Has someone told you that your energetic child is ADD or ADHD? Have they suggested that your child be medicated? have they threatened to throw your child out of school or activities because the child is disruptive? Sounds like millions of children each year. However, when is it that school administrators and teachers have been given the medical training to diagnose these kids and demand that they are medicated. Imagine a hyperactive child in a classroom? Wow, that makes about as much sense as having a qualified teacher in a classroom. It is the case in almost every classroom in the developed world. Some kids do have excessive energy and do have a hard time settling down into the typical classroom setting. Does this mean we need to define them into catagories, medicate them and force them into complicance or should we be looking into ways of working with these students to facilitate their unique learning styles? In some cases, yes it may be an answer to have the child seen by a doctor or mental health workers to explore the issues and if required medication can be introduced with other forms of therapy but not as the only therapy. Further, get more than one opinion if you can from a doctor or mental health worker from outside of the school system. Do not take a teachers word on medical concerns as if they had medical degrees they would not be teaching your child's class. Some children do have ADD and ADHD but not nearly as many that are classified and diagnosed in order to be medicated into compliance. Schools, teachers and others need to realize that just as adults are not the same and some jobs are not the right fit for some adults, some learning styles or teaching styles are not for every child. If we were able to get more creative in teaching these children, we would have a greatly reduced drop out rate and increased grades of those who are barely making it through school. Further, if your child is being prescribed medication for hyper activity or attention defecit, make sure you do your homework on the side effects both short term and long term. If you are aware of them you can watch for them. Do not take it that if the doctors have prescribed it to your child, it must be safe. Also be aware of the signs of your child not taking the medication. Some of the drugs can cause deppression and suicideal behavior in children and youth of they miss doses or quit taking the medication to rapidly. Do your homework!