Dear FRONTLINE,

I was watching your program when I was taken over by a feeling of disgust and anger. The teachers in public schools are ill equipt to deal with active or even hyper children in the class room. They are taught to medicate and subdue their students instead of changing their own teaching styles to fit the needs of the classroom. The preschool teacher in the first story made me sick and I fear for my childs right to a safe place to learn and grow without being labeled as deficient or wrong for not meeting a list of specification set up by a system I do not agree with. The drug companies are making millions of dollars by medicating our families, not only are we told to take psychiatric drugs ourselves but now our three year old children are being prescribed these powerful drugs as well. When are we going to learn to take responsiblity for our own behavior and stop using a cop out like medication? Until we learn to do this the future of our children is at stake.

lakewood, co

Dear FRONTLINE,

It's unbelievable to me, that there are still people out there who believe that ADHD does not exist. All I can suggest is that they live with an ADHD child, for ONE day. Don't people understand that as parents, it is devasting to see your child suffer, and fail, and not be able to form positive relationships in his/her life? Do they honestly think that parents take the responsibility of medicating their children lightly? Each story shown tonight emphasized how the parents resisted and often, tried every other treatment before medicating. I don't know ANYONE who WANTS to medicate their child....never mind a toddler! These buffoons who claim to be acting in our children's best interests are guilty of buying into the HYPE that the media spews about over-medicating children. I find them to be bigger liars and panderers of false information than any pharmaceutical company I know. As for the misconception that teachers are "diagnosing" ADHD and pushing parents to put their children on meds, I would submit that teachers spend MORE waking hours with our kids than we do! Who better to assess their habits/behaviors/social interactions? They aren't DIAGNOSING! They are observing and making a recommendation for further examination....period! The ridiculous assumption that ADHD couldn't possibly be a legitimate disorder because it didn't exist a few decades ago is laughable! Does that mean that the medical community is not allowed to diagnose something that hasn't presented itself "before?" What does that even mean? Are you so foolish as to not realize that many, many children who were ADD/ADHD simply dropped out of school or ended up in juvenile detention centers because they couldn't handle the perpetual failure? Or that many of them were just labeled delinquents and trouble-makers? I would love to see how much hands-on research any of those speakers/presenters we saw tonight have done. I don't mean reading the numbers, citing the stats, I mean examing the lives of the children/families affected? Until you've had to tie your kitchen chairs to the table to prevent your toddler from using it as a jungle gym, or found your 2 year old cruising the neighborhood at 5:00 a.m. because he woke up in the middle of the night and let himself out, or has emptied the refrigerator of all its contents at 3:00 a.m....you're not entitled to SPEAK! You know nothing until you've lived it. I wish that people who have not experienced this, would keep their mouths shut until they've educated themselves about the topic. I'M the parent...and I'LL decide what's best for my child. I support any parent's right to refuse medication for their child but I resent, like hell, anyone telling me that medicating my son is wrong. It simply tells me that you're uneducated and ignorant about the topic. Because, if you had the real facts before you, you couldn't possibly come to the ill-conceived conclusions you have.

Gerle Webb
Columbus, Ohio

Dear FRONTLINE,

I would have been diagnosed adhd as a child. People, including my teachers called me "high energy" and "hyperactive." I thank God for these teachers, especially my kindergarten teacher my aunt, who told my parents that it was "OK" that I was this way and that I would develop methods to "deal" with my situation. And that is what I did. Throughout my life and even today, I'm developing methods to curb my impulses to move. I'm an educator and when I'm excited, I'm moving. I have a real tough time listening to boring lectures and tend to move around a room instead of settling to one place. My wonderful wife and I have signals that indicate when I need to become a bit more self aware. Some of these signals I've had since my kindergarten years.

