M is six. She is a happy little girl who adores ballet and fairies and wishes she could fly. She dances everywhere and likes to hold hands with the teacher. She loves maths, science and her reading age is well above her grade level. So much the better for reading about fairies. If she’s allowed, she likes to work for hours at a computer game, finding all the tricks, secrets and making sure she’s explored every nook and cranny that other people never even notice. She giggles a lot. A LOT. She is a natural clown and loves to make people laugh. She’s always, always angled unusually in photographs.

M’s teacher stopped M’s mother the other day. The same old story. It’s difficult to make her write. It takes a while to get her attention. She doesn’t like sitting straight on her chair. She talks over the teacher. She’s sometimes too loud. It took M a whole day to write one sentence. She was kept in at playtime.

M’s mother recognises this story. When M’s mother was a little girl, she was often removed from classrooms. She remembers spending much of her childhood standing in corridors, unsure why or what went wrong. She remembers that she was always the naughty one. That rumours circulated about her, that parents didn’t like their children being her friend, that teachers would call her names. She never quite knew what she did differently from the other children. It’s just how it was. When M’s mother was a little girl, her doctor said that she was ‘hyperactive.’

Twenty years later, M’s mother is talking to M’s teacher. M’s teacher says M should be ‘tested.’ That she probably has ADHD. That she probably needs ‘medication.’ That if she ‘needs’ medication and won’t take it, then M might have to leave her class and leave the school that she loves.

M’s mother is gutted. M eats well, mostly organic food with minimal additives. She exercises well and she has a happy home life. She also has an older sister who is studious and well liked.

M’s mother is pretty pissed off.

Figures are blurry for how many children are on Ritalin or similar stimulants. Estimates suggest anything up to 8 million children are currently prescribed ADHD medication. At least 90 percent of them are in the USA. Ritalin affects chemicals in a child’s brain linked to impulsivity and ‘hyperactivity.’ The ideal result at the correct dosage is a child who conforms to the needs class.

Only a few weeks ago, M’s mother noticed an advertisement in a magazine for a free trial of Adderall in a parenting magazine. A free trial, like it was chocolate. Or perfume.

Yet a quick look at the professional guidance for Adderall given to doctors is more disturbing. In fact, it carries the following warning:

AMPHETAMINES HAVE A HIGH POTENTIAL FOR ABUSE. ADMINISTRATION OF AMPHETAMINES FOR PROLONGED PERIODS OF TIME MAY LEAD TO DRUG DEPENDENCE AND MUST BE AVOIDED. PARTICULAR ATTENTION SHOULD BE PAID TO THE POSSIBILITY OF SUBJECTS OBTAINING AMPHETAMINES FOR NON-THERAPEUTIC USE OR DISTRIBUTION TO OTHERS, AND THE DRUGS SHOULD BE PRESCRIBED OR DISPENSED SPARINGLY.

MISUSE OF AMPHETAMINE MAY CAUSE SUDDEN DEATH AND SERIOUS CARDIOVASCULAR ADVERSE EVENTS.

The pediatric guidelines read,

“Pediatric Use: Long-term effects of amphetamines in children have not been well established. Amphetamines are not recommended for use in children under 3 years of age with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder described under INDICATIONS AND USAGE.”

(http://www.drugs.com/pro/adderall.html)

Professional warnings on Ritalin are similarly disturbing.

A study at Columbia University found an increase in sudden death in children who were taking Ritalin. Paediatricians and psychiatrists keen to continue prescribing argued that this was only relevant in children with existing heart abnormalities In 2008, the American Heart Association recommended EKG tests be given to children starting Ritalin, yet this is still not in effect, thanks to those prescribers fighting the recommendation. Even more worryingly, in a recent study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the link to sudden death was confirmed once more and in this case, children with any suspicion of heart problems had been removed from the study. Indeed, children on stimulants with no known pre-existing heart issues are five times more likely to die suddenly than other children.

These amphetamine drugs are also known to raise blood pressure, increase heart rate and are known in long term use to retard growth in children. Not to mention the tics and psychosis. Oh, and any long standing prescription for Ritalin or similar may jeapordise a military career.

So. If a doctor says so, M must take one of these drugs to remain at the school.

And let’s be under no illusions, the ADHD industry is huge. The books, the drugs, the remedies. Leon Eisenberg, a professor of psychiatry and social medicine at Harvard Medical School, says that the sale of Ritalin and other stimulant drugs for children are “driven by the convenience of the doctor, the profitability of the drug company, and the notion that there is nothing more meaningful to life than biochemistry”.

M won’t be seeing a doctor. M’s mother wonders why exactly M had to write that sentence that took all day. Whether it was worth staying indoors all day, struggling over. More than anything, she wants M to be happy, to be a pleasant, sociable child. She knows that M is not causing any harm to herself or to anyone else. She just doesn’t conform easily to the classroom rules. Much of it is just about sitting still and concentrating. M doesn’t deserve the same ‘naughty’ label that plagued M’s mother throughout her school years.

And what exactly are the school doing by giving M star charts, pulling her privileges (if play and exercise time can be considered a privilege for a six year old)? They’re using extrinsic forces to force what should be an intrinsic process. In the short term, reward and punishment may make a child conform and obey. They don’t however encourage any love of learning. The child thinks, “I must write because I will get my star and be allowed to play.” Not, “I must write because I want to master this skill and be able to enjoy using it.” In the long term, is the child going to continue writing? No. They will forever be seeking the external motivator and never develop a natural love of learning. (So what if the sentence never gets written! Will the child be a failure in later life? Unlikely.)

Mothering.com describes the Albany Free School, a drug free school where classroom life is individualised. Perhaps in these days of tight budgets, this is a dream but the article quotes Alexander S Neill who argued that the school must fit the child, not the other way round. Classrooms are there to educate children as they are, not to mould the children into ‘educatable’ beings. Surely, if so many millions of children ‘need’ ADHD medication, schools are failing them. They are not providing the education these children need. They are are merely providing a ‘one size fits all’ education. They are buying into our Western tendency to see difference as disorder.

The clue is in the word. Disorder. M refuses to be orderly. To order herself as the school would like.

M’s mother is considering home educating. M would probably thrive if given more autonomy over her learning. Fortunately, this is an option, but it should be an option. Instead, M’s mother feels forced towards this option, as to her, giving M drugs that carry a risk of death and which will change M’s brain chemistry is simply not an option. Even M’s sister says, ‘I like M exactly as she is!’ and M’s family are all in agreement here.

M’s mother believes that M has a very meaningful life. And more to the point, she enjoys her very unusual angles; in photographs, in chairs and in life!

For further reading, Dr Peter Breggin, an experienced Harvard educated psychiatrist has several eye-opening studies here concerning Ritalin, Adderall and Concerta ADHD drugs.

Mothering.com takes the debate one stage further by asking if ADHD actually exists. Shinemama’s feeling? ‘ADHD children’ undoubtedly exist. But they don’t have a disorder. They just have those unusual angles…

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