Ritalin in Schools (USA)

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Ritalin in Schools (USA)

Tue, 19 Jul 2005 18:16:53 +0100

Elwood Richard

 

Found on http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/5488281.html

Schools can't force meds on kids

 

Rob Hotakainen and Melissa Lee, Star Tribune Washington Bureau

Correspondents

July 3, 2005 DRU

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As a first-grader, Garrett Nash blurted out answers

before his teacher called on him. He tickled a student sitting next

to him

and sometimes bolted out of lines. One cold day, he left school without

his winter coat.

 

Michelle Nash of Blaine thought her son's behavior was typical for a

child adjusting to a full day of classes, but school officials

suspected he had a hyperactivity disorder. They recommended giving him

Ritalin, a stimulant used to treat children with that problem. She

refused.

 

" I just said I'm not going to do it, " said Nash, 40. " And their

response was, 'You know, it's against the law for you to deny a child

medication.' "

 

That's no longer the case.

 

As of Friday, schools no longer have the upper hand in deciding whether

children should be given Ritalin or other controlled substances. A new

federal law tilts that power to parents, barring states and schools

from keeping students out of class in cases when parents disagree with

a recommendation to medicate a child.

 

The law is provoking an emotional debate over the proper role of

teachers and other school employees in trying to help children they

believe are troubled. And it is taking effect amid growing concern

over the exploding use of Ritalin, the brand name for methylphenidate.

Production of that drug has nearly doubled in the United States since

2000, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

 

Medical professionals come down on both sides of the issue.

 

Lance Clawson, a child psychiatrist from Cabin John, Md., said the new

law could make teachers fearful of communicating legitimate concerns

to parents. Because teachers see so many children every day, they are

best-equipped to identify abnormal behavior, he said.

 

" If you tie the hands of the schools, they lose the right to advocate

for the child, " Clawson said.

 

But Karen Effrem, a former pediatrician who lives in Plymouth and who

testified before Congress on the issue two years ago, said that

children are often incorrectly diagnosed. Sometimes, she said, the

problem is simply that they are watching too much television, eating a

poor diet or are bored. She said the legislation does nothing to keep

teachers from speaking out.

 

" What it does is prevent teachers from becoming physicians, " she said,

adding that " there's a lot of overuse and forced use of medications

going on. "

 

Incentive to comply

 

Schools will have plenty of incentive to comply with the new law:

Congress is threatening to block federal aid to schools that try to

force medication on students against the wishes of their parents.

Congress also is already considering expanding the law. A bill

sponsored by Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., a member of the House Education

Committee, would extend the Child Medication Safety Act to include

psychotropic drugs such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.

 

" Except for a contagious disease sort of situation, you shouldn't be

required to provide any medication to your kid as a condition of going

to school, " said Kline, who has lined up 20 cosponsors for his bill,

including Minnesota Republican Reps. Gil Gutknecht and Mark Kennedy

and Ohio Rep. John Boehner, the chairman of the House education committee.

 

Minnesota's picture

 

Reaction in Minnesota is divided.

 

In 2001, the Legislature passed its own Ritalin Relief Act, sponsored by

state Rep. Barb Sykora, R-Excelsior. The little-noticed law states

that schools cannot require parents to submit their children to

special education testing and that Ritalin can be prescribed to

children only after doctors, parents and school professionals explore

other strategies. Sykora said she introduced the bill because parents

were feeling pressured to put their children on Ritalin.

 

" Drugs can be devastating to kids, " she said. But state Rep. Mindy

Greiling, DFL-Roseville, called the state and federal laws

" unnecessary and redundant " and said they are part of a national

anti-psychiatry movement that could prove dangerous to children with

real problems.

 

Greiling, the leading DFLer on the House's Education Finance Committee,

said parents " aren't leaping to get their kids on medication, " adding:

" There's already plenty of roadblocks to kids getting help without

having the government make it out to be a really bad thing. It's

chilling, this legislation. "

 

According to the most recent federal statistics, Minnesota ranks 22nd

among states in Ritalin consumption in 2004, and per-capita

consumption has actually declined in the past seven years. But critics

say the use of the drug is still far too prevalent.

 

" The schools still can find roundabout ways of getting kids on

Ritalin, " Nash said. She doesn't believe her son has a hyperactivity

disorder and said schools are too quick to recommend Ritalin for any

child who fidgets or might have trouble finishing a task: " There's so

many stages in a child's development. How do you determine what's [a

disorder] and what isn't? "

 

One boy's case

 

Garrett, now 11, attended first grade at Kenneth Hall Elementary

School in Spring Lake Park. His mother said school officials told her

that Garrett was " being impatient " in the first few weeks of school,

being silly in class and acting as though he wanted to be the center

of attention. Sometimes he forgot his papers or gloves. She said she

agreed to allow tests of her son because she felt pressured.

 

After the tests, Nash said she was told her son was normal and that he

was performing well academically. But she said school officials

insisted that the boy meet with a specialist in hyperactivity in an

attempt to get him to take Ritalin. She said that even her

pediatrician disagreed with the school's recommendation.

 

Nash complained to school system officials, who investigated the case.

Spring Lake Park Superintendent Don Helmstetter wrote a letter to

Nash, saying that school officials had " taken steps to ensure that

such a process will not happen to any other parents. " At Nash's

request, school officials agreed to destroy any paperwork and to

delete any information on computer hard drives that Nash and her

husband deemed " inappropriate and invalid. "

 

In an interview, Helmstetter declined to comment on specifics of the case.

But he said he would never approve of the practice of school officials

recommending prescription drugs, adding that both Nash and school

personnel felt " very misunderstood. "

 

" Clearly there were breakdowns in communication, whether intentional or

otherwise, " Helmstetter said, adding that he supports the efforts by

Congress.

 

So does Nash, who has decided to teach all three of her children at home.

 

" The school was very intimidating, " she said. " From the beginning, the

school made me feel they were more powerful and knowledgeable than me. ...

This can happen to anyone. "

 

The writers are at rhotakainen

rhotakainen mlee

mlee.

 

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