ADHD ? Or Not ?

ADHD. Many young kids, nowadays, are being diagnosed with this. But, what is most surprising ,that most of the kids diagnosed with this might, after all,have been mistakenly diagnosed . Researchers believe that a kid that has been diagnosed with ADHD, might just be acting his age. For instance, as it states in the article, kids whose birthdays fall around school enrollment cutoff dates will then either find themselves as either the youngest or the oldest among their peers. This piece of information can make a big difference in a child’s chances of being diagnosed with ADHD. Those who found themselves among the youngest in their class had a higher rate of ADHD. Melinda Morrill, an assitant professor of economics at North Carolina University says, "We believe that younger children may be mistakenly diagnosed as having ADHD, when in fact they are just simply less mature. In America, 4.5 million children under the age of 18 have been diagnosed with ADHD. Todd Elder, assistant professor of economics at Michigan State university mentions that about 20% of those kids have been misdiagnosed, most likely because of their younger age. He also worries that inappropriate treatment is particularly worrisome because of the unknown impacts of long-term stimulant usage on children’s health. In addition, between 320-500 million dollars each year are being spent on unnecessary medication for the mistaken kids. So, a kid might not have ADHD, but the poor thing might just be acting his age, like a 5 year old, when everyone else in his class is 6 years old.

This relates to science because ADHD is a diagnosis that family doctors tend to very commonly diagnose. The fact, though, that they might be misdiagnosing them is a big deal, because as mentioned before, this has to do with how much money is being spent on unnecessary treatment, but most importantly, might be affecting the child’s health. Researchers will now look into ADHD more carefully, and see if the kid really has it.

We all must of at least once said, " Oh my gosh, that kid has ADD/ADHD." With this new information, we must now ask ourselves, " Does this kid really have ADHD, or is s/he simply acting their age?" Also, we might know someone who was diagnosed with this, and they might or not have been correctly diagnosed. So, this is an important piece of info because researchers and everyone else will take ADHD into a more serious account, and not just think that a kid that’s 3 years of age and is moving and jumping a lot has ADHD, when simply they are acting their age.

Source:http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=many-adhd-diagnoses-might-be-blamed-2010-08-17
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