Portsmouth School Board considers new memo on ADHD

Posted to: Education

By Cheryl Ross
The Virginian-Pilot

PORTSMOUTH

The School Board will consider sending parents new information about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that would be drastically different from that in a controversial memo it issued in September.

The letter would give an opposing view about ADHD, School Board member Jim Hewitt said Thursday. He suggested sending the new letter.

Hewitt's suggestion followed a meeting in which several parents, doctors and a student criticized a flier school leaders sent about the "harmful effects" of drugs used to treat ADHD.

The flier said that parents who accept that their children have ADHD are saying their children are mentally ill. Much of the flier's information was taken from the Internet, including a Web site run by a group founded by the Church of Scientology.

ADHD is a medical condition characterized by symptoms that include extreme inattention and impulsive behavior. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site, 2.5 million children are being treated for ADHD with medication.

Michael Martin, 12, a William E. Waters Middle School student who said he suffers from ADHD, told the board he despised the flier they sent because it says that his parents "think that I am mentally ill."

Dr. David Dorbad, a Chesapeake pediatrician at Renaissance Pediatrics, said he has heard a report of a child going off medicine after seeing the flier.

The comments came in the wake of a request last week from Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, five other national groups and eight local organizations calling for the School Board to send a counter flier to parents addressing ADHD as a disease. Dr. Jeffrey Katz, coordinator for Tidewater CHADD, told the board that ADHD "is not a matter of opinion."

In September, School Board member Elizabeth Daniels urged the board to send the flier, which the group approved in a 6-2 vote. Chairman James Bridgeford said he has received about 300 e-mails on the issue. The majority have been supportive, he said.

During Thursday's meeting, Daniels said she thinks "ADHD is a religion without a God."

Cheryl Ross, (757) 446-2443, cheryl.ross@pilotonline.com

You don't know ADHD until you have lived it yourself.

Submitted by mdk2 on Mon, 10/29/2007 at 11:10 pm.

I am an adult with ADHD who has been through the mill that they call the Portsmouth school system. My own experience tells me that ADHD is not an excuse for bad behavior. My parents knew the difference between the condition and just plain stubbornness on my part. They did not "cop out" and fill me up with medication so that they wouldn't have to deal with me. What's with Elizabeth Daniels and her "religion without a god" comment? She's just taking up space in a Portsmouth School Board seat. Space that could be occupied by someone who actually understands children who have experienced what I have been through. With Portsmouth's track record, however, I don't see that happening in my lifetime. Oh, and about Scientology, enough said.

ADHD: fact or fiction?

Submitted by antoinettew87925 on Mon, 10/29/2007 at 5:36 pm.

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly someone tosses ADHD into what I call the "fiction bin". No, there is no blood test to diagnose ADHD and yes, the diagnosis comes out of a book listing symptoms describing behavior (the DSM-IV-TR). That same book describes Tourette's Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, and many others yet when those diagnoses are given little resistance is seen to their validity. Just as rare are denouncements of headaches, or worse - migraines. Are they all a matter of opinion? Do they get tossed into the "fiction bin"? Not that I've seen. ADHD is widely researched with new information coming out faster than books are published. I'm staying on the side of well documented scientific research. ADHD is fact!

Impeach Elizabeth Daniels

Submitted by lindas87615 on Sun, 10/28/2007 at 5:00 pm.

Ms. Daniels comment - "ADHD is a religion without a God" takes the cake, as they say. First, the school system is so bent on keeping "God" out how dare she even put ADHD and God in the same context. Second, as a Christian and the parent of a child with ADHD how dare she classify ADHD as a religion. I worship our God; however, any parent (Christian or non-Christian) of an ADHD child will certainly tell you they do not worship ADHD. Ms. Daniels obviously does not know better than to mix politics and religion. Nor, did she learn from the initial reaction to the memorandum. The parents and students of Portsmouth deserve someone a lot less judgemental than her. I hope they can find a way to remove her before she causes any more damage.

They only sound foolish when they speak.....

Submitted by joed99083 on Sat, 10/27/2007 at 8:37 pm.

I thought the charter of the school board was to guide and support the superintendent's agenda for public school performance, and hold him accountable for it. Every time the board speaks, it just gets worse. Focus on the system, and if that requires too much intelligence, have the courage to quit; for our kids' sake.

ADHD as matter of opinion

Submitted by terryo60130 on Sat, 10/27/2007 at 7:02 pm.

Dr. Jeffrey Katz, coordinator for Tidewater CHADD, told the board that ADHD "is not a matter of opinion." Yet opinion is what psychiatry presents ADHD as. If a psychiatrist observes certain behavior then he labels, ADHD. There is no medical test, there is no chemical test, there is no test at all, actually. One man would label a student as having a mental disorder, the next, closely observing attention span as being more important than irritability, would not. Opinion it is, science it is not.

What right does the Portsmouth School Board have?

Submitted by E.G. on Sat, 10/27/2007 at 5:00 pm.

During Thursday's meeting, Daniels said she thinks "ADHD is a religion without a God."--What a sad, mis-spoken commentary. Seems to me Elizabeth Daniels is way out of touch with the condition & is desperately in need of a wake up call. I urge all parents of children with ADHD/ADD & anyone who personally suffers from either one to pull together & remove this ill-advised woman from her position on the School Board! She's obviously dangerous to the well-being of our children. I can't believe that someone with virutally no knowledge of how families are afflicted by what happens at home & school would have such awful things to say. Portsmouth treated my child like a pariah 25 yrs ago so you see nothing has changed! Get with it - 2007!

A New Memo On ADHD??

Submitted by lindag18677 on Sat, 10/27/2007 at 2:34 pm.

I wouldn't bother. It's not a school boards responsiblity to educate Parents on this matter. The school board should focus more on educating the students of Portsmouth and passing the SOL's so they will be accredited.

How About Instead of an "Opposing View" these educators start

Submitted by BR on Sat, 10/27/2007 at 7:08 am.

"Edocuators", "Leaders of the Community" If you don't have enough sense to not use infromation from the internet, you defiently are neither of the above. If you are going to use the internet, I suggest you start surfing "jobs.com", maybe there you can find a job that maches your I.Q.