Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD)?

Abstract

This paper explores four published sources that report on the ways in which society has resorted to misdiagnosing today’s male youth with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as a way to stop undesirable childhood behavior that is otherwise normal. The article takes into consideration possible factors that may contribute to the increasing amount of misdiagnoses among children today. With studies conducted in the articles by Ilina Singh (2005) and Lydia Furman (2005), the authors put focus on the moral dilemmas that arise for parents when deciding whether or not to medicate their children for ADHD. This paper discusses common societal misconceptions about ADHD and they ways in which it is being mistaken as a disease rather
According to Lydia Furman’s article, “What Is Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADHD)?” the author describes the disorder as “the most common neurobehavioral condition of childhood.” Furman expresses the misconceptions people typically have about ADHD being a disease rather than a “group of symptoms representing a final common behavioral pathway for a gamut of emotional, psychological, and/or learning problems” (Furman, 2005, p. 994). With the confusion people have about what ADHD actually is, it leads to more ignorance among parents of hyperactive children about whether or not their child actually has the disorder or if their behavior is actually typical when compared to other kids their age. Sanford Newmark’s article, “Are ADHD Medications Overprescribed?” also focuses on the concern that many parents, doctors and child advocates have about children taking ADHD medication unnecessarily for “simply immature or undisciplined” behavior that’s completely normal, yet is causing an increased amount of children being mistakenly diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Newmark, 2013). What’s put into question is whether or not doctors are misdiagnosing and unnecessarily prescribing medication to children whose behavior may reflect ADHD, but is not actually the
His suggestions of ways to help children who have ADHD learn to cope with their disorder mainly involved not resorting to the use of medication until it was absolutely necessary. He introduces a well-known decision making process called “Buffalo Treatment Algorithm for ADHD” which can be used in order to help parents ultimately decide whether to medicate their child or rely on the use of intense behavioral therapy sessions. The Buffalo Treatment is made up of six elaborate but uncomplicated steps: an eight-week group=based behavioral parent training course, school-based daily report card established by parent, brief and ongoing idiographic assessments of functioning, discussing with family risks and benefits of additional treatment to develop a management place, and offering a “parental choice” that lets parents choose between low, trial dose of medication or increasingly intense behavioral interventions (D’Agostino, 2014). The article showed the author’s clear preference of using behavioral therapy as the first course of actions before resorting to having kids try