There are 900,000 cases of misdiagnosed attention-deficit disorder according to a study by Todd Elder. Elder’s study, published in the Journal of Health Economics, looked at a child’s age in comparison to his peers to measure the likelihood of an attention-deficit disorder diagnosis. Elder states, “If a child is behaving poorly, if he's inattentive, if he can't sit still, it may simply be because he's 5 and the other kids are 6".
Elder used a sample of nearly 12,000 children to examine if age plays a role in the diagnosis and medication rates between the oldest and youngest children in each grade. He determined a child’s age using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort where he compared the children’s birthdates with the school’s cut-off date for that grade level. His research found that the youngest children were 60 percent more likely to receive an attention-deficit disorder diagnosis than the oldest children in that same grade level. The youngest children were also twice as likely to be prescribed stimulants.
Studies like this highlight that we still have a long way to go in identifying and treating attention-deficit disorder. I am personally shocked that a teacher’s opinion on whether or a not a child has attention-deficit disorder plays such a big role in diagnosis. I think this reminds us that even experts can make mistakes so it is important to remember to seek second opinions and consider environmental factors before prescribing drugs to children.
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