Why are the number of students diagnosed with ADHD increasing so rapidly?

Outline for EDUC 502 Position (Write in complete sentences

Name : Mike Morano

Date : 10 /24 /07

: Why is the Number of Students Diagnosed with ADHD Increasing so Rapidly 5

Title : Getting Behind the Diagnoses of ADHD

I . Introduction

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Dis (ADHD ) is one of the most common psychiatric diss among American children which results to behavioral and learning deficits and is constantly increasing (Safer Zito Fine , 1996 CDC , 2005 . It is a complex and chronic mental health dis characterized by hyperactivity-impulsivity inappropriate levels of inattention , and restlessness

which is developmentally inconsistent with children 's age (American Psychiatric Association , 2000 Edwards , 2002 . ADHD is associated with emotional behavioral , social functioning , and academic deficits among school children in the US (DuPaul Stoner , 2003 Barkley , 2006 . Schnoes (2006 ) reported that the prevalence of ADHD group of students who were eligible for services under the learning disability (LD ) category is approximately 50

I personally believe that the rapid increase of children diagnosed with this disability is not mainly due to the continuously rising population but because some parents have failed to consult psychiatrists which made their child 's condition worse , inconsistent or inefficient diagnosis were done in the early years when professionals lacked training , proper mitigating programs were not given especially to those who are economically deprived , less stringent view of defining ADHD when compared to other countries , various definition , diagnoses , and treatment standard for ADHD worldwide , external and genetic factors ADHD symptoms overlap with other mental and behavior diss , and some parents refuse to accept that their child might have developed ADHD due to the stigma of relating this issue to more severe diss which makes the family and the child difficult to cope with . The reasons for the fast growing number of cases of ADHD among children are further discussed based on the findings of relevant researcher individuals and groups . These are grouped into three such as inefficiency and inconsistency in clinical practice , rise of world population , and environmental and genetic factors II . Supporting Reason 1 : Inefficiency and inconsistency in clinical practice

Based on the report of the Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics , the prevalence of ADHD is 1 .4 percent among children in 1979 and 9 .2 percent in 1996 (Clinical Practice , 2000 . There are various criteria are being used by health professionals for diagnosis and treatment of ADHD (Clinical Practice , 2000 . As a result , the inconsistencies would only discourage parents in seeking professional help for their child 's misbehavior . The similar symptoms between ADHD and other diss such as bi-polar may cause future problems when misdiagnosed . This could harm the child 's development and recovery from the real dis . Some parents would prefer that their child be diagnosed as having ADHD , a relatively common and accepted condition rather than put up with the stigma of depression or bi-polar dis which would likely be much more difficult to deal with

Smith (2007 ) reports that there have been increasing school-aged children in America who are diagnosed...