"…If your child is undisciplined to begin with and is told that lying, insensitivity, yelling, overspending, hitting people, and not being able to tell right from wrong are symptoms of ADHD and ADD [as a modern book on ADD suggests] rather than controllable behaviors, do you think his or her behavior will get better or worse?"⁷⁴

Dr. Sydney Walker, III
Psychiatrist & Neurologist
Author, The Hyperactivity Hoax

• "The medicalization of normal boyish behavior stems, in part, from changes in schools' disciplinary procedures," Dr. Walker wrote. Nowadays, "even verbal discipline is frowned upon if it lowers a child's 'self-esteem.' Some schools have actually been sued for attempting to discipline students who misbehave. The new philosophy, therefore, seems to be, 'If you can't beat 'em, treat 'em.' Teachers often see a disability label as the only effective means of getting help in dealing with students who are out of control but can't be disciplined in any effective manner," he added.⁷⁵

• Dr. Fred A. Baughman, Jr., a pediatric neurologist and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, says that parents, teachers and children have been horribly betrayed when a child's behavior is labeled as a disease: They "believe they have something wrong with their brains that makes it impossible for them to control themselves without using a pill." This is reinforced by "having the most important adults in their lives, their parents and teachers, believe this as well."

• Dr. Walker concurred: "One of the greatest sins of doctors who label normal children hyperactive is that they are telling children, in effect, 'You're not responsible for your behavior.' In addition, they are telling parents that simple discipline won't work, because their children have brain disorders that prevent them from behaving. Excusing out-of-control behaviors in a normal, healthy child simply causes more such behaviors—and the range of behaviors that are being attributed to hyperactivity and attention deficits, and which can thus be excused by children as out of their control—borders on the ludicrous."⁷⁶