Neal Boortz and ADD

www.boortz.com ^ | various | Neal Boortz

[Houmatt]

The following are short pieces recently written by Neal Boortz regarding Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, appearing in Neal's Nuze:

DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO THIS. JUST KEEP DRUGGING YOUR KIDS.

More and more medical and psychological professionals are speaking out against this phony disease of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dr. Bob Jacobs, a psychologist, is on the advisory board of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. He recently told a conference in Australia that ADHD is a behavioral problem, not a medical disorder. He correctly points out that there is no proof that ADHD exists.

Jacobs notes that many children who are “diagnosed” with ADHD – children who it is said can’t pay attention – are perfectly capable of sitting still with a video game and paying rapt attention for hours on end. He also points out that when parents pay attention and change the way they are treating and handling their children, the ADHD symptoms go away. “A real diseas doesn’t go away when somebody else does something.”

I just love it that this debate is surfacing again. Sure, Ritalin works. It’s a drug, of course it’s going to have an affect on children. It makes them more docile and compliant. Take that word “compliant” and put it next to “government.” Would anyone argue that government doesn’t just love a compliant citizen? Then why wouldn’t a government school teacher love a docile and compliant child? It sure makes their job easier, doesn’t it?

In 2001 U.S. drug companies made more than $600 million profit in ADHD drugs like Ritalin. If ADHD goes away … so do those profits.

It’s time for you parents and teachers to stop looking for the easy way out here. Your easy way out is a potential disaster for your child.

I’M STILL HERE …

The controversy over my comments on ADD/ADHD continues. Station management continues to feel the effects of an organized campaign to have me either silenced or fired. Hey, I don’t blame these people. If I was drugging my child for a non-existent disease I wouldn’t want anyone reminding me of my irresponsibility either.

Just to fuel the fire, here are some excerpts from letters and e-mail I’ve received in the last few days:

I am a Special Education teacher in Kansas --anti-NEA, extremely conservative: endangered species. Agree with you on ADHD. Problem - liberals insist all students with behavior problems have the right to disrupt the education of others, so meds used to control behaviors. In Kansas, ADHD students receive special education services under the label of Otherwise Health Impaired (OHI). Some of us know that OHI really stands for Otherwise HOME Impaired. Please do not use my name publicly -- retaliation from liberal dominated administration probable

Before you delete this please read on. I am ecstatic on your position on add and ADHD. I have a son that was so diagnosed, they, she who is always right, put him on Ritalin. it is a devastating drug, they are doped up and not themselves. Chris is adopted has a handicap and parents that care. i took on the problem, the problem was not a condition it was a matter of wills. i withdrew him from the medication and worked my ass off making the difference. Neal is right, get off the medication, instill confidence, give a damn about how they behave and stand firm. today my son has a 4.0 average in his junior year of high school and has been accepted to Penn State, will get a partial scholarship and is a GREAT KID. Not bad for someone the system wanted to put into a stupor. Dad's can make a difference, although you may not be the most popular guy around. God Bless

Man, when your right your right! The stories that I could tell you about my ex-wife and hooking my son on this drug since he was two are unbelievable. Parents and teachers are not alone in this. Doctors who are prescribing this and other mind altering drugs are the number one problem. My ex-wife found a doctor in Miami that did "testing" on my son only by giving him some blocks to assemble, and when my son started looking around instead of putting all of the blocks in place that was it, instant A.D.H.D. Oh yeah, this boy was not only A.D.D. He was hyper as well.(here's a clue HE'S TWO YEARS OLD!!) Needless to say this eventually lead to our divorce, but to make matters worse, there are judges out there who believe this crap also, so I did not get custody. He's now 15 and my Ex-wife and I have another court appointment to settle this issue.

AND NOW --- INTRODUCING YOU TO “ODD!”

This will be the next great fad disease for school age children. Oppositional Defiance Disorder. The “ODD child” is a child that gets angry or frustrated and defies authority. In other words … a child. He argues with adults, he loses his temper, he has a negative attitude, he blames others for his mistakes. Teachers.net has a chatboard discussing this grand new disease. One post by a teacher says: “Today was a really bad day. I have been teaching grade seven for four years and today was the first time I was called a "Whore," by a kid who has Oppositional Defiance Disorder.”

Stand by folks, this is soon going to become a full-fledged disease and some drug company is going to develop some mind-altering drug that will make these kids compliant and passive. Oh man, are the parents going to love this one. Here’s a link on this new fad-disease so you can start getting your excuses ready. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/9346/odd.html

http://www.4troubledteens.com/odd.html

ADEQUATE DICIPLINE DEFICIENCY

There’s been quite a firestorm of controversy on the show since I started talking about the various experts who are debunking the ADD/ADHD craze. We had Dr. Bob Jackobs, a psychologist, telling a youth conference in Queensland, Australia that there has never been any proof that ADHD exists. Then there was neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman Jr. who, in a 1998 letter to Attorney General Janet Reno called ADHD “the single biggest health care fraud in U.S. history.” This has all been very unsettling to parents who have decided that drugging is certainly easier than parenting when it comes to controlling the behavior of their children. These parents really know that ADD stands for “Adequate Dicipline Deficiency.”

But, alas! There are many parents out there who have been unable to find a doctor or a shrink who will write that invaluable Ritalin prescription. Wow! You poor saps have actually had to deal with your children being … children!

