no time. They daze around all droopy eyed, don't want to take any part of the activities, & there is no social interaction with the other kids because they see them as different. On a couple rare occasions, the parents forgot to pop the pill & it was great to see those kids in actual life. Yeah they were more of a handful, & they caused interruptions, but they were social, they laughed, they felt the pain of remorse when we had to call them down...........Dagoneit, quit taking their childhood away.

[EMTRN]

I think EVERYONE is on too much medication. Most symptoms that people take medication for, can be relieved with diet and exercise!

[Guest 6.8 AR]

+1 on the diet. But where do you start. Have you seen the crap most kids are fed these days?

Yeh, and it is ridiculous, Raoul. The parents should be paying more attention to a lot of things their kids eat,

and do. Man, life was much simpler back when there was no internet, drugs, like they are now, and families had

a lot more cohesion than they appear to have now. I think people just compromise too much.

Been guilty of that, also, but I think my kids turned out okay.

[Chucktshoes]

I was a "difficult" child and was forced onto Ritalin while in Kindergarten. My parents switched me into a different school for first grade and took me off the drug because they said it turned me into a zombie. My "behavioral issues" returned. Then one of my teachers realized upon close observation that I was bored with the schoolwork they were asking me to do. She moved me up two grade levels in math and reading and voila! no more behavioral issues. The only reason I didn't end up like this woman's child is because I had a good teacher who wanted to take the time to figure out why I wasn't performing/behaving in school properly.

This sounds really familiar, except it took my parents into the 3rd grade before they told the school to piss off and took me off Ritalin.

My other big problem with medicating kids that young is you are essentially telling them; "The way you feel and act isn't normal. Take this drug and it will make you feel normal." What happens when they are a teenager and nobody feels normal? They have already been trained to take a pill, smoke something or put something up the nose to change the way they feel.

Edited September 2, 2010 by Chucktshoes

[Guest 1817ak47]

to many people expect everyone to be this same perfect person and that is not the way it is. everyone is different. it would be boring and mundne if everyone was the same.

also they are trying to take the easy way out instead of putting forth effort and really solving problems

[hardknox00001]

I bet kids would act better in school if they'd return to applying the paddle directly to the hind end. It kept me "actin' right" in school...

+1 :clap: Spot on.

My wife works for a judge locally in the Juvenile Court, so I get to hear examples of parents "lack" of parenting all the time

[hardknox00001]

I was a "difficult" child and was forced onto Ritalin while in Kindergarten. My parents switched me into a different school for first grade and took me off the drug because they said it turned me into a zombie. My "behavioral issues" returned. Then one of my teachers realized upon close observation that I was bored with the schoolwork they were asking me to do. She moved me up two grade levels in math and reading and voila! no more behavioral issues. The only reason I didn't end up like this woman's child is because I had a good teacher who wanted to take the time to figure out why I wasn't performing/behaving in school properly.

This too has alot of truth to it................

[Raoul]

I think EVERYONE is on too much medication. Most symptoms that people take medication for, can be relieved with diet and exercise!

Agreed. No need to see your "provider" in most cases.

[Guest Drewsett]

I think EVERYONE is on too much medication. Most symptoms that people take medication for, can be relieved with diet and exercise!

I would agree with this statement as well. After the episode where I was put on Ritalin I grew to distrust just about every pharmaceutical. To this day I have trouble even taking an aspirin. What I think is funniest about this is that I grew up on a farm and got sick a few times as a kid, but (and I'm speculating here) my aversion to medicine meant that my immune system had to work in overdrive to compensate for all of the crap I was exposed to as a child. I get sick about once every couple of years as a result (and usually just a mild cold). When the body has to do for itself, it does a pretty darn good job.

[hardknox00001]

What I think is funniest about this is that I grew up on a farm and got sick a few times as a kid, but (and I'm speculating here) my aversion to medicine meant that my immune system had to work in overdrive to compensate for all of the crap I was exposed to as a child. I get sick about once every couple of years as a result (and usually just a mild cold). When the body has to do for itself, it does a pretty darn good job.

That, in my opinion, is just common sense. The overmedication of kids for every little sniffle and cough is why most all of them now have the big long rap sheet of allergies and other medical/environment afflictions.

[Chucktshoes]

That, in my opinion, is just common sense. The overmedication of kids for every little sniffle and cough is why most all of them now have the big long rap sheet of allergies and other medical/environment afflictions.

+1 use or lose it applies to the immune system.