In the past two decades, the number of children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has nearly doubled. One in five American boys receives a diagnosis by age 17. More than 70% of those who are diagnosed—millions of children—are prescribed drugs.
A new book, “The ADHD Explosion” by Stephen Hinshaw and Richard Scheffler, looks at this extraordinary increase. What’s the explanation? Some rise in environmental toxins? Worse parenting? Better detection?
Drs. Hinshaw and Scheffler—both of them at the University of California, Berkeley, my university—present some striking evidence that the answer lies, at least partly, in changes in educational policy.
Via The Wall Street Journal, “Are Schools Asking to Drug Kids for Better Test Scores?”
Also see this related Wall Street Journal video, an interview with UC Berkeley Psychology Professor Alison Gopnik: “The ADHD Explosion: Is Educational Policy to Blame?”