http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/edu
cation/6071216.stm

The ADHD dilemma for parents
     By Cordelia Rayner
     All Out Productions

With a recent survey suggesting almost 50% of children with Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder have been excluded at some point, parents
face difficult choices.
Up to one in 20 children have ADHD, which affects concentration and can
cause them to be disruptive.

Many are being put on medication but unions warn that some schools cannot
meet their medical needs.

And American scientists have raised concerns about the widespread use of
ADHD medications.

A recent survey by the National Attention Deficit Disorder information and
support service found the exclusion rate for children with ADHD was 10 times
higher than that of those without.

Some parents have told the BBC they were told to give their children
medication or keep them at home, and that they often felt they were being
denied a proper education.

    The only way parents can get their children an education is through the
courtroom
     Linda Sheppard

The National Association of Head Teachers spokesperson, Jan Myles, said:
"It's the system that fails the child but all too often the blame is laid at
the door of the school.

"A lot of heads I'm talking to on a daily basis are exhausted with trying to
implement different strategies that are not working."

One mother, Linda Sheppard, is taking her local authority to the European
Court of Human Rights to gain her son the educational support she claims he
needs.

Ms Sheppard removed her son from his school because she says they were
unable to offer him adequate support in the classroom.

Continual exclusions from school trips and other activities caused his
well-being to plummet and by the time he was seven he threatened suicide,
she says.

For 18 months Ms Sheppard struggled to find a school she felt could cope
with her son's education needs.

"It's ridiculous - the only way parents can get their children an education
is through the courtroom," says Ms Sheppard, who claims that many exclusions
are not recorded in official statistics and are classified as authorised
absences by schools.

Other parents say they are coming under pressure to have their children on
prescription drugs.

The BBC's Five Live Report spoke to one parent who said they were asked by
their school to either put their child on medication or they would be
excluded.

In the past 10 years the prescription rates for ADHD medications, which are
based on the chemical methylphenidate, have risen sharply.

    These are powerful medications that have serious risks
     Dr Steven Nissen

In 1994 there were just 4,000 prescriptions for methylphenidate, 10 years
later that figure had gone up to 359,000 - a 90-fold increase.

However, the news comes at a time when leading American doctors have called
for greater warnings on the labels of the ADHD medications.

The risks outlined by Dr Steven Nissen include tics, strokes, and in severe
cases, sudden death.

"These drugs are not candy," says Dr Nissen, President of the American
College of Cardiologists who was one of the key experts that moved to
increase the warnings. "These are powerful medications that have serious
risks."

In Britain though the drug advisory board, the MRHA, is not yet planning to
release any new guidelines.

Manufacturers said the risks identified were small and only applied to
people with pre-existing heart conditions.

One drugs company, Novartis, said it had "conducted a review of our global
safety database in early 2005 which did not show any increased events of
sudden deaths or strokes among methylphenidate users compared to the general
population".

Five Live Report can be heard on Sunday 22 October at 1100 BST and 1930BST
and will also be available at the Five Live Report website .

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/education/6071216.stm

Published: 2006/10/22 08:36:17 GMT

© BBC MMVI
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Prediction.  Mark Probert will reply to this post, doing his dance,
therefore, blowing his UDP AGAIN.