Research
That Benefits Children and Families
By
Lisa Martin
I
have no doubt that research involving children and their families often yields
positive results, and it was with this belief that I went in search of current
research on Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I am one of those people who believe that the
diagnosis of ADHD is too quickly assigned and children are medicated without
justification. I wanted to know if research supported my theory.
I
found a very informative study that involved minimal risk to the children and
families. “The Center for Disease Control’s National Center on Birth Defects
and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) funded a collaborative research project
with the University of South Carolina and the University of Oklahoma Health
Sciences Center, called Project to Learn about ADHD in Youth (PLAY)” (CDC, 2012
p.1). One of the key findings did in
fact support my theory that some children were incorrectly diagnosed and did
not need the medication.
The
study population consisted of over 10,000 children from a variety of cultures,
demographics and ethnic groups in grades K-6. Teachers and parents were
interviewed and questioned about signs and symptoms of ADHD. Based on the
screening results the children were broken up into two groups and followed for
five years through annual interviews, in-depth assessments, quarterly contacts
and semi-annual data collection. The CDC (2012) set out to look at ADHD as a
public health issue based on three key areas:
·
Social and economic burden
of ADHD through the lifespan
·
Epidemiologic issues in ADHD
·
Interventions for ADHD
They
also offered necessary actions to address these public health needs (p. 2).
Although,
I found the research to be very interesting and informative, in the end ADHD is
still very much a mystery. “There is
little concrete knowledge of the degree to which interventions can or do
improve the outcome of children with ADHD; nor are there consistent and standardized
measures of the impact of the disorder” (CDC, 2012, p. 3). ADHD is definitely a subject in need of much
more research. Research that will develop a tool for diagnosis, and look at the
cost or burden not only to the individual, but the family, community and
society as well.
Center
for Disease Control. (2012). ADHD: Current research – Project to learn about
ADHD in youth (PLAY). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/features/ADHDAwarenessWeek/
I agree with your theory that ADHD is over-diagnosed. It seems like if a child acts out, they MUST have ADHD. I am glad you are finding evidence of this in your research, and look forward to learning more through following your blog over the next 5ish weeks. I'm also interested to see where the research goes over the next 5-10 years.
ReplyDeleteLisa, I really enjoyed your blog. I would like to thank you for researching and posting your findings as well as the link. about ADHD. I agree that this is an illness that is always to quick to be diagnosed. It seems as though any child with behavior problems are diagnosed with ADHD. Like, Renee, I am interested in seeing where the research is headed.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest child who is now 30 years old was dianosed with being ADD not ADHD at the age of three because she was not hyperactive but she could not concentrate enough to learn. Now the doctors tell me that she was never ADD, but has a learning disorder??
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post on ADHD. Also, I cannot agree with you more, that professionals and adults seem to be easily diagnosing children with ADHD with out justification. The question that puzzles me the most is why such an increase of children diagnosed with ADHD especially in recent years.
Also, I wanted to share with you an interesting video segment that I watched recently about children and education. In the video Ken Robinson discusses the issue how schools kill creativity and discusses how Gillian Lynne, the director and choreographer of Cats and Phantom of the Opera was misdiagnosed by her teachers because she was underperforming at school. It is an inspirational video segment. The link of this video segment is posted down below. Hope you enjoy it!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sir-ken-robinson/do-schools-kill-creativity_b_2252942.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI to agree with your theory that ADHA is over-diagnosed. It seems that teachers are quick to label children with ADHD because of a little hyperactivity which in most cases are caused by children being allergic to certain foods. I think that this is a very interesting topic and I know that you will do well with your research. I really enjoyed your post, thanks for sharing.