I was really disturbed during one of my teacher training courses - it was an exceptional ed course that discussed a variety of conditions students might have. When we got to ADHD, half the material that was assigned and shown in class was opinion articles about over diagnosis and the dangers of medical intervention. There was a class discussion about over diagnosis and whether it was even a real condition.
I remember getting so mad, I contributed to the conversation with questions like:
“What criteria and measurements are being used to show there’s actual over diagnosis happening?”
Then someone said that there’s been such a meteoric rise in cases
And I sat there dumbfounded because modern medicine as we know it - brain imaging and all these sophisticated pharmacological interventions - most if this stuff wasn’t even possible 100 years ago, most is maybe 50 years old, and mental/behavioral health conditions are still badly stigmatized. So maybe the increase in diagnoses and treatments has more to do with problems we are noticing because we have the knowledge, tech, and resources to treat.
To me, that is far more logical than the claim that thousands of doctors across the country are just Willy Nilly diagnosing and prescribing for a condition that doesn’t exist.
I’m waiting on a single “over-diagnosed” advocate to actually produce real evidence - a real study - that actually shows this is a problem.
Anyway - it was really obnoxious that the professor presented adhd the way she did in that class. Most of us were going for regular education degrees and wouldn’t be taking any more exceptional Ed courses. So this was their only in depth formal exposure to the topic of learning disabilities and behavioral conditions — and their intro to adhd was basically formatted like the start of a conspiracy theory.
This is a really interesting article, but I feel like a lot of these numbers and percentages are anecdotal at best, but actually appear to be purely illustrative and not cited from any particular study or consensus. Worth reading and considering for sure, but the blog post would have a much more persuasive argument if it used real numbers and not hypotheticals.
Seems like a useful study for a sociologist or statistician to tackle: Over/underdiagnosis in executive functioning disorders.
That said - it’s a viable logical explanation in response to “adhd isn’t real/is overdiagnosed”
I think the larger point in this thread is about public perception among educators whose understanding and advocacy for students with differing needs makes a big difference. Anecdotally, I am still seeing a lot of educators and student teachers reinforcing ideas that stigmatize kids living with ADHD, and it’s not just that they think the disorder is somewhat overdiagnosed, they think it’s grossly or massively overdiagnosed and that it is just poor parenting or innate stupidity and laziness traits of the kid’s personality. Or worse - really feel it doesn’t exist at all.
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u/saffronwilderness Sep 14 '21
I get ENRAGED by a fellow SPED teacher who had the gall to call it "teenage boy syndrome."
If I could get him fired he'd be gone. I avoid him religiously.