Well, maybe there’s hope. There’s a new disease on the horizon out there. It’s called ODD! Oppositional Defiance Disorder? With any luck, your child may have this nifty new disease! As a public service, here is some help diagnosing your very own child to see if they might have ODD! The symptoms are:

Arguing with adults. Losing temper. Angry or resentful of others. Actively defies adult’s request or rules. Negative attitude Blames others for their own mistakes misbehavior Seems touchy or easily annoyed by others Deliberately annoys others Acts spiteful or vindictive. The psychiatrists are telling us that if your child displays four or more of the above traits … you may be a winner! You may have a child with ODD! Now you don’t have to feel so left out when the neighborhood moms get together to discuss their children’s afflictions. Looking at that list again, I would suggest that if your child doesn’t display at least four of those traits, he’s probably in a coma on a respirator.

Now … the really good news! The Psychiatric Alliance of the Blue Ridge is studying an “investigational medication” that may help children with ODD! So, in the very near future you may not only be able to discuss your child’s hideous new disease, you may actually be able to DRUG him!

[ladylib]

It's hard to get into the armed services if you're diagnosed with it.

[Zavien Doombringer]

That's because the Catholic Church doesn't View Jesus as the Supreme Judge. The Church is, and what ever happens happens and you deserve it!

[thoughtomator]

No one can in good conscience flame you. The ADD scam IMO qualifies as a crime against humanity. It is another atrocity being carried out by the largely fraudulent psychiatric industry. We're long past the point where a mature and responsible nation should be conducting widespread prosecutions of people who, in the name of deceptions masquerading as science, have been conducting flagrantly dubious experiments on the brain chemistry of their patients. And parents who drug their kids should be prosecuted for child abuse.

This is a horror and a tragedy on a massive scale, and any person with morals or conscience must demand and end to this!

[ladylib]

They beat the crap out of them and suggested the parents send them to the public schools.

[brianl703]

Not true..in Virginia, category II school record info is destroyed/shredded 5 years after graduation. Even prior to then, it is not given out without written permission from the (former) student.

Other states most likely have similar records policies.

About the only thing anybody can find out is what grades the (former) student got.

[Liberal Classic]

I don't deny the existance of ADHD. What I believe is the actual occurance of the disorder is not nearly as common as is popularly believe that the SSRIs are far overperscribed. I believe that are some people who may have this condition and that they benefit from ritalin and whatnot, but it is not as simple to diagnose as is high blood pressure. High blood pressure can be read instantly and objectively. Hyperactivity disorder is not so clear cut. Michael Fumento seems to agree that SSRI perscription has skyrocketed since the mid-80s but brushes it off as "fewer children falling throught he cracks."

I'm sorry, but sometimes boys simply will be boys.

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

I went to a public school in the 60's. Kids that couldn't tow the line, met the line. My guess is alot of teachers back in those days dealt with the problem the only way that they were taught.

[netmilsmom]

I don't think I understand what you are saying. Can you explain it further?

[widowithfoursons]

Yeah, I hear reflexes are critical when handling guns. Speed freaks are generally more useful standing at bus stops mumbling incoherently.

[Uncle Miltie]

The behavioral diagnosis of ADD is identical to a description of boyhood, which is now a disease to be chemically lobotomized.

[conservativeinbflo.]

ha ha! i love it.
i'm sorry, but i'm with the ADD-is-a-sham group. let's face it, this didn't become a problem until the boomers became parents. women had babies as trophies, not to bring better beings into this world, all the while trying to "break the glass ceiling". Kids can be little spazzes. that's how they are! try disciplining them (i'm sorry, but "time out" is not discipline... neither is buying them a toy to shut them up). my twin brother was a nutty kid growing up, with the attention span of a fig. he didn't need drugs-- he just needed to grow up.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Not from me. You can research MY story on FR about the ADD Gestapo tacticts that were tried against my son. I turned the tables on the school district and found that 1 in 4 kids in that school were on Ritalin. Why? Kids with Mental Disorders are a special line item in federal education. My kid's school was getting over $400 per student from the FEDGOV if they were on Ritalin. What a scam.

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

They could have drugged you for just bein his brother.

[Zavien Doombringer]

I grew up in a very catholic home. The Catholic Church was the ruling authority. What ever the church deems necessary, the church did it. (back in the 60's and 70's)The nuns took it upon themselves to discipline anyway they saw fit and were not held accountable for "wrongful" disciplining. Discipline could be instilled on anyone in the class at anytime, for anything the nun saw offensive. That to me is too much power...anyway the concept that we are sinners and must "pay" was always quoted in my class, sunday school and from the pulpit during homily's. Penance reflects that concept. I am sorry about that pinkie finger, but that nun will show no remorse, superficially, yes, but from the heart, no. Jesus is on the Judgment seat, not the Catholic Church, according to scripture, the price was already paid. No one has to endure "punishment" to be sanctified!

[technochick99]

Well then, what about adults with ADD? Yes - many kids are overmedicated, but that is not any type of argument or proof that ADD is not real.

[thoughtomator]

No amount of double talk can mask the fact that MILLIONS of children are being drugged for the purpose of behavioral control.

If this was a real medical problem on this scale, it would have manifested itself as tragedies everywhere throughout human history.

[widowithfoursons]

ANYONE who wants these records can get them. There are no rocket science govt workers.

[Zavien Doombringer]

category II school record info is destroyed/shredded 5 years after graduation.

And when do you start looking for a job, or intern for a med school?

[reformed_democrat]

What the school doesn't tell the parent is that the child's school record follws him eternally. Prospective employers will all know that the kid was drugged in order to function.

Not only that, the military will not allow him to join because he's using a psychotropic drug (Ritalin has the same chemical signature as cocaine). We'll have an entire generation who will be classed as "unfit for duty" because of this. The only way around it will be to change the enlistment requirements to allow all drug addicts to enter the service -- regardless of their addiction -- because you can't successfully test for a difference between Ritalin and illegal drugs. That, or we will have to legalize cocaine.

Just another one of those "unintended consequeces."

[mtbrandon49]

Bump for later!!