ADHD drugs ‘forced’ on kids

CHILDREN as young as three are being prescribed ADHD drugs as childcare centres demand toddlers with behavioural problems are medicated before they will be enrolled.

The number of children aged 2-6 using ADHD medications such as Ritalin has soared by 41 per cent over the past two years to nearly 5000, official government data shows.

This is despite the medications not being recommended for use in children this young.

Parents are complaining childcare centres and schools are pressuring them to medicate their children by refusing to accept them unless they are on drugs.

One mother has told News Corp a preschool refused to enrol her son unless she went to a doctor and had ADHD medication prescribed for her son.

“I felt bullied into starting these medications by doctors and teachers,” she says.

The dramatic escalation in prescriptions has prompted calls for an audit of doctors prescribing the medications to young children.

“There are guidelines in place that suggest extreme caution in prescribing to this age group, there needs to be an audit to ensure they are being used with caution,” says child psychiatrist Professor Jon Jureidini.

He said the issue was so significant medical colleges and the medical regulator should be investigating.

Prof Jureidini said childcare centres and schools were behaving unethically in requiring children to be medicated as they had no qualifications in the area. Other child psychiatrists say the medications need to be used as part of a more comprehensive management strategy.

Royal Australian New Zealand College Psychiatry Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry chairman Dr Nick Kowalenko said the increase in ADHD prescriptions in young children was not concerning when put in context.

“More than 100,000 children aged 2-6 have ADHD and a small proportion have it severely,” he says.

“I’d take an educated guess, if there are 5000 kids being prescribed medicines, perhaps it’s because they are severely affected,” he says.

However, he said it was not helpful for schools to be demanding children be medicated.

“The school should ask parents if they had noticed behavioural issues with their child and ask them to get it assessed,” he said.

Behavioural problems could be related to hearing, vision and other psychological issues and not just ADHD, he said.