By using drugs to treat behavior and attention span problems, we may be substituting chemistry for coping in coming to grips with life's difficulties... How do you spell relief? D-R-U-G-S.

—Thomas Armstrong PhD

Then too, there are the more subtle shortcomings: Many children simply don't like taking these drugs. Children taking them may attribute their improved behaviors and academic performance to the drug and not to their own efforts, thus learning that to be successful, what they need are drugs. Diagnosis and treatment exert an influence on the expectations of others towards a child's ability to behave. Instead of using good behavioral and communication strategies with a child in conflict, parents and teachers may ask, "Did you take your pill!" And rather than changing the curriculum to be more suited to an individual's academic needs, teachers may refer a child to a physician for medication.

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