SYMPTOMS COMPARISON CHART
 

Many children today are being medicated based on an incorrect understanding of the cause of their behavioral and emotional issues.  Diagnoses and informal labels are given to students based on behavioral symptoms.  Frequently, students are medicated in an attempt to eliminate these symptoms.  However, as this chart demonstrates, problematic symptoms are often rooted in underlying, unrecognized learning problems such as dyslexia, visual processing problems, and auditory processing problems. Physicians, educators, and psychologists are generally most familiar with ADD/ADHD and mental health diagnoses, and many have received little or no training in the diagnosis or treatment of dyslexia, visual processing problems, or auditory processing problems.  We therefore recommend assessment for these common learning problems before placing any child on medication(s).  When learning problems are resolved, emotional/behavioral symptoms often disappear.