More and more, along with apple juice and graham crackers at snacktime, toddlers are popping pills. The little tablets are a kid-sized dose of the behavior-altering drug Ritalin.
It’s meant to help children as young as three years old to “focus,” to “get along,” and to “calm down.” Doctors prescribe it to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a condition some researchers dispute even exists.
Nevertheless, a report in the Journal of the AMA finds that already, one per cent of preschoolers in the United States are on some form of “psychotropic” drug, and the federal government is conducting a controversial study on the safety and effectiveness of using Ritalin to treat ADHD in young children. Biology, brain chemistry, and the nature of behavior.
Guests:
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, medicine and health policy reporter, The New York Times;Dr. Lawrence Diller, behavioral pediatrician
Dr. Timothy Wilens, psychopharmacologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital