I just finished reading an article in the New York times that was dedicated to the issue of ADHD in our society. The article, which I recommend to anyone interested in this fairly recent phenomenon can be found here http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/01/health/more-diagnoses-of-hyperactivity-causing-concern.html?ref=education.
I have to admit I am writing this blog with a somewhat negative outlook. I searched for education articles in the New York Times this morning and the two that first caught my attention were this one and a breaking news headline about the Atlanta Public Schools' teachers and administrators who were caught cheating and how they had just surrendered to law enforcement. I decided that was too much for me to tackle so I am going to handle the somewhat broader topic of ADHD.
Apparently, in recent years, ADHD diagnoses have skyrocketed for children in the U.S. Over the last decade, the number of diagnoses has risen by 53%. Almost 20% of American high school aged boys have been diagnosed with ADHD. It seems to me that if one out of five boys are suffering from a disease (it is listed in the DSM) then we need to focus, as a society, on what is causing this extreme increase in affected children. The artcicle shares other troubling quotes from doctors and experts about the problems with over diagnosing the disease and the negative impact that the over diagnoses can have on the diagnosed children as well as their peers (ADHD meds are being sold to friends or peers for various purposes none of which involve using them as the prescription dictates). With this disheartening news comes the question of why? Why do so many of our young people, especially lower income males, suffer from ADHD? And do they really have ADHD? Or do we classify their bahvior as so asocial and innapropriate that we decide, as a soceity, they must be suffering from ADHD?
Personally, as a teacher, I teach several students who are incredibly disruptive some mornings and are perfectly behaved others. I quickly figured out that the mornings when they sit quietly and complete their assignments are the mornings that they took their medication before school. I have seen it, I enjoy the days when they are quiet, and yet I am not convinced that every student who takes medication needs it, or if they do, I am convinced there must be a more holistic approach to tackling this issue that clearly impairs a large percentage of children.
The article sites a number of reasons why the diagnoses have gone up, you can agree or disagree with them as much as you like but, as teachers, I think we can all understand how they came about. The main reason for the increase in diagnoses is that medications have become less stigmatized and parents are turning to them if there is even the slightest notion that their child is having trouble focusing. If a student's grades drop, especially in communities where parents are highly involved in their child's life, the parent looks for an explanation and the easy answer is that the child can't focus. Another reason is for behavior. If a child is acting up, the parents are quick to sedate them with medication. Most of us have seen this method first hand and, as wonderful as it is when the child is finally quiet, some part of me feels bad watching them sit there, sedated into submission. There are many other reasons (some children, especially high schoolers, ask to get a prescription because they know they can sell the pills to friends), but the reality of the situation is that many more children are taking medication and most of them are taking it because school is not working for them without the medication.
I'm going to end this post by posing a question, one that I have given a lot of thought to over the last 18 months. Why do we make our children sit still from 8 until 3 every day? We, as adults, dread meetings, we dread PD days, we dread a 9 to 5 job that has us at a desk all day. Why do we force our children to do exactly whay we dread?
The research that was done for this article on ADHD was extraordinarily broad and inclusive. I checked out the actuak study and was impressed by the methods used and the data collected.
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2 comments:
I share your confused sentiment about medicating studens who suffer (or "suffer") from ADHD and ADD. I agree that there needs to be a more wholistic approach to helping students who can't focus succeed. I think your question at the end of your post is extremely telling... it's completely true! Especially without recess, students sit all day, every day, and we expect them to be perfectly behaved and accept all assingment and expectations we deliver. Students are kids- even in high school- and they need to be allowed to act as such. I had outlets in high school- a study hall to do my homework or study, sports practice before or after school, and classes like dance, art, gym- I had to take gym all four years of high school. There has been a lot of buzz about City Neighbors lately- I think they are on to something. Hallways in the school have relaxing lounge areas where students can do independent work- there is more student friendly vibe that I believe deters, or at least minimizes poor behavior. I think in order to curb the ADHD/ADD phenomena we need to think more creatively about how we can help students instead of depending on medication.
Before teaching, I used to think that almost no student needed to be medicated for ADHD. Now, after teaching for over a year and a half, I have come to realize that I genuinely believe that there are students who may need it, however they are in the minority. I think we are doing so many of our children a great injustice by just giving them a pill to "solve" the problem.
Like you mentioned, we need to be taking a more holistic approach and it's truly unfair to assume that students should be able to sit in chairs silently all day. My students get no time to run around or be active throughout the day (except for the 25% of them that get gym). In conversing with them, many of their favorite past-times include playing video games and being on the computer when they get home from school. I can't help but think a lot of this has to do with the communities our kids are growing up in, whether they be unsafe to play outside in, lacking a green space, or even that there aren't many organized community clubs or sports. With young kids living out such sedentary lives, we can't expect them to not have so much energy in schools where they feel safe to let out such energy. Our schools and our classrooms (mine included) need to do a better job of offering this time and space for kids to be kids and teens to be teens because they might not get the opportunity elsewhere.
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