Lynn C. Woolsey: “I raised four children, and I am absolutely certain that Ritalin or some other psychotropic drug would have been…”

“I raised four children, and I am absolutely certain that Ritalin or some other psychotropic drug would have been suggested for each and every one of them sometime during their school career. In fact, when I was a kid, my grandfather used to offer to pay me 5 cents for every minute that I could sit still. Well, I never earned a nickel. So my kids came with this hyperactive behavior through the genes, and we all learned through behavior modification and through growing up that, indeed, moving around all the time was not going to get us anywhere. So they learned to be calm, before I did, actually. But that is why I have concerns about blurring the line between the behavior of an active, high-spirited child and a child with a disability. This is not to suggest, however, that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, is not a very real disability for many children. ADHD robs so many children and their parents of the pleasures of childhood and family. The children are labeled as 'bad' for things that they actually cannot control. The parents find themselves frustrated and often angry at their child. However, the growing increase in the manufacture and prescription of psychotropic drugs, like Ritalin, is a cause for concern.”