DEVELOPMENTAL CONDITIONS
ADHD is a controversial diagnosis because it’s made largely on the
basis of parents’ and teachers’ reports of a child’s behaviour, and it is often
difficult to draw the line between naughtiness and genuine disorder. This
controversy is compounded by the fact that drugs like Ritalin – paradoxi-
cally, a psychostimulant – are often part of the treatment plan. Prevalence
rates and prescription rates for ADHD have spiralled in recent decades, and
there’s a concern that some frazzled parents are seeking medical help to
control unruly children who don’t really have anything wrong with them.
A longitudinal study published in 2007 cast doubt on the long-term
superiority of drugs like Ritalin compared with psychological interven-
tions. Around five hundred children with ADHD were followed over three
years. Although the children treated with Ritalin showed early advantages
compared with their peers on behavioural-treatment programmes, these
advantages had disappeared by the end of the trial period. There was also
some evidence that the drugs had interfered with the children’s growth.
The current consensus is that drugs should never be the first resort
for children with ADHD, and should never be prescribed to preschool
children. When drugs do need to be prescribed, they should be part of
a holistic approach that involves psychological interventions, including
social-skills training and psycho-educational classes for parents.
Tourette’s Syndrome
First described by French neurologist Gilles de la Tourette in 1885,
Tourette’s Syndrome usually emerges at around the age of seven and is
characterized by involuntary verbal and physical tics, the latter involving
the limbs and head. The stereotype of a Tourette’s sufferer is of someone
repeatedly shouting out obscenities. This is called coprolalia and is only
exhibited by about one third of people with Tourette’s.
Although Tourette’s Syndrome often co-occurs with other emotional
and behavioural problems, including ADHD, some intriguing recent
research suggests it may also be associated with certain cognitive
advantages. For example, in 2006 Sven Mueller and his colleagues at the
University of Nottingham documented the way children with Tourette’s
had superior mental control when tested in an eye movement task. The
rules of the task were switched every two trials, so that instead of looking
at a target, the participants now had to look away from it. Each time the
rule changed, all the participants’ responses slowed down as they adjusted
to the new rule, but the responses of the children with Tourette’s slowed
down less than those of the children without Tourette’s.