Addis Ababa
Can You Make Yourself Smarter?
Early on a drab afternoon in January, a dozen third graders from the working-class suburb of Chicago Heights, Ill., burst into the Mac Lab on the ground floor of Washington-McKinley School in a blur of blue pants, blue vests and white shirts. Minutes later, they were hunkered down in front of the Apple computers lining the room’s perimeter, hoping to do what was, until recently, considered impossible: increase their intelligence through training. “Can somebody raise their hand,” asked Kate Wulfson, the instructor, “and explain to me how you get points?” On each of the children’s monitors, there was a cartoon...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
How America made its children crazy
Now we know that computers don't help children learn and that drugs don't help them concentrate, because the establishment mandarins who sold us the computers and drugs have conceded failure. In the January 29 New York Times, [1] a prominent professor of child development shows that attention-deficit-disorder drugs only harm the three million children who take them. One out of 10 American children have been diagnosed with so-called Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and most of them have been medicated. [2] Some months ago, the Times reported that test scores lagged in school districts that invested massively in digital education. [3] It...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Ritalin Gone Wrong
THREE million children in this country take drugs for problems in focusing. Toward the end of last year, many of their parents were deeply alarmed because there was a shortage of drugs like Ritalin and Adderall that they considered absolutely essential to their children’s functioning. But are these drugs really helping children? Should we really keep expanding the number of prescriptions filled? In 30 years there has been a twentyfold increase in the consumption of drugs for attention-deficit disorder. As a psychologist who has been studying the development of troubled children for more than 40 years, I believe we should...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Adderall Drug Shortage Will Continue in 2012, Government Officials Say
A contentious relationship between drug manufacturers and the Drug Enforcement Agency may cause a continuing shortage of the attention deficit medication Adderall, which the FDA just added to its official drug shortages list, the New York Times reported. As of 2007, about 9.5 percent, or 5.4 million, of school-aged children were diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Adderall prescriptions went up 13.4 percent from 2009 to 2010, and more than 18 million prescriptions were written for the drug, Reuters reported. As demand for the drug grows, more and more patients have...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Just Say No To Concentration
Yesterday, my entire afternoon got eaten by my panic over shortages of Adderall, the drug that changed my writing life from daily torture that I slogged through because I'm a hard worker to sometimes-hard work I love. Instead of writing, I wasted my time on the phone to a bunch of local pharmacies, and emailing my very good-natured doctor multiple times ("Can you prescribe in Mexico?"), and searching for Canadian pharmacies -- maybe one in Windsor where maybe I could get Gregg to pick me up 10 or 20 or maybe even 30 pills...in all the spare time he has....
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Connecting the Dots (A Liberal Mind!) My first week on Ritalin
Day 1, Dose 1: I told myself the first thing I needed to do today was take the little freckled seafoam pill as soon as I got to work. I set an alarm for myself. When I got to my desk, I set the pills in front of my computer screen, so that I would remember to take them. This was at 9:50 am. As near as I can reconstruct, though, I got distracted by the computer screen while reaching for my cup. My email was open, so I checked it. Then I checked my news feeds. Then I checked...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Unemployment Offices To Add Armed Guards (Indiana)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Armed security guards will be on hand at 36 unemployment offices around Indiana in what state officials said is a step to improve safety and make branch security more consistent. No specific incidents prompted the action, Department of Workforce Development spokesman Marc Lotter told 6News' Norman Cox. Lotter said the agency is merely being cautious with the approach of an early-December deadline when thousands of Indiana residents could see their unemployment benefits end after exhausting the maximum 99 weeks provided through multiple federal extension periods. "Given the upcoming expiration of the federal extensions and the increased stress on...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Add Boeing employees to the ObamaCare victims list, but just the nonunion ones
Deductibles, the share of medical costs that employees pay annually before their plan kicks in, will go up to $300 for individuals, an increase of $100. For families, the new deductible will be $900, an increase of $300. In addition, Boeing is instituting a copayment of 10 percent after the deductible has been met. The copayment will rise to 20 percent in 2012. But the most telling portion of the article is this snippet: In a letter mailed to employees late last week, the company cited the overhaul as part of the reason it is asking some 90,000 nonunion workers...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
'Scud reports add to tensions'
UN report says it found no proof of allegations of Hizbullah Scuds. Israeli accusations that Syria provided Scud missiles to Hizbullah has increased tension in the region, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated in a report on Friday quoted by Reuters. "Such tensions once again illustrate the importance of control by Lebanon over its borders and of the respect by all member states for the prohibition against transferring arms [in violation of Security Council resolution 1701]," said the report. Ban also wrote that the UN did not find any evidence that could verify the transfer of Scud missiles to Hizbullah.
