Children who start kindergarten too early are often misdiagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), according to a new study from Michigan State University.
- Dr. Todd Edler and his colleagues studied 12,000 young children.
- The researchers found that those in the youngest percentiles in kindergarten were 60% more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than were the oldest students in their classes.
- By the time the children got to the fifth and eighth grades, the youngest students were more than twice as likely to be taking prescription stimulants for ADHD.
Misdiagnosing children with ADHD wastes between $320 and $500 million dollars a year, according to the study.
"Many ADHD diagnosis may be driven by teachers' perceptions of poor behavior among the youngest children in the kindergarten classroom," Dr. Edler said. "But these 'symptoms' may merely reflect emotional or intellectual immaturity among the youngest students."
The study appears in the Journal of Health Economics.
Labels: school, students, adhd
Posted By: CRC Health