Out Of Control: Grappling With ADHD
In the summer of 2001, Alex Snider went to a day camp in Buffalo. It was not an ordinary camp. It's for kids who have trouble paying attention, following rules, and controlling themselves. These kids have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Alex is one of those kids. Alex's parents, Wendy Snider and Paul Kirchmeyer, are struggling to help him. They chose the camp because it combines the two most popular - and most widely recommended - treatments for ADHD: behavior modification and medication.
For five years, Shara and Alan Taylor of Fort Worth had been medicating their son, Ryan, with a variety of drugs, including thorazine and ritalin. But he had only gotten worse. He got very angry, so much so that his mother said she was sometimes afraid of him. So the Taylors turned to Dr. Mary Block, a pediatrician who not only refused to medicate Ryan, but doesn't believe that ADHD exists. Erin Moriarty reports for 48 Hours on two families struggling with a confusing, difficult disease.
ADHD may be the most controversial health issue in the United States. Whether it exists, and how to treat it, are the subjects of heated debate among doctors, teachers and parents.
Alex's mother first encountered the term ADHD three years ago, when her son started school. The first week of kindergarten, he was sent to the principal's office four days in a row. So she took Alex to the doctor, who immediately diagnosed him with ADHD. She thought the problem was solved.
But it's not that simple. There are no tests to show a child has ADHD. No one really knows exactly what it is. Most researchers think the disease disrupts the parts of the brain that control impulse and attention, causing a child to act fidgety and unruly. Snider tried disciplining Alex, and changed his diet. Finally, she resorted to Ritalin.
Kirchmeyer, her husband, already knew about ADHD medication. His son from a previous marriage, Zack, was also diagnosed with the disorder after his first-grade teacher complained about his behavior. But even with medication, Alex and Zack still have problems. That's why they went to the camp.
"ADHD is the most common mental health problem of childhood," says Dr. William Pelham, the psychologist who founded the camp, which has become a model for others around the country. "It's kind of like a combination of summer camp and summer school. Fifty percent of ADHD kids have learning problems. Typically, a lot of the others are behind academically."
Pelham believes that one can change a child's behavior, even a very difficult child, with a clear system of rewards and punishments. The reward system at the camp is extremely structured and systematic.
The counselors, who are psychology students, monitor the kids, minute-by-minute. At the end of every day, counselors add up the scores and give campers and their parents a report card.
In many ways, Kirchmeyer already undersands his sons' behavior. He acted similarly as a child. Although he made it through without treatment, he wonders how much better he would have done with help or medication. "I didn't make it through college. Maybe he will," he says of his son.
In the summer of 2001, Alex, like nearly half the kids in camp, took his medicine in a new way, through a patch.
Dr. Block believes that medication doesn't help: "We've got millions of children who have underlying causes of problems that can be fixed, but instead they're being drugged." She runs a clinic outside Fort Worth that specializes in finding physical causes to behavioral problems, and treating them without medication.
"By the time the parents find out that the drugs didn't work because they didn't fix anything, they're teen-agers, and it's too late to help them," she says.
That's why the Taylors came to Dr. Block for help with Ryan, who's been on ADHD medication since he was 6. The medication did not help. According to his father, at the age of 9, Ryan began to get more aggressive.
Ryan also started having seizures, which can be a rare side effect of Ritalin. So the Taylors stopped giving Ryan drugs. They submitted to Block's regimen of blood tests, allergy testing and nutritional analysis.
Meanwhile, Alex's experience shows some of the problems with medicating children diagnosed with ADHD.
Because he's part of a research trial, Alex's dosage changes every day. On some days, he's not being medicated at all. But then one day, he had too much, and suffered side effects - rolling his tongue, twirling his hair, losing his focus.
At home, Alex's parents saw the same behavior problems, despite using the behavior modification techniques they've learned at camp.
Find out what happens next in Part 2.