The View From Kalamazoo

I wanted to make a few brief comments regarding the recent article on TV “causing” ADHD. Find the study here. A few direct quotes from the study to put things in further perspective:

“… this [measure] cannot be viewed to be equivalent to a diagnosis of ADHD”

“… the measure that we used for attentional problems is not necessarily indicative of clinically diagnosed ADHD.”

“… we have not in fact studied or found an association between television viewing and clinically diagnosed ADHD.”

“…we cannot draw causal inferences from these associations. It could be that attentional problems lead to television viewing rather than vice versa.”

“we had no data on the content of the television being viewed. Some research indicates that educational television (eg, Sesame Street) may in fact promote attention and reading among school-aged children.”

While interesting, I don’t know whether the parents letting their kids watch more TV at a young age are, themselves, ADHD (and therefore possibly more inclined towards immediate stimuli like tv) which brings us back to the hereditary factors. The finding also ignores the high number of people aged in their 50s and 60s, who grew up without television, being diagnosed as ADHD sufferers. I think there needs to be further study – it’s far too easy to blame the spectre of television without being called to consider the other factors involved in this sort of condition since as soon as you mention the evil ‘tube all heads start nodding vigorously like puppets on a string.

Emma, for example, watched no TV at age 1 and almost none (say maybe 1.5 hours a week or so on average) at age 3 because SHE WAS TOO FREAKING HYPER TO SIT DOWN FOR MORE THAN 5 MINTUES AND DO ANYTHING AT ALL. Looking back I can see the ADHD symptoms appearing in her late toddler/preschool years, despite what the experts seem to think, and, in fact, there were things that totally blew my mind in her infancy (sudden extreme movements, almost lurching in a direction, being awake, even as a newborn, all the time and watching everything with almost manic attention) that I can see clearly as the beginnings of later behavior definitively tied to her ADHD at diagnosis. There was no “cause” – she was born this way, she just is. Colin sits and watches no TV, as well, but exhibits none of the behavior that would set off flags of concern and at this point he appears to not have inherited whatever gene(s) will be found connected to ADHD.

Another recent study suggests that ADHD drugs may slow growth. The study is very small – a much larger study should be done considering all variables – but it’s pretty much in line with our experience. Our already very small child really slowed in growth in the last 1.5 years (since medication, roughly) and we’re (her ped. and I) planning on scheduling another bone age soon to see if she’s still at the small end of normal (what a bone age before diagnosis showed) or if she’s slipped out of normal range some time this summer.