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Noted personality psychologist David Kiersey describes the over-prescription of Ritalin for so-called "ADD" and "ADHD" as simple child abuse: the identification of normal child behavior as a "problem" by persons of a somewhat different temperament, followed up by its vicious and self-righteous suppression using dangerous chemicals.

According to Kiersey, most of the children drugged are of the "Sensory Perceiving" type (on the Meyers-Briggs scales), while most of the teachers and parents doing the drugging are of the "Sensory Judging" type. Lacking the emphatic facilities of the "Intuitive Feeling" parent or teacher, or the analytic capacity of the "Intuitive Thinking", the "Sensory Judging" type simply perceives all unconcern with rules or conventions as deliberate defiance. In reality, the "Sensory Perceiving" is merely bored with conventional classroom rigor, resents spending too much time indoors, lets his or her attention wander to what is naturally interesting, makes fun and play out of classroom activities, and modifies his or her schedule to be less bored.

Even those psychiatrists who consider the "ADD" and "ADHD" diagnoses legitimate admit that something on the order of NINETY PER CENT of these diagnoses are rushed and problem MORE THAN TWO THIRDS are simply wrong. Ritalin and like drugs are doing immense damage to these misdiagnosed children - they are after all a form of "speed".

The underlying problem is the obsolete structure of school and learning activities, inadequate physical exercise, poor nutrition (most of the so-called ADD and ADHD cases simply disappear with improved diet removing white sugar and caffeine and most preservatives and simple carbohydrates), high stress especially in busy households where children receive little emotional attention. Drugs don't make this any better.

Educators have been calling for decades to reform the structure of schools to be much more flexible given the temperament differences which are more marked in kids than adults, because kids haven't learned how to suppress their natural tendencies. To do so chemically before the children even know who they are, is as Kiersey said, a form of child abuse.

This is only one factor driving more and more people to home and private schooling. The "mainstreaming" of children with "special needs" such as cognitive disabilities has likewise cheated many others of the attention they need to succeed at school and other activities. Amazingly, the seemingly obvious solution of letting children set up their own peer groups and self-organize the structure of their day is rarely even mentioned. Despite the fact that private educational approaches have pursued forms of this approach for decades. There are many ways to adjust institutions to children and their varying needs. It's time that teachers learned how to do this.

Learn more about this author, Craig Hubley.
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