Examples

The Mans Twins - Newsweek March 18,1996

Debbie Mans realized that her twin boys were more than just rambunctious when they reached preschool. Alex, the wilder of the two, couldn't handle being with 18 children in his nursery-school class. He would hit the kids, the teacher, and then hurl himself around the room. "The teachers told me he was everything from colorblind to dumb to just plain bad," says Mans.

She knew intelligence wasn't the issue: this was a boy who at the age of 3 could put a broken telephone back together. After taking a host of tests, Alex and his twin, Sam, were diagnosed with learning disabilities and ADHD. They had trouble following directions because they could neither perceive them properly nor pay attention long enough to try. The twins, now 7, were given Ritalin to help untangle the gibberish.

Schmidt family of Rochester, NY - Newsweek March 18,1996

Over the past three years, all five have been diagnosed with attention deficit. The first case was Stephen, 8, who appeared to be hypersensitive and hard of hearing. "You would look at him, and say something, and he would always say, 'What?'" says Joan,40, his mom. The psychiatrist determined that Stephen, Dennis, 37, and Daniel,10, all had ADD/ADHD. Joan and her daughter, Maggie, 5, were found to have ADD, without the hyperactivity. One child takes Ritalin, another the antidepressant Wellbutrin. The rest take Ritalin for ADHD, plus antidepressants (Prozac,Wellbutrin or Paxil) for accompanying depression.

Government 375: Educational Reform and Ideology