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Study Links Kids And Candy To Violent Behavior
Researchers Say Precise Link Between Sweets And Violence Unclear We know candy is bad for your children's teeth. But could it also cause bad behavior later in life? CBS 2's Jim Williams looks at a new study linking kids and sugar to violent crimes. Laura Budill had her hands full with her sons, Nathan, 3 and Tyler, 2, at a Lincoln Park playground Tuesday. They were active enough without sweets; but with sugar? "Every child is different," said Budill. "For my children, I know that it causes them to act out in hyperactivity." So Laura only allows them to have...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Adults can have ADHD
When Len was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it explained a lot. Why he had made poor grades in school even though he was smart. Why he was always losing things. Why he felt so restless. The diagnosis was a surprise, though: Len was 38. He didn't think adults were supposed to have ADHD. But after his 8-year-old son was diagnosed, the therapist suggested that Len be evaluated. "I grew up thinking I must be dumb or lazy," Len said. "It's hard for me to keep my mind on things that don't interest me. Finding out it's due...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Another Extraordinary Ordinary Patriot of the Tea Party Movement
I met Warren Kaul when I performed at the O Town Tea Party in Orlando, Florida. He was manning the Fair Tax booth. On stage, Warren expressed his displeasure with Obama's stimulus “nightmare” and his plans to transform America. Warren was born into extreme poverty and grew up in a two room shack in the hollows of Charleston, West Virginia. Encouraged by his mother, Warren was the first in his family to graduate high school. This was a major achievement for the Kaul family. Warren took it further and graduated college. Warren's success inspired his two sisters to graduated...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Foster kids get mood-altering drugs without orders or consent, DCF finds (7 yo commits suicide)
Almost one of every six foster children on mood-altering drugs in Florida is being medicated without the court order or parental consent required by law, according to a study released Thursday by the state Department of Children and Families. DCF Secretary George Sheldon acknowledged there was "no rational basis" for 433 foster children in Florida being given psychotropic drugs without the required documentation. He vowed that by next week, the agency would ensure that the children have parental consent to take the drugs or that their cases are scheduled to go before a judge. The study is more fallout from...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Research Suggests Children Can Recover from Autism
Leo Lytel was diagnosed with autism as a toddler. But by age 9 he had overcome the disorder. His progress is part of a growing body of research that suggests at least 10 percent of children with autism can "recover" from it — most of them after undergoing years of intensive behavioral therapy. Skeptics question the phenomenon, but University of Connecticut psychology professor Deborah Fein is among those convinced it's real. She presented research this week at an autism conference in Chicago that included 20 children who, according to rigorous analysis, got a correct diagnosis but years later were no...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
Time-out room on time out
A controversial time-out room at Windsor Elementary School is no longer in use, says the superintendent of the Annapolis Valley regional school board. "At this point, the room is not part of any student’s individual program plan," Margo Tait said. Citing confidentiality laws, Ms. Tait couldn’t say if that was the result of any decisions made with respect to eight-year-old Dylan Gale, a Grade 2 student whose family complained after he was placed in the room, which was a storage closet with gym mats taped to the walls for safety. Dylan has been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder and oppositional defiant...
Published on Friday 25th of May 2012 08:06:15 AM
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