High percent of children in Michigan on ADHD medication

A local doctor is speaking out after a national study was released saying Michigan has more kids on ADHD medicine than any other state in the country.

Dr. Don Tynes, a private practice pediatrician and internal medicine doctor in Benton Harbor said he's against prescribing pre-school aged students ADHD medicine.

Dr. Tynes said parents need to be cognizant that sometimes child behavior problems have more to do with environments than an actual disorder.

Dr. Tynes said, “We produce a non conducive environment for teaching and then when the kids don't capitulate to being sardines in a classroom of 30 or greater then we want to drug them up and zombie them up just to make them more attentive!”

The national report was released by the Journal of Pediatrics and it said nearly 90% of kids in Michigan are taking medicine for attention deficit disorders. This survey was collected by the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs.

Dr. Tynes thinks that is way too high.

Dr. Tynes said, “The problem is, that we are pushing too much drugs! 88% please! You want to score that on an exam, that's a B+ almost an A- but you don't want to do that when you're prescribing medicine to children.”

Tynes suggested that parents ask their doctors about non-stimulant medicine.

Dr. Tynes said, “The insurance companies will push you more towards using stimulants because they may be cheaper than using medicines like Intuniv or Strattera or Clonidine which will be safer on the children overall.”
 
Here is the link to the report http://www.jpeds.com/pb/assets/raw/Health%20Advance/journals/ympd/Visser.pdf

Dr. Tynes said there are focus exercises you can do with your children.

Tynes said, “If they're little ones or pre-schoolers you can get some books and you play recognition of animals and stuff with the books! See how they do, and do it in short blocks, 3 to 5 minutes blocks.”