On Tuesday, June 17, 2003, at 08:33  AM, Adrienne Smith wrote:

> In a message dated 6/16/03 7:04:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
>
>> You
>> read everywhere that ADD may be overdiagnosed.  I have no opinion on
>> that
>> other than a vague suspicion that it's under diagnosed.
>
> I think if there is such a thing as ADD in children, it's caused by
> high
> junkfood/sugar/carb diets.

And from my perspective most of it is just normal male kid energy,
which your typical elementary school teacher just has no patience for.
Easier to drug the boys than to give them fifteen minutes of recess
every hour.

That said, there really are people who have classic ADD. Any class of
thirty kids will have one or two of these boys (almost always boys),
they are impossible to miss, the kinds of kids people used to say were
"born to hang". I don't teach kids now, but when I did I dreaded
finding one of these kids in class, I can easily understand the allure
of Ritalin for some teachers. Since I didn't control the kids diet, it
is hard to pin down the effects, but one boy used to explode on
schedule, 30 minutes after a sweet snack.