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CNN Live Today
'Daily Dose'
Aired November 18, 2002 - 11:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And we're beginning a new segment for you here, a regular event. Starting today, we're going to be giving you a daily dose of the latest on health and medicine. And today our medical news correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us to talk about a controversial treatment for preschoolers who are diagnosed with ADHD or ADD.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Either one, right?
HARRIS: Right.
COHEN: Now, Leon, you're a dad. You've been in a preschool classroom. Some of those kids are rambunctious.
HARRIS: Some of them?
COHEN: Some of them. I don't know about yours, but some of them are -- especially the boys. They just can get so crazy. And a lot of people say, well, that's just what 3- and four-year-olds are like. You don't need to do anything about it. Well, how do you know when a child's rambunctiousness has turned into something that needs to be treated with Ritalin?
We'll, we're going to take a look at a study that's being done at four universities. They're trying to gather several hundred children to figure out the answer to this question. And what they found is that, in the study, they gave the parents training. That was the first thing. They didn't just didn't give them the Ritalin. They gave parents training for how to deal with children who were having behavioral problems.
And an interesting thing happened, it ended up that half of the children didn't need Ritalin, though. They didn't take the Ritalin because the parents felt that the kids didn't need it, the doctors felt that the kids didn't it. And the other half is now on varying doses of Ritalin.
And the doctors haven't finished the study, so they don't know what the results are. Did the Ritalin help the children? Were there terrible side effects. They don't know the answer to that right now and they're trying to figure it out. But before they get the answers, I know there are parents out there who are wondering: Should my preschooler be put on Ritalin? They seem so young, but maybe it could help them with behavioral problems.
So let's talk about some of the guidelines that doctors have. First of all, has the bad behavior lasted nine months or more? They don't want, for example, to put a child on Ritalin, if it's just a two- or three-month passing phase that they'll grow out of. They want to see that it's lasted for a while.
First, seek parenting classes. Sometimes there are little things that parents can do that can change everything and that can make the child get much better. Third of all, is the bad behavior occurring in more than one setting? If the bad behavior is just happening at school or just happening at home, then it's probably not so much an issue with the child there, as it is an issue with the child in that one setting and they probably don't actually have ADD. or ADHD.
And lastly, are they having problems with other children? Other children are a very good barometer of whether or not a certain child is really having severe problems. Do other children run away from them on the playground? Do other children not want to pick them for a team? Oftentimes, that's a very good way of making a distinction, whether a child is just kind of rambunctious and playful and whether or not they actually have an illness that needs to be treated.
Now, we have -- one of the most important things that we can say here is that the children who are being put on Ritalin at age 3 or 4, they are extreme, extreme cases. They are not the run-of-the-mill cases of bad behavior. For example, there was a child who was in this study who's receiving Ritalin who, when he would go into the doctor's office as part of the study, would pull the fire alarm and the firemen would come. And then second time he went for the study, went right away to pull the fire alarm again.
And other children would take people's keys and drop them down sewers and do it over and over again. So we're talking about children with severe problems and. Even when they're severe, doctors want to watch them for about three months and make sure that it really is ADHD and not just sort of simple bad behavior.
HARRIS: Yes. (inaudible). Elizabeth Cohen, thanks, appreciate it.
COHEN: Thanks.
HARRIS: Very informative. And we'll be seeing more of you on a regular basis...
COHEN: That's right.
HARRIS: ... on this show. All right. Good deal.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 18, 2002 - 11:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And we're beginning a new segment for you here, a regular event. Starting today, we're going to be giving you a daily dose of the latest on health and medicine. And today our medical news correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us to talk about a controversial treatment for preschoolers who are diagnosed with ADHD or ADD.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Either one, right?
HARRIS: Right.
COHEN: Now, Leon, you're a dad. You've been in a preschool classroom. Some of those kids are rambunctious.
HARRIS: Some of them?
COHEN: Some of them. I don't know about yours, but some of them are -- especially the boys. They just can get so crazy. And a lot of people say, well, that's just what 3- and four-year-olds are like. You don't need to do anything about it. Well, how do you know when a child's rambunctiousness has turned into something that needs to be treated with Ritalin?
We'll, we're going to take a look at a study that's being done at four universities. They're trying to gather several hundred children to figure out the answer to this question. And what they found is that, in the study, they gave the parents training. That was the first thing. They didn't just didn't give them the Ritalin. They gave parents training for how to deal with children who were having behavioral problems.
And an interesting thing happened, it ended up that half of the children didn't need Ritalin, though. They didn't take the Ritalin because the parents felt that the kids didn't need it, the doctors felt that the kids didn't it. And the other half is now on varying doses of Ritalin.
And the doctors haven't finished the study, so they don't know what the results are. Did the Ritalin help the children? Were there terrible side effects. They don't know the answer to that right now and they're trying to figure it out. But before they get the answers, I know there are parents out there who are wondering: Should my preschooler be put on Ritalin? They seem so young, but maybe it could help them with behavioral problems.
So let's talk about some of the guidelines that doctors have. First of all, has the bad behavior lasted nine months or more? They don't want, for example, to put a child on Ritalin, if it's just a two- or three-month passing phase that they'll grow out of. They want to see that it's lasted for a while.
First, seek parenting classes. Sometimes there are little things that parents can do that can change everything and that can make the child get much better. Third of all, is the bad behavior occurring in more than one setting? If the bad behavior is just happening at school or just happening at home, then it's probably not so much an issue with the child there, as it is an issue with the child in that one setting and they probably don't actually have ADD. or ADHD.
And lastly, are they having problems with other children? Other children are a very good barometer of whether or not a certain child is really having severe problems. Do other children run away from them on the playground? Do other children not want to pick them for a team? Oftentimes, that's a very good way of making a distinction, whether a child is just kind of rambunctious and playful and whether or not they actually have an illness that needs to be treated.
Now, we have -- one of the most important things that we can say here is that the children who are being put on Ritalin at age 3 or 4, they are extreme, extreme cases. They are not the run-of-the-mill cases of bad behavior. For example, there was a child who was in this study who's receiving Ritalin who, when he would go into the doctor's office as part of the study, would pull the fire alarm and the firemen would come. And then second time he went for the study, went right away to pull the fire alarm again.
And other children would take people's keys and drop them down sewers and do it over and over again. So we're talking about children with severe problems and. Even when they're severe, doctors want to watch them for about three months and make sure that it really is ADHD and not just sort of simple bad behavior.
HARRIS: Yes. (inaudible). Elizabeth Cohen, thanks, appreciate it.
COHEN: Thanks.
HARRIS: Very informative. And we'll be seeing more of you on a regular basis...
COHEN: That's right.
HARRIS: ... on this show. All right. Good deal.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
