It _is_ overprescribed, often in cases where the child is more intelligent than other children and just bored in school and other places, or when forcing a child to sit still for 8 straight hours just isn't appropriate for a particular child. All too often it isn't used because of any problem the child has but because the educational system just doesn't fit every child. The system is much harder to change, so cut the kids down to fit it. And there is evidence that the gratuitous use of add drugs might even be dangerous, leading to depression and other disorders that will affect what would have been perfectly normal children for the rest of their lives--messing with brain chemistry, especially in the very young, is always risky business, yet the prevailing opinion seems to be that all of these drugs are perfectly safe. (sorry, I don't have a link to any articles on that right now)

--Pam