Medicating Children with Psychiatric Drugs
Penn State President Graham Spanier’s monthly call-in program featured this program on medication involving children. "Both the number of children diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and the number receiving medications have risen dramatically, raising concerns for many parents and patients. On this edition of "To the Best of My Knowledge," we’ll talk about the benefits and risks of medicating children. Guests: Christopher Petersen, M.D., Child Psychiatrist at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, and Craig Feaster, M.D. Board Certified Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at SunPointe Health in State College, PA"
See
http://childadvocate.net/medicating%20children%20-%20psychiatric.htm

QUESTION: My grandson, who is 8, has Williams syndrome. The
school system that he is
in has been great in the past but now wants to put
him in a new school with
all Downs Syndrome children. This child needs to be
with children that he
can learn from.
The school system say that he is not qualified for
the next level in the
school that he is in and want to put him in another
school where he will not
learn from the children he would be placed with.
How do we find a child
advocate to help fight this situation?

COMMENT: See: Look at your child's rights to education and 504 plans.
http://www.childadvocate.net/educational.htm

QUESTION: My 7 yr old grandson has been on Risperdal for 8 months for ADHD he
has been taking .5mg three times a day.. ....Last month we notice he
was having nervous jerking in his neck and shoulders...I called his
doctor and told him what was going on..He advised me to start cutting
back on the medication until he was off the meds...We did this and now
our grandson is off the Risperdal but the jerking is still going on..We
can't get our grandson in to see his doctor for 3 weeks..I ask his
doctors nurse about the jerking and she said the doctor would have to
talk to me in person about it.....My question is will this jerking stop
or is it something that is permenant...We are so worried about our
grandson...
Thank you so much

COMMENT: Risperdal is an effective medication, but has not been approved for use with ADHD. Possible side effects are more that with approved meds.

Question: I am trying to locate an advocate to attend a 504
meeting at our school for my child that was recently
diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.school has already
started, and i need the name of or phone # of an
advocate in this area; Carroll County, West
Tennessee.Thank you.

Comment: Try:
http://www.childadvocate.net/stateresources.htm#I51
Let us know if this helps. If you find other resources
to add to our list let us know.
The Child Advocate

Watch here for discussions of mental health, medical, educational, legal and legislative issues relating to children and advocacy.

See http://www.childadvocate.net for more details.