A TEACHER CERTAIN RITALIN IS THE WAY, WRITES DR. B. (1 31 01)
Phil wrote: You need to know that as a teacher, whatever the problem is, I can see a 100% difference in the behavior of children who come into my class who have not had their medication that day
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
No surprise here. Ritalin and the other amphetamines
slow down, control, normals and those having passed the ADHD behavior
checklist (also physically/neurologically/medically normal. Not all teachers or
all parent know whether the child has had their medication or not. Instances of kids
'cheeking' or otherwise avoiding there medication, but claiming they have taken it,
and convincing all of the adults that they have--abound] .
Do you feel that I should ask the parents to not give the child the medication and have all of the students in my class suffer because of this this child's behavior? What is your "cure" for this child's behavior?
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
If it is not nature (gone wrong), and there is no proof that it is,
i.e., that ADHD is a bona fide disease--then it is nurture). There are
schools, mostly private or parochial schools,
where it is understood beforehand that order will prevail in the class, meaning that the
parents will do their part in disciplining and teaching self-control to the child, on the
home front, and that the teachers, 9-3 will do the same. In these schools no teacher
assumes it is their place to suggest that Johnny or Jill is not behaving due to a 'chemical
imbalance' of the brain or that a particular 'chemical balancer' is in order. Yes, there are
such places and they are growing more numerous all the time, and public school
teachers elect, disproportionately, to send their children to such schools. And there are
'home schoolers who neither view themselves as brain diagnosticians or have an
inclination to partake of the psychiatric version of brain diagnosing,which is to say,
diagnose no such thing as actual brain diseases.]
If they can't concentrate, are in the desk, on the desk, under the desk, bothering other students, what would your recommendation be?
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
That you and the parents of the children see them for what
they are--normal children who are uncontrolled by their teacher--you]
Their behavior is not normal, they can't sit down and write, read, or do math
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
What are your qualifications to
say they are 'not normal,' that they 'can't sit down and write, read, or do math'. You
must be a very bright fellow, for no such disease, with the child otherwise appearing
to be normal, has yet been described]
What is your practical answer that the classroom teacher could use? By the way, your theory about the parents being gone is shot all to heck in my class because the students are from good strong families and one parent is in the home all the time
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
Where parents have been plied with the
psychiatric propaganda of the day, that all misbehaviors are diseases,
and believe it,they can never understand normal childhood or know what the rearing of
normal children is about. If you had a child and had any idea at all of the
dangers of the psychostimulants and of other psychotropic drugs, you would not be
espousing the quick drug fix for misbehaving, inattentive, normal children, as you
do. You, Sir are among those deceived, who have lost sight of what a normal child and
normal childhood is all about. Check your degree, see what it covers]