In OUR schools today free thinkers are told to sit down and shut up. On Playgrounds, chemistry classes, and art classes, students who used to have unrelenting curiosity, now are focused. In classes everywhere, kids who once stared out the windows, concocting crazy life stories and daydreaming, now focus on the smart board or blackboard.

Ritalin and other drugs for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder have helped many children improve their focus and behavior to the great relief of parents and teachers. But a growing list of ADHD support groups offer long lists of out-of-the-box thinkers who had classic ADHD traits such as impulsivity, day-dreaming, and disorganized lives. Among those who are believed to have had the disorder: Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Salvador Dali and, Winston Churchill.

A person who focuses better taking Ritalin can be “like a horse with blinders, plodding along. He’s moving forward, getting things done, but he’s less open to inspiration,” says Lara Honos-Webb, a psychologist at Santa Clara University. In her new book, “The Gift of ADHD,” she identifies “gifts” that often accompany the disorder, including creativity, exuberance and intuition. She believes ADHD drugs temper these traits.

David Neeleman, CEO of JetBlue Airways, never took drugs for his ADHD, and is now an advocate for kids with the disorder. He says ADHD helps him think unconventionally, and he worries that if he took medication, he’d be like everyone else. He has found techniques to concentrate better, while hiring others to handle organizational details. He is credited with inventing the electronic airline ticket, which was in part an effort to help people with the classic ADHD trait of forgetfulness.

Too many kids, especially boys who are merely rambunctious, are being given the drugs with just cursory evaluations, says William Pollack, an assistant clinical professor at Harvard Medical School.

Another subject in Dr. Pollack’s research is a math whiz in his 40’s who was hyperactive as a child. As an adult, the man earned several hundred million dollars developing computer technology. “His ideas came to him in a flash,” explains Dr. Pollack. “He feels that if he had been given Ritalin as a child, he’d have just ended up as a teaching assistant in some science course.” BJ Palmer the developer of Chiropractic as early as the 1930’s termed these “Innate thought flashes”.

ADHD drugs are good for patching up weaknesses, not enhancing strengths, says Dr. Honos-Webb (Author, Ph.D. “The gift of ADHD”) “If your parents want you to be a lawyer, maybe these drugs can help you do that.” But she believes a child on Ritalin is less likely to be the next great dot-com pioneer. She wishes more parents would see their kids’ futures in less-rigid terms. “Spaciness,” she insists, “is a path to inspiration.”

So PLEASE, before contemplating giving your child any “mind-altering” medication, especially Ritalin, Strattera, or any anti-depressant, PLEASE consider exhausting EVERY other available option. If you don’t you may be just extinguishing a flame that was meant to be a beacon of light that the world needed. A “flame” that was needed for the preservation of humanity or even our planet Earth.

In Health and Peace, Dr. Craig Kaler, www.oceanchiropractic.com