A Warning for the Over-Diagnosed

Recent studies show that children who have been diagnosed with AD/HD are “twice as likely to be injured badly enough to need medical attention as other children are”. David Schwebel, director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Youth Safety Laboratory and the author of one of these studies, stated in his report:

 

ADHD is a disorder that's associated with impulsive behaviors -- children do things without thinking. It's associated with inattention -- they're not really paying attention to risks in their environment. And it's associated with executive function -- planning ahead, thinking ahead and having inhibition when you need it…Children with ADHD are poor at those skills, and that combination of things is leading them to take risks and behave impulsively, which leads to getting hurt.