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Children Perish From Parents' Lack of KnowledgeMany parents and guardians are being fed biased pro drug information on ADD and ADHD medications. Parents and guardians are being pressured by school staff to give their normal children psychiatric evaluations (Mental health screening) just because they are energetic (full of life) or need extra help understanding what the teachers are attempting to teach them. A child could be misbehaving because of frustration. If the school believes a child has mental disorders like ADD / attention deficit disorder or ADHD / attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and a parent or guardian allows the school to do a psychiatric evaluation", default", this label will end up in the child’s permanent school record. Schools are pressuring parents and guardians to follow up with their psychiatric evaluations to take their children to a pediatrician or psychiatrist to be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD because schools are not allowed to write a prescription for lethal and additive psychotropic drugs. In some cases schools will even go as far as to give parents the names of a few doctors that have a history of going along with their evaluations and drug recommendations. Some school teachers, social workers and psychologists are guilty of making parents feel as though they are bad parents just because they refuse to subject their children to a psychiatric evaluation, when in reality parents are just protecting their child’s physical and mental health. Some schools should be focusing more on educational tools and less on drugs. If a parent or guardian doesn't want their child to be put on lethal psychotropic drugs, and if a parent or guardian doesn't want their child’s permanent school record to say they have a mental disorder like ADD or ADHD, which could stigmatize a child and cause them to have a low self esteem, I would say that under no circumstances should a parent or guardian give a school permission to do any type psychiatric evaluations (mental health screening). If a school is persistent about a child getting evaluated for a mental disorder like ADD or ADHD I would be letting the school know that I don't believe in psychiatry furthermore if my child is going to be tested for ADD or ADHD it would done by a licensed neurologist. Many of the behaviors listed in AMA (American Psychiatric Associations) DSM IV which means (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition) the criteria for ADHD is nothing more than a list of normal childhood behaviors, especially for a young boys. The percentage of boys diagnosed with ADD and ADHD are much higher than girls. Many children that are being diagnosed with ADD and ADHD have a great IQ and are very creative individuals. I believe there are two main reasons why schools are evaluating so many children with ADD and ADHD. 1. Money, if a child has been diagnosed with either ADD or ADHD they can now considered learning disabled, if a child is labeled learning disabled the school will receive extra money from both the state and federal government, furthermore there is no accountability for how the extra money is spent, even though the money should be used for your child’s educational needs, the school can spend the money on what ever they want with no accountability. 2. Behavior Modification, if a child is diagnosed and labeled with ADD or ADHD they will most likely be put on a lethal psychotropic drug, which will make the child submissive. If a child is drugged during school, of course they are going to sit there and be quiet, because of the effects the drugs are having on both children’s bodies and minds. This will also make the work day much easier for the teacher that has 25 to 30 students and he or she just doesn’t have enough time for the five children that need extra help with their lessons. Not all teachers have the time or the patience to deal with an energetic child that could be acting out because they don’t understand and they need extra help with their lessons. Even though a child knows they need extra help, they will not always ask the teacher for help in fear of what the other students might think about them. Too much emphasis is put on what the students are doing wrong, but what about some of the teachers? Maybe schools should start keeping track of teachers that consistently recommend their students be evaluated for ADD or ADHD. By Lawrence Smith |
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