• Few if any parents, who are being coerced or ordered to put their child on psychiatric drugs, are told that there are numerous factors that could be causing the child's inattention, behavior problems or learning difficulties.

• This includes but is not limited to: poor reading and math skills requiring tutoring, environmental toxins, allergies, nutritional deficiencies, and abnormalities in the endocrine system or thyroid function. [See Other Causes for "ADHD" behavior]

• Whether by a teacher, a Special Education Counselor, or a member of a team that provides an Individual Education Plan (IEP) under IDEA, to recommend only psychiatric/psychological diagnoses and drugs violates the principle of informed consent to treatment.

• The American Medical Association's (AMA) standard for Informed Consent includes communicating the "nature and purpose of a proposed treatment or procedure; the risks and benefits" of such treatments and the alternatives "regardless of their cost or the extent to which the treatment options are covered by health insurance."

• In relation to parental permission and assent in pediatric practice, The American Academy of Pediatrics, also notes "…the patient has the freedom to choose among the medical alternatives without coercion or manipulation."

If you are not being informed of all of the alternatives as outlined in The Alternatives section of this website, then you are not being given Informed Consent.