From: "Gerard, Robert (ED)"
To: "Charles Leblanc"
CC: "McInerney, Terry (ED)"
Subject: FW: Medications - Ritalin
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2004 15:03:00 -0400
Dear Mr. Leblanc,
I am responding to your recent e-mail to Terry McInerney, on behalf of our Assistant Deputy Minister, English Educational Services Division, with whom you met some weeks ago. I am also including a copy of the e-mail that was sent to superintendents and directors of education in the English public school system. You may be interested in knowing that this is a reiteration of the message that I sent to the same group, including Student Services administrators approximately two years ago.
You have also requested results concerning the meeting held with the ADM and Pierre Dumas and other interested individuals. It is important to note that the Expert Report on Behaviour Disorder was initiated and conducted by the Department of Health, under the direction of Ms. Marcella Laaper, Director of Child and Adolescent Services. Ms. Barb Whitenect is currently in that position.
In essence, given that this report was initiated and developed by the Department of Health and Wellness, any further action to be taken on this report must be initiated by the Department of Health and Wellness. Officials of the Department of Education who participated on that committee did so at the invitation of the committee chair from the Department of Health and Wellness.
You will note that I have also copied this e-mail directed to you to individuals within the Department of Health and Wellness who should be the primary contacts for any further action concerning that report.
Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me.
Robert E. Gerard
Student Services
(Phone: 506-444-4711
7Fax: 506-457-7835
-E-mail:Robert.Gerard@gnb.ca
-----Original Message-----
From: Phillips, Deanna (ED) On Behalf Of McInerney, Terry (ED)
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 1:29 PM
To: (ED) Superintendents (Eng.)
Cc: (ED) Directors of Ed (Eng.)
Subject: Medications - Ritalin
Recent stories in the Telegraph Journal and other media have heightened the public's awareness of the drug Ritalin, a drug which is generally used to assist in the treatment of ADD/ADHD among children of school age and adults. While educators have a definite role to play in the referral process for children who are displaying characteristics associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and in assisting the medical and psychological profession diagnoses of this disorder, teachers are to refrain from suggesting to parents that prescription medication of any sort should be used in the management of students' behavior.
The diagnoses and prescription of medication for disorders that impact on a classroom's Positive Learning Environment remains the responsibility of the medical profession.
Principals are asked to remind teachers that the Department of Education recognizes that teachers have an important role to play in the referral process. Suggesting to parents that they may want to consider discussing their child's attention difficulties with their family doctor comes as a result of a collaborative process involving the school-based student services team who have considered in- depth the child's strengths and needs. Teachers are encouraged to share their observations with the school-based student services teams, and with physicians. Teachers can also serve as an important source of information in the monitoring by the physician of appropriate dosage of medication.
Please share this information with principals, who will share with their staff.
8 comments:
You got the bureaucratic run around. In your earlier update you referred to a story where parents were asked to get the prescription or else. Child got the Ritalin and then died as a result. Who should be responsible for his death:
The parents who asked the doctor for prescription
Doctor who gave into the pressure and gave the prescription
Or the teacher who started it all. Teacher who might say he just suggested the referral
It is a dilemma and a tragedy
Who is ultimately responsible for the child????????? -->is the "parent"...and parents should fight together with other parents, for their children....and not be so ready to take the teacher's suggestions to the doctor, unless it is absolutely necessary for a short term...Parents get ready to stand up for your children!!!!!!!!
What is the role of the government in all this? 10,000 signatures were collected; a petition was presented to the Legislature. Parents did speak through those 10,000 signatures. What has been done so far? Nothing. From the letters posted by Charles Leblanc he is told go to Health and Wellness and if he goes to Health and Wellness he will probably be referred back to Education. A classic bureaucratic run around. Now we know that Ritalin can kill and it continues to be prescribed. What is the role of the government in all of this? Why Government is so indifferent.
Hi Charlie.... have been glad to get your notes and links. You remind me of a companion in the streets of Vancouver, Ivan Drury. I was on trial with Ivan and four others for about 18 months. All arrested at an anti-poverty protest at the Britannia Community Centre on Commercial Drive. Anyway, Ivan is a dedicated anti-poverty organizer who works night and day in resistance to a Liberal Government that is selling the country to the highest bidders. From Ivan I learned for basic principles of resistance:
1] Be Free; 2] Be Responsible; 3] Be Creative; and, 4] Be Courageous.
These are my guide-lines as I find ways to speak out against injustice here and now.
Lots of words just to say.... thanks for the good example. Keep sowing those seeds along the wayside. Surely some will find good soil
As the title in my blog says- It's cheaper to drug our kids in this Province then to treat them with dignity!1!
There was nothing bad in the blog that I removed...I was just testing the site....
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