Teaching the Restless

We've all read the stories about medicating hyperactive (ADHD) kids. The controversy shows no signs of ending, as parents and doctors debate the merits of diagnosing and medicating children at younger and younger ages. Chris Mercogliano has a strong opinion on the matter, and he enters the debate as an educator. In Teaching the Restless, Mercogliano issues an urgent call for a shift in how our society perceives hyperactive children-away from theories of faulty brain chemistry and toward an understanding of children's lives. Mercogliano codirects the Albany Free School in Albany, New York. There, he and his faculty have developed numerous ways to help hyperactive children relax, focus, modulate emotional expression, make responsible choices, and forge lasting friendships-all prerequisites for learning-without assigning pathological labels to the children or resorting to the use of biopsychiatric drugs. Teaching the Restless profiles a handful of Free School students, six boys and three girls. All were either labeled and drugged in their previous schools, or would have been had they not thrown in their lot with the Free School. While in Mercogliano's mind there is no such thing as a "typical" child, these nine kids represent the legions of children across the country-estimates currently run as high as 6 million-that have been diagnosed with learning and behavioral disorders and prescribed corresponding drugs. Speaking both to parents who worry that their kids cannot attend classes without drugs and to educators who wonder how to best teach these hyperactive kids, Teaching the Restless should bring new hope into an overcharged debate.