board censoring

Dad, I know this poster to whom you are referring seems to especially respect you and value your input (as I do, and I’m sure, most of us). Is there no way to entreaty this person to be more gentle with his posts? Would he listen to you? He often has something valuable to say. But then I think of these poor parents who hurt so badly for the struggles that their child is going through, and to be harangued by this person with accusations that they are stupid and uncaring is grossly offensive.

Name-callers, advertisers, pyramid and vitamin schemes - all need to be removed. There are plenty of chat rooms for ranters and advertising should be purchased. As a publisher, I hope that I and others remain allowed to answer responses about our endeavors w/o proseltyising our products.

Ken

I’d like to add my point of view.

I am pretty thick skinned and agree 100% with letting post stand, as long as they are honestly stated opinions.

The poster we are talking about posted at least 21 times under my user name today. Twenty one that I, personally, saw. Some of the posts were obsecen, most provocative, some dumb, some smart. I would have left *most* standing, HAD THE POSTER USED NOT USED MY NAME.

If he did this to me I can only assume he is doing it to others as well.

Barb Bloom

It’s been a long day…

Of course, my last sentaince should have read “had the poster not used my name.”

Interesting slip bgb hmm. Perhaps you are the troll. This was an all out attck to “get” Ball because he said true but negative things about drug companies and teachers.

People were using Ball’s name now they are claiming he’s using theirs. They are claiming all this horrible behavior on Ball’s part but they offer no proof. This is a lynching of Ball in order to hide the truth.

If these moms are offended they should be because drugging kids is way beyond offensive. It is immoral.

The level of hypocrisy hear is astounding. Ball is on the warpath. God help you.

Case Studies in Violence
Many of the child-killers in the Littleton-style incidents were taking mind-altering psychiatric drugs, which had been prescribed by doctors. T.J. Solomon, the 15-year-old from Conyers, Georgia, who shot six classmates in May 1999, was on Ritalin; Eric Harris, 18, one of the two Columbine killers, was taking the anti-depressant Luvox; and Kip Kinkel, the 15-year-old from Springfield, Oregon, who killed both his parents and two schoolmates, and wounded 20 other students in May 1998, had been prescribed the anti-depressant Prozac, one of the most widely prescribed drugs.

These are not isolated cases. Of more than 6 million kids under 18 years of age in America, who have been prescribed Ritalin, Luvox, Prozac, Paxil, and other anti-depressants and psychiatric drugs, for emotional and behaviorial problems, many have committed violent acts, even killings. Many others are walking time-bombs.

On March 6, U.S. News & World Report documented these less-known cases: In California, 16-year-old Jarred Viktor was convicted of murder for stabbing his grandmother 61 times. Ten days earlier, Jarred had been prescribed the anti-depressant Paxil, for preexisting problems. In Kansas, 13-year-old Matt Miller committed suicide (he was found hanging in his closet) after taking the anti-depressant Zoloft for a week. The Miller family has sued Pfizer, the manufacturer of Zoloft.

But the most horrible revelation to date is the documentation that increasing numbers of infants, toddlers, and pre-school children are being zombified with psychiatric drugs produced for adults, before they can even learn to talk, let alone read.

According to JAMA’s Feb. 23 article, “Trends in the Prescribing of Psychotropic Medications to Pre-Schoolers,” children from poor families, especially African-American children, are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (AHDH) and prescribed the stimulant Ritalin (methylphenidate) at younger and younger ages, with the number of prescriptions in two study groups having increased more than 300% during 1991-95. The anti-depressant Prozac is just as abused; the article reports that a psychiatric newsletter, citing marketing data compiled by the Food and Drug Administration in 1994, reported some 3,000 prescriptions for fluoxetine hydrochloride (the generic name for Prozac) written for children younger than one year old!

The findings, written by a group of doctors from the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, and the Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente, in Portland, Oregon, were presented in May 1999, at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Washington, D.C. But the dangerous practices haven’t stopped.

