ADHD? Maybe not.

I've often asked if ADHD is a fictitious epidemic.

Because I teach in a children's inpatient psychiatric assessment unit, I am well acquainted with how easy it is to diagnose young children, particularly young boys, with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

I've also become aware of how harmful or misguided such a diagnosis can be. This can be true for lots of reasons but one big one is that if we get the diagnosis wrong, then we are more apt to subscribe to "solutions" that make the problem worse.

Sometimes ADHD is nothing more than a symptom of a developmentally inappropriate learning environment. Misbehaviour in the classroom is rarely ever the problem -- it's usually a symptom of a much larger problem. Show me a class with chronic misbehaviour and I'll likely be able to show you a boring curriculum.

Sometimes ADHD is not ADHD -- it's actually a chronic sleep deficit.

I've seen with my own eyes how talk therapy doesn't pay, so psychiatry turns instead to drug therapy. Too often the manta is: Can't focus? We've got a pill for that!

Sadly, I have an acute understanding for what is meant by the observation: "We've decided as a society that it's too expensive to modify the kid's environment. So we have to modify the kid."

When I hear that Asberger's Syndrome will no longer exist when the DSM-V (psychiatrist's bible for mental illness) is released on May 22, I wonder how disorders like ADHD are conceived.

What is the single best thing we can do for our health?

Here's a video that I use with children and colleagues to show how important physical activity can be for attaining and maintaining mental and physical health.

I've found that the contents of this video relates very well to my students who have been "diagnosed" with ADHD and depression.

ADHD: Fictitious Epidemic?

I, like Sir Ken Robinson, am not qualified to determine whether ADHD is such a thing or not. I am not a health care professional - I'm an educator.

The purpose of this post is not to end the discussion because I've come to a conclusion which we must all adopt; rather, I simply want to continue this very important dialogue that affects a great deal of our children.

The first ten years of my teaching career were spent in middle school, but I've recently changed my teaching assignment - rather drastically, actually. I now teach in a "one-room school house" inside of the local hospital for children under the age of 18 who present a wide range of mental health related difficulties; ADHD is a popular one.

So now I have a question:

What kind of learning environment should I provide these students?

At first this question might seem benign: one might be quick to answer "whatever is best for the child's needs"... but it might not be that simple.

Here's what I mean: let's be honest, if everything was peachy with these kids at home and school, they might not be in the hospital in the first place. So while they are with me, we are trying to figure out how to help them so they can experience success in the world that they came from.

If I provide them with the traditional sit-and-get, in your desk, in your row, remain seated, raise your hand, be quiet, do your worksheet, study for and write your test - kind of education, I will end up providing far different observations and assessments than if I provided the students with a more differentiated and engaging education that more appropriately meets their needs.

But if I provide a differentiated learning environment that broadens the definition of real learning and achievement (beyond just getting kids to do whatever it is we want them to do), might it be possible that these students would need less medication? And yet, might it be possible that these students would need more medication in order to "properly" fit into their traditional sit-and-get schooling?

At the very least, could it be possible that school needs to change at least as much as the kids? To take this further, could it be that our current, narrow definition of school is at least as much of the problem (if not more) as the kids?

I fear that at the end of their stay, many of these children will return to a school that will want to know if the child has changed enough to properly fit the system's needs when it might be more appropriate for the school to ask how the system will change to meet the child's needs.

What do you think?

Sir Ken Robinson and ADHD

I was particularly taken with Sir Ken Robinson's take on ADHD. Honestly, I think he's on to something. I found much of Robinson's tone to be similar to this article titled ADHD: has this diagnostic fad run it's course? Here are but a few excerpts:

The idea of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a credible diagnostic term has passed and it is time that we accept that and move on. Fads and disappointments are not new to the field of psychology nor is the need for people to get beyond them...

And just this week, a Michigan State University study found that nearly one million children in America are potentially misdiagnosed with ADHD – in large part because they were the youngest and least mature in their kindergarten classes.Maybe the greatest problem regarding ADHD as a diagnostic label is that our faith in that label has distracted us and kept us from looking for the better understandings we should be seeking. Stress and sleeplessness lead to inattention. Frustration leads to anger and rebellion. Depression leads to indifference and a lack of enthusiasm.

Could it be possible that our fixation on standardization (curriculum and testing) is not only narrow in scope but also grossly inhuman and unnatural? So much so that we have to drug a large population of our children in order to comply with such arbitrary and contrived definitions of excellence and success?

If there is even a shred of truth to all this, I would hope that School Districts in Alberta such as Calgary, Edmonton Public & Catholic and Elk Island would pause and reflect before defining their children's success on Standardized Test results. And I would hope the Province of Alberta would do no less themselves before bullying districts into such assessment malpractice.