Nonsense.
Nonsense.
Rushie
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Rushie
Not to speak for Bruce but I believe you are not mistaken. I certainly have posted exactly that, based on what happened with my kid. Teacher says she has trouble paying attention, let's consider ADHD meds. I take her to an actual professional. He evaluates her, says she has a high IQ and is bored to death in school. I tell the school to put her in gifted classes, they do, she does fine and is now a happy successful adult (pediatric cardiology nurse). Next kid comes along with similar problems, even worse boredom and depression. I pull her out and homeschool her, complete turnaround, she goes on to finish college with good grades and is now a successful adult (data analyst).
My opinion, go down all other roads first before medicating your kid. YES IT WILL IMPACT HIS FUTURE. Not just flying, but weapons permits, certain jobs, certain kinds of insurability.
Only as a last resort when all other options, including getting them out of public screwals, are exhausted, and only with a psychiatric evaluation proving an actual disorder, would I put my kid on such meds. A minority DO need them. But we as a society are going way overboard.
Well said, Rushie! 
-Skip
-Skip
Any teacher who suggests a kid to be put on meds should be hit upon the head with a 2x4 until he (or she) understands the error of their ways.
Signed,
reformed pediatrician, now dad of two.
Signed,
reformed pediatrician, now dad of two.
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Dana
Final Approach
Ah, but those 1970s medical records were on paper that would take forever to go though even if they weren't long gone, unlike today's digital records that never go away and are searchable with just a few clicks.
Tarheelpilot
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Any teacher that recommends meds should be put in their place by the parents. Teachers are generally not doctors.
Matthew
Touchdown! Greaser!
I would think that if the FAA wants a board certified psychiatrist to be able to overturn an ADD/ADHD diagnosis that it would be a good idea to consult one of those experts before going much further.
Warmi
Line Up and Wait
Non commercial light GA aviation is no more dangerous to bystanders than driving - we don’t see this level of idiotic scrutiny and forced babysitting on our roads because people wouldn’t put up with this on daily basis.
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That was me, I barely escaped high school yet was suddenly on the deans list in a highly respected engineering program at a large well known public university. I was absolutely ******* bored out of my mind all through public school. In 5th grade, I remember a science report we had to give to the class. I accurately diagrammed turbojet, hi-bypass fan jet, and turboprop engines and explained their basic operation. I studied multiple books on the subject in the school library before the report. After, the teacher basically told me in front of the class that I had no idea what I was talking about and sent me to my seat. I suspect she did that because she knew exactly Jack Schidt about the subject, and could not add further instruction as she did with other people's reports. After that, I basically shut down with respect to public schooling and did the minimum to escape. Luckily my 1st Physics 101 class was taught by a slightly eccentric and engaging prof, and he was the one who lit a fire under my butt.
I decided that my daughter would NOT go through the same experiences, so I've ponied up the bucks for private school starting in 6th grade. She's carried 4 honors/AP courses all through school and is now a junior with great grades and a very respectable ACT score. No way in hell was I going to have her endure the crap I did through school.
Rushie
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Wow! I have a similar story about myself (it runs in families) except it wasn’t public school, it was Catholic school. I was in the 6th grade and the teacher was a nun. This was in the late 60s so I guess civil rights issues were in the news. So one day Sister Brenda Marie asked the class, “Why do some people have dark skin and others white skin?” I raised my hand, “I know I know!” She called on me and I stood up and said, “Because humans don’t have fur and so we have melanin in our skin to protect us from the sun’s rays and the closer you are to the equator the more protection you need and so people with dark skin had ancestors that lived near the equator and people with light skin had ancestors that lived in the northern latitudes.” She looked horrified and said, “Wrong! Some people have dark skin because that’s how God made them!” And just like you she dressed me down in front of the class while I shrank in my seat and wished the earth would swallow me.
Also just like you I was an autodidact. We had a set of encyclopedias at the top of the staircase to the attic and I would spend hours sitting on the top step, reading them. It was like internet surfing of today except no social media and superficial fluff, all pure knowledge. I learned that school was not the place to expand my knowledge (except in hard science and math when I got to the higher grades) but school was a thing I had to endure and learn the right “answers” they wanted so I could just get through it.
bbchien
Touchdown! Greaser!
yuh, but we have politicians. “Think of the children”. The problem is the occasional unannounced GA drop in, onto/into a HOUSE, a huge political problem. That harder to do in an auto.
I was like Rushie’s first example. But THEY said, let him have SIXTH grade...not 5th.
I was busy shooting down flies with rubber bands, I was so bored....I got pretty good at it, too, because I had already figured quotients that repeated forever...yawn.
Perhaps putting the teacher on the meds might be the better solution.
Like Rushie, I loved reading the encyclopedia. Didn't have much choice - when Mom got mad at me, I was banished to my room - with the encyclopedia. One benefit - I'm a wizard at trivia contests! Freshman year of high school...I was banned from the school library because I would check out a book every day, read it in algebra class. Aced algebra anyway, read just about every mystery, SF and history book until I got caught.