The team studied ambulatory care prescription records from 1991 to 1995 from two Medicaid programs (a Midwest state and a Mid-Atlantic state), and from one HMO (health maintenance organization) in the Northwest. Records were checked for enrollees between two and four years old, during those years.

The results should shock the nation: In all three programs, psychotropic medications prescribed for pre-schoolers increased dramatically. The use of methylphenidate increased in all three sites: threefold for the Midwest database, 1.7-fold for the Mid-Atlantic group, and 3.1-fold at the HMO. These records involved over 200,000—more than 158,000 enrolled in the Midwestern state, 54,237 in the Mid-Atlantic state, and 19,322 enrolled in the HMO.

One noticeable pattern is the prevalence of poor children. The Medicaid youth were almost entirely eligible under Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC, the former Federal welfare program), and, within the Medicaid groups, “non-whites were over-represented,” i.e., a greater number than in the general population.

There’s no question that the poorest children are being abused. The article says that in 1998, “Pediatric researchers noted that 57% of 223 Michigan Medicaid enrollees aged younger than four years with a diagnosis of ADHD, received at least one psychotropic medication to treat this condition.” Methylphenidate was one of the two most prescribed.

These results show a pattern of premeditated medical abuse. At a March 3 press conference, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) addressed the concerns posed by the JAMA article. He showed the warnings printed with every bottle of Ritalin. In large type, one says: “Warning: Ritalin should not be used in children under six years, since safety and efficacy in this age group have not been established.” A second warning says: “Precautions: Long-term effects of Ritalin in children have not been well-established.” Sen. Dodd demanded that more tests be conducted to test psychiatric drugs on children before they are given out so widely. But the scope of the problem, and the fact that drugs like Ritalin have already killed children in normal doses, and that Ritalin is one of the top ten most abused drugs in the U.S., shows that Sen. Dodd, and others, though well-meaning, are refusing to go beyond “business as usual,” against a phenomenon that is escalating the occurrence of the new violence.

The HMOs—Nazi Drug Dispensaries
In 1998 and 1999, the United Nations’ report on international drug trends, sounded the warning that 85 to 90% of the MPD (methylphenidate, or Ritalin), produced in the world, is consumed in the United States.

On June 22, Pennsylvania State Rep. LeAnna Washington (D-Phila.), testified at Ad Hoc Democratic Party Platform Hearings, facilitated by Lyndon LaRouche’s Presidential campaign committee, in Washington, D.C. Rep. Washington stated:

“In 1987, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) was literally voted into existence by the American Psychiatric Association. Within one year, 500,000 children in the United States were diagnosed with this affliction.

“In 1990, the lucrative doors were opened to a cash welfare program to low-income parents whose children were diagnosed with ADHD. A family could get more than $450 a month for each child. In 1989, children with ADHD made up 5% of the disabled population. In 1995, it rose to 25%. In 1991, education grants also funded schools an additional $400 in annual grants money for each child. The same year, the Department of Education recognized it as a handicap, providing children with special services. In 1997, some 4.4 million children were diagnosed with ADHD. In 1996, some $15 billion was spent annually on the diagnosis, treatment, and study of these so-called disorders.

“Ritalin and similar drugs are prescribed to an estimated 6 million to 9 million children and adolescents in the United States. This reflects why Ritalin production has increased an incredible 700% since 1990.”

In fact, studies cited in JAMA and the Journal of Public Health, surveying school nurses in two districts of Virginia in 1998, show that among white male students in the fifth grade, 18% and 20%, respectively, were being given Ritalin for “behavioral problems.”

But a major reason for this catastrophic rise in rates of psychiatric drug use is the Nazi policy known as “managed health care,” through the HMOs that have taken over most health plans today, including Medicaid for the poor, according to Family Therapy Networker an on-line magazine.

