Shelby McAfee

Jamie McBeth-Smith
English 1010
April 14, 2016
The Diagnosis of ADHD
I have always been an energetic and outgoing girl, especially when I
feel comfortable with those I am with. I had a hard time focusing in class and
sitting still. I figured there were better things to be doing on a warm day than
being confined in a classroom learning about things that I didnt necessarily
find applicable to my life at that point. Many teachers or parents of my
friends would make subtle remarks or comments about me possibly having
ADHD.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children is characterized into
groups based off of inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. When a child is
younger, usually a parent will review a list with a doctor and from there, they
will decide if that child would benefit from medicine to help calm them down
and focus better. My cousin is a perfect example of one who has received
medications to help him control his ADHD. If he forgets to take his medicine,
its hard to get him to do any of his chores, homework, or even to behave
respectfully with others. I could see the advantages of his diagnosis and
treatment, but I didnt see myself on the same level as him. Who gets to say

what a normal level of energy is for child? According to the New York
Times, about 6.4 million children between the ages of four to seventeen have
been diagnosed with ADHD at some point in their lives. So my question is if
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we are over diagnosing our country with this disorder. Is it being used
as an2

excuse for childrens lack of trying or desire not to perform up to par? Or are
we medicating kids because they dont behave like our neighbors perfect
child? These are some of the things that I wonder but at the same time, I
have to ask myself, how many children would benefit from this diagnosis
but dont have the means to provide for the medications? As I mentioned
before, I can see the advantages of diagnosing ADHD, but at the same time I
have seen how fast we are as people to go for the easy answer. In other
words, is the diagnosis of ADHD helping or hurting our children?
Hartnett, D. Niall, Jason M. Nelson, and Anne N. Rinn. Gifted or ADHD? The
Possibilities Of

Misdiagnosis. Roeper Review 26.2 (2003): 73. MasterFILE

Complete. Web. 1 April 2016.

Hartnett, Neslon and Rinn all co-wrote an article discussing the
possibilities of misdiagnosis for giftedness, or accelerated learning abilities,
as being ADHD. The authors discuss how gifted children demonstrate many
of the same characteristics as children with ADHD, such as hyperactivity, the
inability to focus and overexcitabilities. For example students who learn
easier than others will become bored faster because they have to sit and
wait for the rest of the class to catch up to where they are, thus creating

boredom and possibilities to distract themselves. One of the main differences

though however is that children with ADHD have a hard time focusing
wherever they are, whereas gifted children have a hard time focusing at
school and not at home. Gifted children are able to focus on things that they
enjoy but children with ADHD eventually become bored even with their
favorite activities. Another thing that complicates this issue is the perception
of the doctor or physician that the child sees. Since there is no wayMcAfee
to test3or
scan to be one-hundred percent sure that a child has ADHD, many gifted
children are being misdiagnosed and being treated with medications that are
counteracting their intelligence.
All three authors of this article are physiologists and Nelson has a
specialization in learning disorders. The credibility for this article grows with
each degree of not only one but three authors who cite even more
physiologists who have studied this same issue. The Roeper Review is a
journal solely dedicated to gifted education. Ethos is very prominent in this
article and logos as well. They give us facts that help us see that children
who may be accelerated in their class could be confused, in behavioral
aspects, with those who have ADHD.
I hadnt thought about the possibility of children who have an easier
time learning being treated as those who have a hard time focusing. They
also mentioned how some children do have both of these conditions but it is
rare. This adds to my thinking that we are too fast to just assume that

somebody has ADHD because they have a couple of those behavioral traits.
It makes sense to me though, because going back to the example of me and
my cousin, I have always had better grades than him. When we study
together I am able to learn the things from the book easier than he is.
Lunau, Kate. Giving Adhd A Rest. Macleans 127.8 (2014): 48. MasterFILE
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Complete.

Web. 4 April 2016.

There are many differences between North Carolina and California, but
one of the most shocking facts that Kate Lunau, a health and science writer
for Macleans Magazine, points out is about ADHD statistics. In 2007, a child
living in California would be two and a half times less likely to be diagnosed
with ADHD, than one living in North Carolina. Rates of children being
diagnosed with this disorder are skyrocketing. There are about 3.5 million,
more than one in every 10, children in the U.S who have been diagnosed,
most even as young as preschool age. Lunau talked with psychologist Enrico
Gnaulati who says, ADHD is now as prevalent as the common cold. As
psychologists have been looking at these numbers and cases, the closest
thing they can relate these diagnoses to is school policy. Many schools now
give initiatives for children to perform better on their test, resulting in better
overall test scores for the school. Schools in North Carolina were among the
first to start using these accountability laws. Children diagnosed with
ADHD either receive extra help and one on one time to get better test
scores, or their scores are not even counted towards anything. Teachers are

stating that more and more children, especially young boys, are having a
harder time focusing in class, and therefore probably have ADHD. Every
child is to some extent impulsive, distractible, disorganized, and has trouble
following directions, argues Gnaulati. There are no definitive diagnoses from
medical tests or brain scans to show the difference in the brain of a child
with ADHD as compared to one without. So our children are being medicated
with prescription stimulants, which are seen as being more ethical than an
athlete using steroids, to perform better on tests, even if they do not have
this disorder, and all for the fact that they will be more likely to get into
Harvard, Berkeley or Princeton. Hence the reason Kate Lunau asks, Is the
ADHD epidemic really a mental health crisis, or a cultural one? Its clear that
this isnt a contagious disease kids are swapping on the playground. In many
cases, were giving it to them.
Kate Lunau previously reported for the Montreal Gazette and has
received several journalism awards such as the 2014 Yves Fortier Earth
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Science Journalism Award. Based off of her experience in journaling, she
knew to go to the psychologists who have been studying Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder. Gnaulati, Hinshaw and Scheffler, and Sroufe were
each wisely used as they have been studying this for many years. We can
see how Lunau is able to persuade us by using ethos effectively in this piece.
Lunau believes that this diagnosis is actually hurting children especially
as we are diagnosing more and more of them each year. I can see where she

