Today in a joint announcement, the President, in conjunction with the US Department of Education, the AMA (American Medical Association), the NEA (National Education Association), and the PMDC (Parents for More Drugs Consortium, which is sponsored by the IDP – International Drug Producers Consortium-and BLP-Better Lives Through Pharmacology) were proud to announce that they have reached their joint goal to help every child in the nation receive an appropriate diagnosis and, through federal legislation and mandated funding, to provide every child with a minimum of two mind/brain-altering drugs. This project, which was begun in 2015, was an effort to have all children with ADHD “appropriately” identified and treated with amphetamines. It should be stated that the government wanted strict guidelines for the diagnosis: children needed to meet the criteria of not liking school and preferring screen time to reading. As part of the initial project, it was also realized that legislation would need to be passed to mandate drug administration over parental objections. The projected number at the time this was initiated was a conservative 65% of the school population. Consistent with what has now been proven through “research,” this number is now close to 85%, with the majority of these students also fitting into the WAS, Work Avoidance Spectrum, which was discovered through the ground breaking work of YAGI, You’ve All Got IT Laboratories. WAS has reached and surpassed all projections and has now reached epidemic proportions, touching nine out of ten of our children.
In today’s New York Times (read the article here and watch the video below) there was an alarming article about the rise in ADHD diagnoses and the number of children being medicated for it. The article states that one in five high school age boys have been given the “medical” diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. 6.4 million children between 4 and 17 have been “diagnosed.” This is for an imaginary disease that was only created in the 1980s. This is not only shocking but also ridiculous and horrifying.
You can’t get a blood test to identify ADHD; they can’t do a chromosome test; they can’t do a biopsy to make this “medical diagnosis.” They might run through a checklist that includes questions about attention, hyperactivity, and impulsiveness. To see the actual “test,” go to http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/diagnosis.html. Often the reality is that a teacher might suggest that you ask your doctor about ADHD, and then you tell your doctor that the teacher told you to ask, and he takes out his prescription pad.
The issue of using a medical model for developmental problems is of huge concern. We have seen thousands of children who have come to us with such diagnoses, all of whom are “NORMAL,” disease-free kids who, like everyone else, have some developmental issues. Put together a few common issues like poor auditory processing and a bad diet, just to mention a couple of many such issues, and—BANG!— you have a disease. No, you do not—you have an auditory processing issue and eat pancakes for breakfast. Giving you a label of a disease and drugs is not going to address your auditory processing or dietary issues. Ah, but most kids pay better attention when given the drugs, they say. Guess what? Most everyone pays better attention when using the drugs. Perhaps we all should take more drugs? But, then again, they have side effects; and gee, I wonder what they are going to find out about what long-term effects use of these drugs produce? Could there be effects on future generations? If you buy these drugs on the street, they are called all kinds of things, like “speed” and “uppers.” These drugs are psycho-motor stimulants, which can produce wakefulness, decrease appetite, and have a whole slew of side effects. But they do not fix what is broken or undeveloped. I just took a couple of minutes and put together a preliminary list of different correctable factors that could lead to this wonderful disease label if you would like to review it, scroll to the bottom of this article. To be fair, there are some kids who are bouncing off the walls who need medication while the broken pieces are being addressed; but that is a very, very tiny percentage. This trend to create symptomatic labels and medicate our children is truly horrifying. Doctors do not have methodologies to address developmental problems; doctors do not treat developmental problems; schools and teachers do not address and treat developmental problems. Schools complain and doctors write prescriptions. I wish I could get more people to listen and to understand what great potential we all have. We all have the potential to do better, we all have the ability to do better, we just need the opportunity to do better. And at NACD we so enjoy helping to do it!
I will have a lot more to say about this subject shortly.
Issues That Can Lead to a “Diagnosis” of ADD or ADHD
by Bob Doman
Vision
- Acuity/sight problems
- Convergence issues
- Tracking issues
- Astigmatism
- Underdeveloped central vision
- Hyperperipheral vision
- Excessive visualizing negatively impacting visual attention
- Poor visualization
- Low visual sequential processing
- Reduced visual short-term memory
- Reduced visual working memory
- Reduced visual long-term memory
- Excessive screen time
Hearing and auditory function
- Hearing loss
- Issues with processing specific frequencies
- Otitis media/middle ear fluid
- Ear infections
- Figure-ground issues
- Low auditory sequential processing
- Reduced auditory short-term memory
- Reduced auditory working memory
- Reduced auditory long-term memory
- Inadequate conceptual thought
- Visualization/conceptualization imbalance
- Visual vs. auditory processing imbalance
Physiological issues
- Blood sugar issues
- Food allergies
- Food sensitivities
- Excessive carbohydrates
- Excessive sugar
- Excessive food colorings and artificial sweeteners
- Inadequate protein
- Bowel/gut disorders
- Sleep disturbance
- Respiratory issues
- Toxins
- Environmental allergies
- Cardiac issues
Motor issues
- Poor fine motor development
- Poor manual dexterity
- Poor pencil grasp
- Inadequate writing instruction
Behavioral issues
- Lack of interest
- Lack of intensity
- Lack of proper intention
- Global immaturity
- Developmental delays
- Avoidance behaviors
- Excessive social focus
- Lack of social awareness
- Not present
- Subdominant/emotional
- Negative attention-getting behaviors
- Poor feedback
- Improper behavioral training
Educational structure issues
- Poor instructional environment
- Lack of intensity
- Curriculum heavy
- Educational content not engaging
- Not directed to individual’s processing level
- Negative environment
- Low expectations
- Excessively high expectations
- Personality conflict
- Excessive duration
- Inadequate review
- Lack of individual attention
- Teacher’s speech or accent
- Extraneous classroom sound/noise
- Extraneous/distracting visual environment
- Proximity of other students
- Bullying
- Cliques
- Social pressure to perform
- Social pressure not to perform
- Social pressure to act out
- Lack of parental involvement
- Excessive parental involvement
- Reading, math, etc. levels below class
- Reading, math, etc. levels above class
- Difficulties understanding English or language used in classroom
Yesterday I saw one of my favorite moms. She’s a great, dedicated mom who works very hard with her two boys. Her oldest boy has some significant problems, but he keeps progressing and is on most days her “easy” one. His little brother is very bright, doing great, and tends to drive her nuts. Because he is bright and still a little guy, he still does little kid things that get her; and more often than not, they are designed to do exactly that–get her attention. If asked the following questions, her answers would all be “yes”: Is he smart? Yes. Is he a nice kid? Yes. Is he a good kid? Yes. Is he a sweet kid? Yes. Then why should such a child drive her nuts? If he were her best friend’s boy, and not hers, she would love being around him and he wouldn’t drive her to distraction.
Most days confirm the reality that you really can’t have to many tools in your toolbox. Today I saw a fourteen-year-old “autistic” young man. Zach has been on program for a number of years and has done quite well in most respects. His parents have been quite pleased with his development and changes, particularly the changes that have occurred in the past year and most significantly in the past three months, when the pieces really started coming together at an accelerated rate. Zach has come from being a constantly stimming, DSA (Debilitating Sensory Addiction) out-of-it, unmanageable, difficult, non-communicative child to a boy who goes everywhere with his family, interacts socially, and has become a fun, interactive member of his family.