Hi all!

Believe it or not, I saw these today on the website of a well-known Jerusalem yeshiva.

This http://www.aish.com/family/mensch/Ritalin_and_Judaism.asp is the first article. Read it & the "Visitor Comments" at the bottom (all of 'em!). Apparently, the doctor referred to in the article is the subject of some controversy.

I very much didn't care for the above article & sent the following comment:

I am taking my 8.5-year-old son to see a pediatric neurologist (his second) here in Yerushalayim [Jerusalem] tomorrow. My wife & I are HOPING that the doctor will recommend Ritalin for our son. He is in 3rd grade at a mamlachti dati torani school. He goes to music therapy & has a "big brother" from a local yeshiva. Does anyone doubt that we do not see ritalin as a last resort and that our SOLE (!!!) concern is to help our son?? We try to get him to go to bed earlier & to eat properly. I vehemently resent the suggestion/insinuation that my wife & I are copping out or doing this because we're lazy or can't cope! For shame! No, we are not blithely rushing off to join Prozac Nation (as I like to call it), we are doing this to help our son, who has gotten off to a terrible start this year at school, is disruptive at home, can't sit still for very long, is in constant motion, etc., despite our best & most patient efforts to modify his less-than-desirable behaviors. He is a good boy & we make darn sure that we tell him so. He has wonderful character traits!! It is NOT about valuing academic achievement over midot [character traits]; to suggest otherwise is to show a facile and shallow (very!) understanding of the issue. "Rabbi Kelemen's answer to Linda represents a different worldview: Struggle builds character, and improving character traits is the very purpose of life in this world." We're talking about a lost 8.5-year-old here! With all due respect to Rabbi Kelemen, what he says is correct but such platitudes are of zero practical value here! (Would anyone suggest that if our son was diabetic that we should deny him insulin because "struggle builds character"??!!) How in h*ll can our son hope to succeed in "the struggle" when the contest is rigged against him, when the deck has been stacked against him from the very outset??!! We hope that Ritalin (along with the music therapy, the "big brother" and our seeing the school system psychologist twice a month) will level the playing field for him and let him have an even chance! No, no, I'm going to go tell my 8.5-year-old son, "Sorry, son, but struggle builds character. Let us try to learn something from your suffering." Ugh!

Then, after I had emailed my comments, I saw that the site had put up this http://www.aish.com/family/mensch/Ritalin_A_Mothers_Response.asp in response to the first article. I very much agree with this one.

I thought that others here might find them interesting.

Be well!

stillsmallvoice

It would be really cool for you to briefly post what Judaism entails, from your perspective, if you don't mind.
I have many Jewish friends, and I'm going to just come out and say this..I've never had the time to set down with them and ask them that question. (0:
It would be nice to understand more about one another..not from a book..or an article..
But from another human's perspective. Just a brief paragraph of what Judaism entails and why you love it so much. (0:
Thank you so much.

Nova

Hi Nova!

(You live in DC? I went to GWU from 1981-1985. I used to go sit on the back of the Lincoln Memorial to study. I remember standing halfway between the Washington Monument & the Lincoln Memorial during a huge blizzard in February 1983 & not being able to see either one because of the snowstorm.)

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 summarizes the essence of Judaism & our/my relation to God.

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul; to keep for your good the precepts of the Lord and His statutes, which I command you this day?
As a(n orthodox) Jew, God, to me, means love, an overwhelming love, that He loved/s us so much that He has given us His precept-filled, eternal Torah as the guide on how He wants us to lead our lives. Everything stems from this. He sent us judges & prophets, whose books, along with the Torah, make up the Tanakh (what we call what Christians call the "Old Testament"), as a further expression of that love.

Howzat?

http://www.jewfaq.org/toc.htm is a very good site (I have no connection to it; I just think that it's a very good site).

Be well & be in touch!

stillsmallvoice

It's superb !
Thank you so much.

My spirituality allows for the belief in synchronicity.

I was reading a book, yesterday, out of the thousands I read...one about Quantum Physics actually....
And on page 70..there is a paragraph that pertains to consciousness.
It states how there is an observer somewhere inside us watching all the time, to help guide us, and help us change the outer ego self.

While this concept is not new to me, since I am very spiritual also, like yourself...
I thought you'd like to know the book mentions that this internal observer is sometimes referred to as:
"the still small voice"

I thought you would like to know that (0:
But somehow..I believe you already did know that....(0:

I work in DC..and live in a suburb fairly close, in MD..but I love DC and don't plan on moving soon.

You don't be a stranger, neither, Sweetie. !
And thank you, again, for the information !

Synchronicity always leads the way to wonderous and amazing events that are meant to be...all we have to do is just pay attention to the signs...(0:
Nova

Hi Nova!

I get my username from I Kings 18:46-19:21. This reading teaches the limits of zeal. Elijah, by his own repeated admission to God (19:10 & 19:14), had, "been very zealous for the Lord of Hosts." Yet for all that, there is something very profound that this great prophet does not understand, prompting God to teach him a lesson:

"And He said: 'Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord.' And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice."
When vigilantism, thunder and zeal have done their best and been found wanting, the "still small voice" will, in the end, prove far more effective.

This reminds me of Stephen Crane's The livid lightnings flashed in the clouds:

The livid lightnings flashed in the clouds;
The leaden thunders crashed.
A worshipper raised his arm.
"Hearken! Hearken! The voice of God!"

"Not so," said a man.
"The voice of God whispers in the heart
So softly
That the soul pauses,
Making no noise,
And strives for these melodies,
Distant, sighing, like faintest breath,
And all the being is still to hear."
Link: http://tinyurl.com/bmz3r (http://tinyurl.com/bmz3r)

Be well!

stillsmallvoice

I think the original article does make the very valid point that methylphenidate is overprescribed among children, using very loose, subjective criteria. Though some of it does read like a Scientologist's argument.

And a lot of it is the pressure to succeed in school. If you look at the geographical distribution of amphetamine/methylphenidate prescriptions to children, they are clustered by school district more than anything else. School policy in promoting psychostimulants for all behavioral and academic problems in some cases has resulted in prescriptions that exceed the approximate rate of ADD occurances. The DEA's official site has a fair amount of data on this.

The fact is ADD is very real and very dehabilitating to some. But also is the fact that it is overprescribed in children based on no true objective data, and some school districts have used it as a tool in not accepting any responsibility in student performance. If the student has a problem academically, it is never the teaching method, teacher, or school's fault, but rather that the student needs to take drugs.

And I think we should have a problem with that. But we should also keep giving out medication where it's warranted.

The basic problem is we really have no objective test to definitively diganose ADD. Especially in children.

I thought your response to the article was very good. We seems to put a difficulty with having the right amount of dopamine in the sypnaptic gap in a different category than we put having the right amount of insulin in our blood stream as if we had conscious control of either one. It is especially ironic since research has shown that the harder an ADDer "tries" the worse thing get. Keep doing what you know to be right for your son! I just picked up my eight year old daughters first prescription for Ritalin. I've homeschooled her and done everything I know to do as an educator with a masters in Reading and still she is behind despite having a high IQ and her self confidence is being impacted. You might really enjoy Russell Barkley's book Taking Charge of ADHD if you haven't read it. It has an excellent explanation of the problem ADDers face and the most effective methods for addressing it. You can find it at www.addwarehouse.com. (http://www.addwarehouse.com./)

Peace,
Scattered