The runaway prescribing of anti-depressant drugs for children—with almost 3 million prescriptions written in 1999—is due, in large part, to pressure from managed-care companies that will not pay for therapy or other treatments for children, says an article titled “Generation Rx,” by Rob Waters in Family Therapy Networker. This prescribing of drugs as a substitute for therapy, means that children “are being given unproven threatments more haphazardly, and with fewer practical and legal protections, than adults who volunteer to be paid subjects in the clinical trials of new drugs,” the article says. In fact, many of the drugs being given to children have not been approved for use in children, and have severe physical and psychological side effects.

“Some doctors say they are uneasy about prescribing psychoactive drugs to kids,” the article notes, “but they do so because they doubt that the child’s family can get around managed care’s barrier to therapy,” in which a health plan may refuse to pay, or create months of delays. The situation is even worse for children in poor families. Child psychiatrist Joseph Woolston, the medical director of the children’s psychiatric unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital, says the practice of giving psychoactive medication to children has skyrocketed under managed care. “The pressure to medicate children has increased enormously,” Woolston says. “Every single day we have at least one case where the managed-care reviewer says to us, ‘If you don’t start the child on medications within 24 hours after admission, we will not fund another day of hospital.”

Woolston says that even more alarming, is the practice of putting “probably tens of thousands of kids” on random combinations of psychoactive medications. “We’re using them as guinea pigs, and not even keeping track of them,” he says.

Therapists in private practice say that managed-care reviewers almost always suggest referring children for medication after four to six sessions, even when a child’s distress is clearly related to a parental divorce or some other identifiable interpersonal problem. “Managed care sees this as a cheap way to get rid of the problem,” says one child psychologist.

Heart attacks have felled some children on Ritalin, including a 14-year-old boy in Michigan, and an 11-year-old girl from Ohio. The physical side effects are bad enough, but the psychological ramificiations is nothing short of menticide—America’s “opium war” against her own children.

Barb, get over it. I know for a fact you have been doing the bogus posting so get off your high horse and apologize to Ball.

You are probably a moderator and you are doing everything to keep anti-drug stuff off the boards.

Keep lying

Not that I am challenging this posting per se, but do you have the url’s or reference citations for this?

Rather than allowing unknown persons to weed out those posts that she/he personally find offensive along with those that clearly do not belong here (turn $6 into $6,000!, etc.), a simpler and more effective way to reduce trolling would be to clearly display each poster’s ISP # in the header of their posts. This worked very well on two other boards I frequent that had trouble with a couple of people issuing multiple posts under different handles (talking to themselves) or usurping someone else’s handle for their own use.

The ISP # is readily available now, but it is a little chore to open each suspect post to view the source, etc.

Dad,

I like that idea!

The other idea kicked around was using passwords but I like ISP’s better.

You will probably find some of the posts on this board gone after a bit. It is interesting to note that “Fed up” was always very tactful in the past and his/her present post has a completely different systle, tone, and message than others I have read by this poster. Fed up also “cut and paste” the same message that Father “cut and paste” on a different forum.

Barb

Here here Dad (applause)!!! Couldn’t agree with you more.

The only .02 cents I’d add in is I’d caution giving those people enough attention so as to supply incentive to continue impacting the bb. Ignoring and avoiding getting caught up in them is another option.

Having changed employment recently, I haven’t had the opportunity to frequent this bb like in the past. However, from my perspective the purpose of this bb is for parents of children with ld… if the topic is off this subject, or worse, dragging people into wasting time about an off topic, then there are two parties involved.

When your child is flailing within the system, when your child is being floundering and you don’t know how to help, you tend to have pretty raw nerves and sensitivities are at an all time high. It’s easy to get offended, get your feelings hurt and strike back quickly without much thought prior to the reflexive reaction.