In my 21 years of working with children and teenagers, I've been a friend to many a "hyperactive" or "attention deficit hyperactivity disordered" young person. I've helped several develop method of coping with certain situations, teaching them to take information and personal situations in "small bites." Kids with adhd generally don't need medication, they need adults with whom they can share their own issues despite the disruption they may be to others. Those adults have more in common than they want to admit. Teach those methods BEFORE any medications are administered.

Dana Callan-Farley
Chicopee, Massachusetts

Dear FRONTLINE,

I am the mother of three beautiful children, one of which was diagnosed with adhd. My son is only six years old and his pediatrician expects me to give him a very strong stimulant? To me this didn't seem right. I asked if there were any other alternatives and was promptly told no. After seeing your show I went to a different doctor who advised me that the only person qualified to make such a diagnosis was a psyciatrist.

I am still concerned. I do not want to have to dope up my child just to keep him from getting suspended in school. So I was wondering if there are any non-drug therapies for children with adhd? And if this is a nurelogical disorder why has no medical test been invented to assess the problem?

Sincerely

A concerned parent

Houston , Tx

Dear FRONTLINE,

I thought your program was great. As a parent who resisted medication for a while, my only regret was we waited so long. My son immediately understood how Ritalin helped him. When I was shocked at the immediate improvement in his behavior, at 5 years old he answered "I always wanted to cooperate. It was just harder before".

Some times parents need to listen to their kids more. I wonder how many parents wouldn't give their children insulin if they were diabetic? Maybe if the kid just had more "self-control" in what the ate, they wouldn't have the high blood sugar that kills them.

My son understands control, wanting it, wanting to do what's right, more then many adults. I was afraid that drugs would hurt him...instead, drugs have given him control and self confidence I was keeping from him. How can we be so stupid?

Maybe we shouldn't protect our children from polio, tb, measles. Maybe we learn from suffering.

Or maybe, just maybe, we can work together to use coaching, therapy, and medication to help kids be the best they can be.

My now eight year old son thinks so. And that's a judgement I would never disagee with!!!

Celia Wcislo
Arlington, MA

Dear FRONTLINE,

Our ability to label a child with ADHD does not mean that we have a good understanding of the condition, only that we have categorized a list of symptoms. This laundry list of symptoms can have numerous causes, ranging from neurological damage to boredom and unpleasant home life. The only good reason to give a diagnosis is to let a person get treatment. Many kids have received significant benefit from both behavioral and phamacological interventions addressing ADHD symptoms.

The most troubling aspect of medication as an intervention is that we don't have very good studies determining the long term effects of stimulants on children. As a result parents must weigh the benefits against unknown future risks. Certainly this is a sobering challenge to a parent faced with a child that is failing in school because of inattentiveness and/or impulsivity. As a parent of two young children, I hope I don't have to make such a decision without long term safety studies.

Paul Davis
Portland, Oregon

Dear FRONTLINE,

It appears this whole matter comes down to individual evaluation of the available interventions. It is easy to be judgmental in the abstract and say that children should not be medicated, or that parents who choose medication for their children are making a poor decision. In reality, some parents find medication to be the best choice for their child, and I think that parents need to be supported in that decision.

Bob Cameron
Champlin, MN

Dear FRONTLINE,

I was diagnosed with Add at 17 and it was suspected at the age of 6 that i had add and during that time period i was put on ritalin my mother said that she didnt see any difference but I am shure that i felt the differnence I long for the day that i can be reevaluated for ritalin and how can someone say that ritalin is bad for you. it changed my life and for those people who say that ritalin and other drugs that are similar will make you be different its not true i am the same person wether or not i am on the drug or not i just am calmer more concentrated and more efficient i can actually feel it

Northwood , oh

Dear FRONTLINE,

ADHD and depression run in both my husband's and my families. We both have relatively intact, stable extended families, but both conditions have left their mark on a number of family members. I would not refuse my children treatment for asthma, or eyeglasses, if they needed it. Why then, would I consider medical treatment for a brain disorder or a chemical imbalance somehow different?

R, Virginia