ADHD Drugs Prescribed to All Academically Struggling ChildrenLisa Garber One proponent of the trend, Dr. Michael Anderson, says that ADHD is a made upexcuse for the real illness, which is a social and educational environment unwilling to spend money on changing the environment and instead opting to change the child. A self-professed social justice thinker, Anderson knows that many families cannot afford behavior-based therapy for their children. He sees the practice of issuing Adderall to children without ADHD as evening the scales a little bit. Dr. William Graf, a pediatrician who also sees many children from poor families, has his concerns with the practice. These children are still in the developmental phase, and we still dont know how these drugs biologically affect the developing brain. When the New York Times tried to contact educators to speak on the topic of ADHD, many resisted interviews and somelike a superintendent of a major school district in Californiaonly spoke anonymously. Its scary to thinkhow not funding public education to meet the needs of all kids has led to this. Despite a growing body of knowledge that the drugs in questionlike Adderall and Risperdalcause devastating side effects, prescriptions are on the rise. In 2010 alone, doctors drew up 18 million prescriptions of Adderall. Companies have even been struggling to produce enough ADHD drugs due to the massive increase in prescriptions. Some of the side effects of ADHD drugs include: More shameful than the cavalier attitude with which prescriptions are doled out and accepted is that Big Pharma values dollar signs more than the lives of children. Though schools are not blameless, they may be inadequately funded and short-staffed, poorly equipped to deal with societal disadvantages of many of their pupils, or may simply be poorly run. Diet can Prevent and Help with ADHD New studies now say, however, that ADHDif it is indeed not something made-up, as Dr. Anderson suggestsis a largely preventable condition. In example, researchers at Brigham and Womens Hospital of the Harvard School of Public Health found that children of mothers with high mercury levels after childbirth are 40 to 70 percent more likely to experience ADHD symptoms, but those of mothers who ate lots of fish low in mercury actually decreased their chances of ADHD by 60 percent. The journal Pediatrics published an analysis of 70 studies, concluding that a diet high in fiber, folate, and omega-3 fatty acids is crucial to a childs psychological wellbeing. Thats right, simple dietary changes, and not ADHD drugs, can be the answer for children labeled as having ADHD. Additional Sources: Explore More: 