What ever happened to the good old days and pounding the living crap out of old “Peeved Principal”? Every single one of us fell for the initial trap of that made up individual. The irony of Peeved was that he/she was the absolute ultimate a-hole of an administrator that all of us have encountered at one time or another BECAUSE WE ARE THE PARENTS OF CHILDREN WITH LD! Man did we work out a lot of demons and get rid of much of the toxic build up due to the stresses or dealing with our respective bungling beaurocrats and educational systems that were failing us and our children.

Anyway, censoring is a slippery slope, and it is neccesary at times, but it makes me nervous as well. We are all entitled to opinions, although we don’t have to agree. (I suppose I owe Anyita a well intended “hi” here :)

Andy

yes….we should see some posts from him again…

Beth

me too - had dd’s IEP meeting yesterday - meeting went “well”, what an improvement I didn’t have to physically bang my head against the wall only felt like it - gosh that’s why I’ve been around these boards so much - I need levity and Peter Principal always makes me laugh

I posted two replies to this very thread this AM. I saw them hit the board and pulled the first one up after I posted the second to make sure it was here. It was and now it is gone.

Neither of these replies attacked anyone. I used no profanity, I did not violate the “no scam, no spam” rule of the board. They were just replies to other posts in this thread, one of which is likewise gone.

Why were these posts deleted?

The moderators are hiding because they are cowards. They are afraid of the facts and you present facts.

Ball bashing is fine but drug bashing is not. This board’s moderation has no integrity.

That is why I can’t make sense of it. It was a report about the ever increasing incidence of autism in the CA Developmental Regional Centers. Nothing to do with any drugs, nothing to do with specific therapies, nothing to do with triggering factors. Just information about caseload.

Crazy.

Dad because it was not whining and was informational in nature it was threatening.

I noticed a whole section of posts were deleted. Is it possible the post were there in this section?

Dad,

I think they are deleting threads where someone with a banned IP address is posting nasty messages. Even if your posts were fine (as I’m sure they were) everything in the thread seems to get zapped. I had one of my posts zapped, even though there was nothing wrong with it, just because it was part of one of those threads. I don’t like it, but I wonder if it might not be question of imperfect technology.

Andrea

If I were a moderator and it was part of my - let’s say - doctoral student responsibilities to monitor all the messages for the bulletin boards - and if I were doing this for almost nothing…..then sometimes after reading the inanities of a couple of posters (blatant attention seekers) I’d just think - this isn’t worth it.

Monitors, please remember that for years a lot of help has come across on this board. I think a couple of posters have a “Samson complex” and want to pull it all down around them.

I sent a note to the board administration about this issue — if you also feel strongly about the issue, please do the same. The technology can be changed, although perhaps not as fast as we’d like.

Well I signed on last night and was surprised to see the posts - I’ve been away at a 2 day Peter Wright Book Camp. I decided, b/c my brain was “fried”, to wait until this morning to post b/c I am SOMEWHAT wiser when I’ve had some sleep.

This entire group of BBs have been a “life saver” for me. This is where I initially met “Socks” (one of my MOST favorite people). This is where I’ve learned SO MUCH from bgb, Dad, Janis C, LStarr, Sue (resource room), Susan Long, Victoria, the list goes on (credits listed alphabetically ;-) ). This is where I have been “hoorayed” by Beth-FL and Linda F, as well as many others - and “hoorayed” them as well. I’ve even had “wonderful” disagreements with others who have not “pounded” when they don’t agree, nor me them. (I’m not sure that’s good grammar - Victoria will know :-) ). This is the place where I have gained more knowledge and support than any other bb.

The hardest part is that I look ESPECIALLY for posts from particular responders so when their names are used, and it’s not in the fashion to which I’m used to hearing them, I almost always know immediately that it’s not really the “sign on” person.

As someone said, I believe we should ignore the “outlandish” posts - and most oif us know which ones they are - much like you would a 4 year old.

The saddest part is that “newbies” who are referred here will not understand and the “wisdom”, gained by both education AND experience, will be diluted.

So, I say, let’s hang in there and hope that with no “attention” the problem will resolve itself.