is coming from with this idea. It has given me a new look at not necessarily
children using ADHD as an excuse, but rather parents and teachers using it
as a boost ahead. Because everyone wants their child to be the very best,
right? But how can they be if they arent naturally as good at math or English
as another student? These people dont see the effects of medicine hurting
their children but that is in fact all it is doing, because think about when they
come off of the medicine; their grades and performance will likely drop and
there will be withdrawals.
Mitchell, Kathleen. Cause and Effect. Businesswest 32.18 (2015): 50.
MasterFILE Complete.

Web. 1 April 2016.

Children with ADHD have experienced being labeled by others as lazy,

stupid or crazy. Dr. Mitchell Clionsky of the ADD Center of Western
Massachusetts says that children who have been diagnosed with ADD and/or
ADHD may have been misdiagnosed. There are other medical conditions that
have similar symptoms as attention deficit disorders, such as tonsillitis and
sleep apnea. Once the tonsils were removed or taken care of, the symptoms
of ADHD were gone. For this reason, Dr. Clionsky always recommends that
children be given a test for sleep apnea before being diagnosed and treated
for ADHD. No one has ADHD until its been proven-its a medical problem
that requires a careful and detailed evaluation. When it is correctly
diagnosed and properly treated, children and adults can perform so well that
it seems miraculous. But the diagnostic process is complex, and there is a lot

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of variability explains Dr. Clionsky. At the ADD Center of Western

Massachusetts they do not take the diagnosis of ADHD/ADD lightly. Before
somebody is diagnosed they have a two hour initial exam, because a twenty
minute check up doesnt give the appropriate amount of time to see how
somebody behaves in different situations. After that, they take a computer
test that is meant to be boring so that the doctors can see how they focus or
what specific actions they take in order to have a more accurate diagnosis.
Many, many more hours of testing are put in to even better pinpoint what
aspect of ADD or ADHD that specific patient needs more assistance with.
Dr. Mitchell Clionsky is a certified board neuropsychologist with more
than thirty years of experience which makes him a credible source. Clionsky
only works in the center for ADD and ADHD now, and is therefore very
knowledgeable in his field of practice. A good mixture of ethos, logos and
pathos are used in this article to reach every point of our emotions and
thought processes. This issue is clearly growing and important enough to
have a whole center dedicated to precise diagnoses of the disorder.
This was a very interesting article that helped me to see more of the
benefits of proper diagnoses of ADHD. There are people who benefit from at
least some form of treatment for this disorder but like Dr. Clionsky mentions,
its extremely important to have the correct medical condition being treated
and to not just assume that somebody who is restless or active has ADHD.
This goes along with what Hartnett, Nelson, and Rinn were saying about

misdiagnosis. They just take a different approach to what the diagnosis is:

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medical instead of educational. So this makes me think more people are

agreeing that ADHD is being over diagnosed and assumed as the only
possibility. Kathleen Mitchell and the three previously mentioned have
different views off of the same branch and feel that this automatic
diagnosis is hurting children.
Oaklander, Mandy. Mini Meditators. Time 185.5 (2015): 54. Academic
Search Premier.

Web. 30 Mar. 2016.

Time Magazines advice to any teacher who has struggled with getting
children to focus in class is to breathe. Not the teacher, but the student!
Mandy Oaklander is a writer and editor for Time Magazine, and she promotes
the idea of using meditation programs in school. Mindfulness and
meditation programs are emerging as powerful ways to calm kids down,
sharpen their brains and make them kinder to their classmates. One 2013
study eludes that meditation may also lead to higher graduation rates: 15%
higher. The study and science also show that the students who participated
in mindfulness had better social behavior, less aggression and more liked
than those who didnt. Children also had fewer ADHD symptoms, and this
lasted for months after the program finished. More self control, less
depression, and improved focus were also noted in the students who were
involved in this method of Zen.

This short and simple article is very informative and convincing. Logos
is prevalent through the whole piece and in the depths of every fact. For
each of the improvements that were seen in the children, an accompanying
fact from the study was included. As well, Time Magazine is a very credible
source and has been around for nearly one hundred years.

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Oaklander addressed one of my questions directly: Are we over

medicating children? I now feel as though meditation should be prescribed
before medication to those children who have been diagnosed with ADHD. It
would be a good place to start to see if additional steps need to be taken to
help that child focus better. This way, even those children who may have
been misdiagnosed are not given prescription drugs that may cause even
greater problems.
My eyes have been opened to see that there are more issues and
debates going on about the diagnosis of ADHD than I thought. Some children
who are gifted are being misdiagnosed, while others are being over
medicated instead of taking a more natural method. I have come to the
conclusion that there are many people today with ADHD; however we cannot
diagnose them based off of one exam or behavioral trait. Since this is a
complex disorder to diagnose, it shouldnt be taken lightly. A team of doctors
and parents should meet together frequently with the child to be able to
make the best choice of action for them. In addition, parents should not be
so selfish to make the choice for their child as to whether or not they need to

be put on performance enhancers in school and maybe sit down and take
more time to study with them. I feel there are better ways to treat this issue
that are not being utilized.