The ADD rubberstamp

[sbp]

Teachers diagnosing ADD in 50% of cases: study

Doctors act as 'rubber stamp'

A study of schoolchildren with attention deficit disorder found more than half were first diagnosed by their teachers, with some physicians pressured to "rubber stamp" the finding and put the student on medication.

Dr. Leonard Sax, a family doctor and psychologist in the United States, interviewed 400 child psychiatrists, pediatricians and family doctors in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland for his study.

"In the great majority of cases, teachers were the first to suggest the diagnosis. Doctors are busy; they've got a room full of patients. And very seldom do they do their own investigation. They just take a paper from the school saying, 'We think Justin has ADD would you please prescribe Ritalin' and doctors do it. The doctors are acting as a rubber stamp for teachers," Dr. Sax said.

After he interviewed the doctors for his study, many sent comments expanding on their experience.

"One said he did do an evaluation and concluded the child did not have attention deficit disorder [but] the principal of the school then called his superior, angry, and said how dare the doctor question the school's diagnosis, and said the doctor should be disciplined," Dr. Sax said. "He was actually called into his medical director's office to defend his action."

Dr. Sax said half a dozen physicians described similar incidents.

His study is expected to be published in a major U.S. medical journal next month.

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Not surprising at all.

[Lantana]

Since when did teachers (a huge percentage can't even pass competency exams) get a medical degree and start practicing medicine?

I hear all sorts of stories about how teachers don't like being told how to do their job from parents. Why don't the teachers leave the job of diagnosing medical conditions to physicians? Pot to Kettle: "BLACK!"

[Lisfedele]

I guess our experience is totally different than you have described.

My daughter is the sweetest and most well behaved child. We are always told this by her teachers.

At home we were constantly reminding her to do things over and over sometimes as much as 10 times in a very short period of time. This went on for about 6 years when finally we mentiond our frustration with keeping our daughter on task and focusing on her reading and writing as well as simple everyday taskes. The peditrician recommend after listening to us that we try her on an ADD medicine. We were also told to not tell the teacher. Give it a couple of weeks to see how she does and see if the teacher makes any comments.


To my surprise the first day on the medicine her handwriting was beautiful (for the first time). We saw many improvments and the teacher even commented after the first week and a half by saying....I don't know what your doing but she sure has made great improvments.


When I finally got to courage to tell the teacher what we had decided to try she was shocked. She did not agree that our daughter needed to be treated for ADD. I certainly never wanted to medicate my child but the outcome for her was wonderful!!!

As for teachers having medical degrees I'm sure some do ...most don't but they sure spend a large portion of the day with our children and I really think that most of them only want to try to suggest things to parents that might be benefical to the student. It is our responsibily as parents to either investigate their findings whether we agree with them or not.

As for teachers not being competant....I think that is pretty harsh. I know of a lot of very wonderful, talented teachers. I really think that if any of us had to go and take the place of a teacher for a day we may change our minds and give the teachers a little more credit!! I am sure that there are some not so great teachers out there as well but, for the most part I believe from my experience that teachers really are some of the hardest working underappreciated people out there.

I don't mean to offend you in any way.... I just think that we as parent need to accountable to our children first!! Then we need to work with our teacher and doctors. We are a team all working for the best interst of our children!!

[ex_cdr]

Since when did teachers (a huge percentage can't even pass competency exams) get a medical degree and start practicing medicine?

I am going into the mental health profession, and finishing up my last few internship hours and thought it would be appropriate to respond to this thread. First, I believe that ADD and ADHD are being over diagnosed in today's children, but that's another soapbox.

As for the doctor asking the teacher ... In order to give an ADD or ADHA "diagnosis" to a child there has to be a certain number of observational hours conducted. Obviously, the doctor cannot go and observe all of the children whose parents want these diagnoses. The doctor asks the teacher since he or she spends 8 hours per day with the child, and they are continually observing their behavior in a variety of situations and activities.

There's ton's more that I could say, but I'm afraid that I would ramble on too many soap boxes that no one except me and other mental health professionals care about. I hope this helps clarify some of the confusion.