I’m a freelance writer, and as such, I can occasionally indulge myself by becoming involved with screwball projects that do not involve writing. To be specific, I am spending this summer as a camp counselor. One of my duties is to pester the campers to write letters home, and since I’m supposed to lead by example, you can consider this my letter from camp.
I have experience as a camp counselor, but that was in 1976. If you want to gauge the effects of aging on your body, take up an activity you haven’t tried for 22 years. I’m constantly on the verge of falling asleep and when I’m not asleep, every muscle in my body aches.
But enough about me. The single most interesting aspect I find at summer camp is the huge volume of Ritalin which passes though our infirmary. For those of you unfamiliar with Ritalin, it is a stimulant, and for reasons not fully understood, it has an inverse effect on children afflicted with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It calms them down.
Our camp nurse has never told me which children are taking Ritalin, but it doesn’t take long to spot the profile. First, children on Ritalin are more likely to be boys than girls. They are likely to be small for their age; Ritalin often robs children of their appetite and they do not get the nutrients they need. For this reason, some parents will keep children on Ritalin during the school year and take them off the drug in the summer months. Some of these children are then sent to camp. Some to my summer camp and believe me, they are no treat. No wonder my back aches.
The kids who stay on Ritalin through the summer exhibit various behaviors as they move through the medication cycle; sometimes they seem lethargic and zoned out, other times – often bedtime, it seems – they are literally climbing the walls and swinging from the rafters.
As an outsider to the world of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, I thought there must be a larger problem to account for this flood of pharmaceuticals, so I did some research.
The current view of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – or ADHD – is that it is caused by a combination of biological and psychosocial factors. Studies have shown a genetic predisposition to ADHD and clinical tests suggest a deficiency of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.
Atop this genetic and biochemical base, some social factors come into play which seem to exacerbate the problem. As I said, boys are more likely to be treated for ADHD than girls, some researchers believe this is because boys are more socialized toward aggressive behavior than girls. Children with ADHD are also more likely to come from homes where the father is absent. Not only that, but children with ADHD are more likely to have learning disabilities than other children and there tends to be a negative synergy between the two, one feeding on the other.
Those are some of the reasons we have so many vials of Ritalin in our camp infirmary, but Ritalin is only part of the answer. The Physician’s Desk Reference notes Ritalin should be part of a “total treatment” program that also attends to the child’s psychological, educational and social needs.
Case studies have shown that children who receive a “total treatment” regime can successfully navigate the ocean of adolescence and pass beyond the need for medication. Others, perhaps those who only receive Ritalin as a chemical babysitter, graduate to an adulthood of low self-esteem, drug and alcohol abuse and anti-social behavior.
Every child at my camp – although trying at times – is a wonderful person. Every child is too precious to let slip away.
The Drug of Childhood
I’m a freelance writer, and as such, I can occasionally indulge myself by becoming involved with screwball projects that do not involve writing. To be specific, I am spending this summer as a camp counselor. One of my duties is to pester the campers to write letters home, and since I’m supposed to lead by example, you can consider this my letter from camp.
I have experience as a camp counselor, but that was in 1976. If you want to gauge the effects of aging on your body, take up an activity you haven’t tried for 22 years. I’m constantly on the verge of falling asleep and when I’m not asleep, every muscle in my body aches.
But enough about me. The single most interesting aspect I find at summer camp is the huge volume of Ritalin which passes though our infirmary. For those of you unfamiliar with Ritalin, it is a stimulant, and for reasons not fully understood, it has an inverse effect on children afflicted with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It calms them down.
Our camp nurse has never told me which children are taking Ritalin, but it doesn’t take long to spot the profile. First, children on Ritalin are more likely to be boys than girls. They are likely to be small for their age; Ritalin often robs children of their appetite and they do not get the nutrients they need. For this reason, some parents will keep children on Ritalin during the school year and take them off the drug in the summer months. Some of these children are then sent to camp. Some to my summer camp and believe me, they are no treat. No wonder my back aches.
The kids who stay on Ritalin through the summer exhibit various behaviors as they move through the medication cycle; sometimes they seem lethargic and zoned out, other times – often bedtime, it seems – they are literally climbing the walls and swinging from the rafters.
As an outsider to the world of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, I thought there must be a larger problem to account for this flood of pharmaceuticals, so I did some research.
The current view of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – or ADHD – is that it is caused by a combination of biological and psychosocial factors. Studies have shown a genetic predisposition to ADHD and clinical tests suggest a deficiency of certain neurotransmitters in the brain.
Atop this genetic and biochemical base, some social factors come into play which seem to exacerbate the problem. As I said, boys are more likely to be treated for ADHD than girls, some researchers believe this is because boys are more socialized toward aggressive behavior than girls. Children with ADHD are also more likely to come from homes where the father is absent. Not only that, but children with ADHD are more likely to have learning disabilities than other children and there tends to be a negative synergy between the two, one feeding on the other.
Those are some of the reasons we have so many vials of Ritalin in our camp infirmary, but Ritalin is only part of the answer. The Physician’s Desk Reference notes Ritalin should be part of a “total treatment” program that also attends to the child’s psychological, educational and social needs.
Case studies have shown that children who receive a “total treatment” regime can successfully navigate the ocean of adolescence and pass beyond the need for medication. Others, perhaps those who only receive Ritalin as a chemical babysitter, graduate to an adulthood of low self-esteem, drug and alcohol abuse and anti-social behavior.
Every child at my camp – although trying at times – is a wonderful person. Every child is too precious to let slip away.