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Federal Document Clearing House
Congressional Testimony
September 29, 2000, Friday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 2640 words
COMMITTEE:
HOUSE EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
HEADLINE: TESTIMONY BEHAVIORAL DRUGS IN SCHOOLS
TESTIMONY-BY: PATTI JOHNSON , TESTIMONY OF PATTI
JOHNSON
BODY:
September 29, 2000 Testimony of Patti
Johnson, Colorado State Board of Education member, 2nd Congressional District,
before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and
Investigations hearing entitled "Behavioral Drugs in Schools: Questions and
Concerns. I have been a member of the Colorado State Board of Education for the
last six years. One of my platforms when I ran for office was to empower parents
in their right to direct the upbringing and education of their children. Over
the years I was contacted by a number of parents who had been pressured to put
their children on various psychotropic drugs for a variety of so-called learning
disorders, the most common of which was Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
(ADHD). In some cases they were told their child would not be allowed to attend
school if he did not begin taking psychotropic drugs. One parent who was given
the option of placing her son on a stimulant drug or removing him from school
elected to home school her son. She told me that it just didn't make sense that
a straight A student would be labeled "learning disabled." A Douglas County
parent I spoke with said she was told her son had ADHD. What she was being told
about the behavior her son supposedly exhibited and what she observed were not
consistent. She investigated the matter and the school's special education
director eventually admitted that she had coaxed the teacher to answer the
questions of the checklist used to determine if the child had ADHD in a certain
manner so her son "Would get the help he needed." This infuriated her so badly
she removed her son from the school. A Jefferson County parent who contacted me
said he at first complied with the school's direction to have his son take a
stimulant drug. The drug caused his son to become violent, he began taking steak
knives out of the kitchen and stabbing his stuffed animals. When the parent took
him off the drug, the principal of the school began pressuring him to resume the
stimulant -- so much pressure that the matter is now in court and the father
could forfeit parental rights if he disagrees with the decision of the court on
whether or not to place his child on Ritalin. Many more examples exist. When I
investigated the issue I realized that the so-called psychiatric learning
disorders are an effort to 'medicalize' failures in instruction and discipline
at the expense of the child's well being and the rights of the parent. Some of
the learning disorders listed in the American Psychiatric Association's
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) illustrate this
point. For example, the fourth edition lists number '31 5. 1, Mathematics
Disorder." The diagnostic criteria for this is "Mathematical ability, as
measured by individually administered standardized tests, is substantially below
that expected given the person's chronological age, measured intelligence, and
age- appropriate education." Likewise, the diagnostic criteria for - 315.2,
Disorder of Written Expression" labels the child with this disorder if he scores
low on written tests. The label of ADHD is assigned if the child exhibits such
symptoms as not listening when spoken to, is forgetful, fails to finish
homework, fidgets, talks excessively, etc. -- the typical behavior of a normal
child. Parents of children said to have these disorders are generally told that
it is a neurological disorder or a chemical imbalance in the brain. Yet, at a
Consensus Development Panel conducted by the National Institutes of Health on
ADHD in November 1998, it was reported that "We do not have an independent,
valid test for ADHD, and there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a
brain malfunction. Further research to establish the validity of the disorder
continues to be a problem. This is not unique to ADHD, but applies as well to
most psychiatric disorders..." Educators are not allowed by law to practice
medicine. Yet, the adjudication a child has one of these "disorders" and should
be placed on 'medication' and into special education is often done by a team
which includes the parent, a teacher, a social worker, a special education
teacher and the principal. The above factors led me to introduce a resolution
before the Colorado State Board of Education entitled 'Promoting the use of
academic solutions to resolve problems with behavior, attention and learning."
It is educators that their role was to teach and urged them to refrain from
advising parents on medical matters. This was passed by a vote of 6 to 1 by the
Board in November 1999. Unfortunately, financial incentives exist for schools to
label children With learning disorders. Understanding these incentives requires
a brief review of the laws that affect special education. The legislation which
is now the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
was originally the Education for all Handicapped Children Act of 1975. The
intent of this legislation was to ensure that children with actual physical
handicaps -- sight impairment, hearing loss, etc. - were given the public
education they are entitled to. This law was reauthorized in 1990 and the name
changed to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
There were few procedural changes but the term "handicapped' was changed to
'disabilities.' The following year a memo issued by the US Dept. of Education
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services which stated a child
could qualify for special education if he was determined to have ADHD. At this
time, the IDEA legislation provided schools with an additional $400 per year for
each child in special education (now well over 600). There followed a dramatic
spike in the amount of methylphenidate consumed in the US. According to the DEA,
the production and use of methylphenidate increased almost 6 fold between 1990
and 1995. In IDEA as passed in 1999, the impairment category of 'emotional
disturbance." is defined in part to say the child has 'An inability to learn
that can not be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors." There is
no mention of the fact that this may be due to a failure to instruct properly.
In December 1999, the Los Angeles Times reported that tens of thousands of
California's special education students were placed there not because they have
a serious mental or emotional handicap, but because they were never taught to
read properly. Reid Lyon, head of the federal government's research efforts into
reading and writing told the Times, result's where children who weren't taught
well go in many cases." The intent of the original law, the Education for all
Handicapped Children Act of 1975, was to ensure those with physical disabilities
received a free and appropriate public education. These children are now being
shortchanged because such a large percentage of special education funds are
being diverted to vague psychiatric diagnoses. In 1998, 51.1 percent of special
education children were in the category of "specific learning disabilities."
These are the psychiatric diagnoses such as Mathematics Disorder, Disorder of
Written expression and ADHD. Other disability categories also include
psychiatric diagnoses. IDEA legislation also contains a "child find' provision
which requires states to actively seek out any children who may qualify for
special education in order to receive federal special education funds. The child
find Program starts at birth in Colorado. This, of course, serves to push up the
numbers of children labeled with ADHD. The so-called learning disorders have,
sadly, become a way for financially strapped schools to make ends meet. In many
states, schools have become authorized Medicaid providers and funds can be
collected in behalf of a child labeled with one of the learning or behavior
disorders. This can be such a lucrative cash cow that in a letter dated October
8, 1996, the Illinois State Board of Education-fan take the superintendent of
one of its districts 101r0tVarticipiting in Medicaid incentives. The letter
stated that Illinois had received $72,500,000 in federal Medicaid money in 1996
and that Medicaid dollars have been used for a variety of non-medical purposes
and that "the potential for the dollars is limitless." To assist schools in
identifying children to label with 'learning disorders," a number of checklists
are made available to schools through the ERIC (Educational Resource and
Information Center) database, which is a federal clearing house for educational
materials. Yet, despite the expense created by such actions, these children are
not receiving the education they are entitled to. Though the standards set for
special education children are often lower, their graduation rate in the 1995
-1996 year was only 28.9 percent. To the degree educators are expected to
diagnose children, they are being distracted from their main duty which is to
provide our children a quality education. Our schools are the only institution
entrusted to attend to the academic needs Of our children and their Mission must
not be diluted. I urge this committee to do everything in its power to get
schools Out of the business of labeling children and back to the job of
teaching. Thank you. PattiJohnson Colorado State Board of Education Second
Congressional District
LOAD-DATE: October 4, 2000,
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