By ALAN SCHWARZ
Published: October 9, 2012
CANTON, Ga. ? When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall.
The pills boost focus and impulse control in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although A.D.H.D is the diagnosis Dr. Anderson makes, he calls the disorder ?made up? and ?an excuse? to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children?s true ill ? poor academic performance in inadequate schools.
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Dr. Nancy Rappaport, a child psychiatrist in Cambridge, Mass., who works primarily with lower-income children and their schools, added: ?We are seeing this more and more. We are using a chemical straitjacket instead of doing things that are just as important to also do, sometimes more.?
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Some experts see little harm in a responsible physician using A.D.H.D. medications to help a struggling student. Others ? even among the many like Dr. Rappaport who praise the use of stimulants as treatment for classic A.D.H.D. ? fear that doctors are exposing children to unwarranted physical and psychological risks. Reported side effects of the drugs have included growth suppression, increased blood pressure and, in rare cases, psychotic episodes.
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Despite Quintn?s experience with Adderall, the Rocaforts decided to use it with their 12-year-old daughter, Alexis, and 9-year-old son, Ethan. These children don?t have A.D.H.D., their parents said. The Adderall is merely to help their grades, and because Alexis was, in her father?s words, ?a little blah.? ...
