TURNING BACK THE TIDE...(And they said it couldn't be done...they said nobody could do it...but this is these are the New American Hero. AND, They can do anything!)
CONNECTICUT BANS RITALIN WITHOUT PARENTS APPROVAL!
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URTHYROID
Connecticut Approves Ritalin Law
Tue Jul 17 21:56:33 2001
Connecticut Approves Ritalin Law
By MATTHEW DALY
.c The Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - When Sheila Matthews' son was in first grade, a school
psychologist diagnosed him with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and
gave his parents information on Ritalin.
Matthews refused to put him on the drug. She believed the boy was energetic
and outgoing but not disruptive, and she suspected the school system was
trying to medicate him just to make it easier for the teachers.
Now the state of Connecticut has weighed in on the side of parents like
Matthews with a first-in-the-nation law that reflects a growing backlash
against what some see as overuse of Ritalin and other behavioral drugs.
The law - approved unanimously by the Legislature and signed by Gov. John G.
Rowland last month - prohibits teachers, counselors and other school
officials from recommending psychiatric drugs for any child.
The measure does not prevent school officials from recommending that a child
be evaluated by a medical doctor. But the law is intended to make sure the
first mention of drugs for a behavior or learning problem comes from a
doctor.
The chief sponsor, state Rep. Lenny Winkler, is an emergency room nurse. ``I
cannot believe how many young kids are on Prozac, Thorazine, Haldol - you
name it,'' Winkler said. ``It blows my mind.''
While she has no problem with the use of Ritalin under a doctor's care,
Winkler said a teacher's recommendation is often enough to persuade parents
to seek drug treatment for their child's behavior problems.
``It's easier to give somebody a pill than to get to the bottom of the
problem,'' she said.
Nationally, nearly 20 million prescriptions for Ritalin, Adderall and other
stimulants used to treat ADHD were written last year - a 35 percent increase
over 1996, according to IMS Health, a health care information company. Most
of those prescriptions were for boys under 12, IMS Health said.
In some elementary and middle schools, as many as 6 percent of all students
take Ritalin or other psychiatric drugs, according to the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration.
Dr. Andres Martin, a child psychiatrist at the Yale University Child Study
Center, said schools have no business practicing psychiatry.
``We've all heard these horror stories of parents who are told, `If you don't
medicate your child, he can't be in the classroom,''' he said. ``You never
hear the school say, `If you don't take the damn appendix out, this kid has a
bad outcome.' You say, `Your kid has a stomach ache. Take him to the
doctor.'''
The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education has taken no position on
the bill. Nor has the Connecticut Education Association, the state's largest
teachers union. But union President Rosemary Coyle said the she believes the
problem is overstated.
``I really believe teachers do not practice medicine,'' Coyle said. ``We
don't recommend kids get on drugs.''
Concern about Ritalin and other drugs is widespread. The Texas Board of
Education adopted a resolution last year recommending that schools consider
non-medical solutions to behavior problems. The Colorado school board
approved a similar resolution in 1999, and legislation regarding psychiatric
drugs in school has been proposed in nearly a dozen states.
In the New Canaan school district, Matthews and her husband took their son,
now 8, to a private psychologist, who said the boy has trouble with
reasoning. He now receives special education from the school system.
``I was able to get, for $2,000, a different label that has an educational
connotation, rather than medical,'' said Matthews, who did not want her son's
name used.
Barbara Lombardo, the district's director of special education, said she
supports the new law, but rejected the suggestion that shool officials
promote behavioral drugs or other medication.
``I can state to you unequivocally that we do not in the public school system
profile children'' for behavior problems, she said. ``Every decision we make
to assess a child is made'' by a team of staffers.
Matthews said she has resolved many of her differences with the school
system, which did not threaten to remove her son from class.
``I'm really thrilled'' about the law, she said, ``because it gives parents
an awareness that there should be a clear difference between education and
medication. Our schools are now getting into the field of mental health.
That's not what we send our children to school for.''
AP-NY-07-17-01 1820EDT
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