I have no doubt I would have been put on ADD/ADHD/AHRS drugs back then, if the drugs were as popular. Mom tried to get the GP to put me on tranks my sr year in high school because I was having migraines. Fortunately, the GP understood what was going on - I was allergic to my mother...not kidding. Moved out week after high school, went out of state for college, haven't had a problem since.
Warmi
Line Up and Wait
Well, while not common , not exactly unheard of ...
people are pretty creative you know...https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/03aef04/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3264x2448+0+0/resize/840x630!/quality/90/?url=https://california-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com/70/e8/c788dc12471cbf4991547098d48c/gghv3869.jpg
James331
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James331
Making a medical record for your kid should be viewed the same as making a criminal record for your kid.
Per some yocal GP saying ADHD, remember medical blunders are the 3rd leading cause of DEATH, about a quarter million people a year dead from it. You know your kid far better than some government school teacher who probably never made it in the private sector, or a guy who just eeked out of medical school.
My dad once lost control of his pickup and hit a house.Well, while not common , not exactly unheard of ...
https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/03aef04/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3264x2448+0+0/resize/840x630!/quality/90/?url=https://california-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com/70/e8/c788dc12471cbf4991547098d48c/gghv3869.jpg
You know what they call the guy who came in last in his class in med school, right?
"Doctor".
Eeeked is probably better in this case.
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...
Guest
There are some kids who definitely need a diagnosis and treatment. There are other kids who definitely don't. Then there are many, many kids in the grey zone, where they can function without meds/treatment, but would function better - possibly even thrive - with treatment. In those cases, an evaluation could go either way.
I think some doctors feel compelled to make a diagnosis in that grey zone. Partly because so many parents want their kids to 'live up to their full potential', partly because a diagnosis sometimes means insurance will provide some benefits, or it'll force the schools into some sort of accommodations, so they think they're helping the child in getting the most treatment possible.
I would just make it clear to the doctor that you're not seeking a formal diagnosis. Even if he doesn't "have ADD/ADHD", you'd be willing to work with therapists out-of-pocket to learn techniques and support mechanisms for ADHD-like behaviors and symptoms. If the kid is in the zone where this is appropriate, he won't need or get medication, but you can get some support without a formal diagnosis (you'll just have to pay out of pocket for it, since insurance won't normally cover therapy costs without a diagnosis).
-Not a doctor, just a parent
I thought it was called 'You are pain in the ass, sit down!'
The disease is real and there are probably kids who should be on medication. I do however believe that a good portion of the kids who are on meds don't have the disease to a degree that justifies messing with their developing brain wiring.
wsuffa
Touchdown! Greaser!
A bit of thread drift, but worth adding - the fact that some schools/teachers rush to drug kids rather than address the issues as a couple of folks here ha noted is not much different than the retirement and nursing homes that drug their residents to make them easier to handle as opposed to staffing properly and engaging the residents (turning them into inmates).
If you have older parents, or are turning older yourself, beware that some homes (not all, some) do this.
If you have older parents, or are turning older yourself, beware that some homes (not all, some) do this.
Rushie
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I’m thinking about this a lot these days as we are in the process of buying long term care insurance. From observing the old people I’ve known when they need care, they almost always want to stay in their home. Poor Marvin Stump (of KGEV) was forced into a nursing home after his wife died. He “escaped” one day and the sheriff’s deputy had to bring him back. Shortly after that I visited him and he had his bag packed and was insisting somebody was getting ready to pick him up to take him back home. They weren’t of course. He eventually settled in and the next time I visited him he was accepting of his situation. But he didn’t live long after that.
Both my aunt and my husband’s great aunt spent time in nursing homes and hated it so much they raised hell until arrangements were made to bring them back home. The only person I’ve ever known that was actually happy in a nursing home was Jesse Helms and he was so loved that he had plenty of visitors (of which I was one) that he was well cared for. It was a high end facility too.
On the other end was my best friend who at around 64 years old had his leg amputated and needed full time care but no family would take him and he was indigent, so was on Medicaid, which limits you to the low end facilities. Conditions there were absolutely appalling. After a few months he left against medical advice and managed to get himself into some low rent housing, into a wheelchair accessible suite where he lived out a few more months until his death.
All these people, except for Helms, bitterly fought being warehoused in a facility and I am getting the message loud and clear. So I’m trying my best to set up our future so that we can stay at home no matter what.
I digressed but your point is spot on: they drug the “inmates”. They sedate them with Ambien but at the same time under treat pain because of the “opioid crisis”. You can’t have a 90 year old becoming an addict in his last year of life. Or maybe they just don’t like to have to give them enemas.
They put them in diapers because that saves staff from having to help them into the bathroom. Nursing homes focus on keeping themselves functioning, not on the comfort of the residents.