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You bring up two points here that are usually the cornerstones of my arguments. The first, the coloring; I have witnessed a "test" like this before, where a child was given a pack of crayons and a picture to color. The child scribbled and drew random lines and went all over the page. The parent said "See? He can't even focus enough to color a picture". The doctor then asked the child "Why did you color the page like that?" and the child replied "I liked the way it looked, and I didn't want to color that picture". What the parent was mistaking for ADD was, in this case, just the child "expressing his self artistically". When the doctor asked the child to color within the lines and make a nice picture for his mom, this child was able to do so, without issue. Children express themselves in varying means and to varying degrees. A child who constantly asks "why" isn't starving for attention or trying to "embarrass mommy", the child is merely trying to express an interest in his/ her surroundings and is vocalizing that interest in the only way possible. The problem comes in with parents who can't be arsed to teach their kids things, or to answer the "why" question because they're too busy texting their friends and trying to hold on to the last desperate piece of youth. Second point: the public school syndrome. In this day and age of "no child left behind" teachers are faulted for the poor performance of students, even if the poor performers are in the minority. Teachers are forced to cater to the lowest common denominator, and the kids who understood the concept on the first or second go-round are left to fend for themselves while the "slow learners" (I'm using this term loosely, because EVERYONE has a subject which takes a little more time to learn; I'm not singling out "stupid" people, I'm talking about the kid who just doesn't seem to grasp the concept) get the individual help from the teacher. Now-a-days, teachers fear having to send a child away to a learning specialist, because the child will usually go home with the story of how Miss So-and-So wouldn't help me learn, and now you have a furious parent to deal with. No... teachers don't want to hear you complain about how they refused to help your child understand fractions, so they help the slower learner, leaving the ones who caught on to fidget, talk, and drift away from the conscious learning environment. Then, when Parent-teacher conferences come along, Miss So-and-so has to explain why little Brian "is a bright student and extremely smart when he applies himself, but has a hard time focusing". Little Brian's parents want to know if something is wrong, take him to the doctor, describe the "symptoms", and of course, Little Brian has ADD. Have some Ritalin and it'll be all good. Multiply scenario by 30 kids per class, 2 classes per grade, 6 grades per school, and 5 schools per city... "As of 2007, 2.7 million youth ages 4-17 years (66.3% of those with a current diagnosis) were receiving medication treatment for the disorder." http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5944a3.htm?s_cid=mm5944a3_w That's not to say the condition does not exist; it most certainly does. I'm not quite sure how to classify it, in terms of where the disorder manifests itself (psychological, physiological?), or if we're really just lumping several disorders under one umbrella (similar to Autism, as recent as 10 years ago). The true-to-life cases need to be observed and treated. The not-so-clear-cut cases need to be weeded out and given help. The parents who would rather medicate their children then answer "why"... well, I'll leave my opinion of them to your imagination.

As crothity's biggest supporter, on this topic I do have to say I agree with him to some degree. ADD/ADHD is over diagnosed. That is about where the agreement ends. ADD/ADHD are absolutely real and kids that truly have it need medication. It baffles my mind the amount of psych meds that some kids are on these days. I have a 7y/o who was on 5 meds, including trazodone. WTF? I had a 10y/o girl who came in with serotonin syndrome from her meds. I think part of it may be regional culture. When I was in NY, there were never this many kids on meds. Here in the midwest it is a whole other story. I see more kids on meds than kids that aren't. If they don't have ADD/ADHD then they have reflux and are on meds for that. I read a good book by Leonard Sax, an ADD/ADHD specialist. It is quite an eye opener. As tcripp alluded to, most kids that are dx with ADD are just bored because of the classroom setting. Every kid learns differently, especially boys. Some schools have forced kids to take meds before they will allow them back in school. It's pretty scary and I'm glad none of my kids have been "accused" of having ADD/ADHD yet.

Its crotchity, this isn't a legitimate question, its a follow up on his comments in the PTSD thread, - PTSD and ADD dont exist, apparently its all crap thats been made up by drug companies. So to quote another forum member from that thread, crotchity "you truly are an asshole"

First off it's called Attention Deficit Disorder. As in it is not a disease it is a disorder. Secondly I have to ask you a serious question. Are you legitimately interested in learning people’s opinions and treatment/management strategies or are you simply "stirring the pot?"

You guys are wonderful! Keep going! They never told me that kidney dialysis could tank blood sugar. I was very confused by my first dialysis patient back in my basic days who had eaten beans and steak an hour ago (yes, he kept it down) no diabetic hx and a BGL of 12. I act as a volunteer in an EXTREMELY rural area. The other day I am first on scene by ten minutes with 4 pts. A screaming one yr. old in a car seat. A bloody, sobbing unseat-belted 8 year-old, a too quiet curled up 5 year-old complaining of right LQ pain and a shocky adult. Damn, that magic jump kit is lacking a lot. I elected to put the only O2 on the 5 year-old and prioritized her as #1 with adult #2, 8 y/o #3 and baby #4. When we met with the pros they sent the adult out by copter, took the rest to the local ER and ended up airlifting the the 5 year old out with a liver lac. I hate quiet kids. Bless the screaming ones! You city dudes don't know the luxury you have of having hospitals close by and never being alone at a scene. Sometimes the wild west is scary.