Using the TOULMIN OUTLINE, write a paper that discusses your position on whether or not children are over-medicated in regards to ADD and ADHD.
NB: This is a sample introduction
There exists increased public concern, especially among health research specialists that many American children receive early and often unnecessary exposure to ADD and ADHD medication. The diagnosis discourses of ADD and ADHD are intrinsically problematic, simply because the diagnosis seeks such symptoms as impulsivity, hyperactivity and distractibility, traits that, in children, tend to be consistent with normal developmental behavior. However, upon diagnosis, the implication is always that the child is characteristically impulsive, hyperactive or distractible. That this approach to diagnosing ADD and ADHD in children is flawed relates to the ocean of misdiagnosis reported across the globe, hence the need to determine where to draw the line between medical disorder and developmentally normal behavior.
A study by Visser (2013) established that in 2011, about 11 percent of children aged between 4 and 17 years had received positive diagnosis of ADHD, primarily through parental reporting, most of which were on related ADHD drugs. The study also cites earlier findings that indicate that about 7.5 percent of U.S. children below age 17 are on medication related to emotional or behavioral difficulties with a another study contending that the number of children on psychostimulants has increased five-fold between the periods 1988-1994 and 2007-2010. That these diagnoses and the subsequent administration of ADD and ADHDF related drugs proceed from parental diagnosis as opposed to physician diagnosis is particularly of greater concern.
