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One School's
Remarkable No-Ritalin Approach to
Helping Children Learn and Succeed
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 co-directs The 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. 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.
“Chris Mercogliano sees
past the scientific jargon and
deficit-ridden orientation of the
ADD/ADHD paradigm, and reveals with
great humanistic sensibility the
passionate worlds of active kids who
don't fit into the tight little boxes
of most American classrooms."
—Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D.,
author of The Myth of the A.D.D.
Child
"Teaching the Restless is a
very important book for our time.
Chris Mercogliano deserves a medal for
his courage and insight, as well as
his years of hard work on behalf of
America's children."
—Joseph Chilton Pearce, author
of Magical Child
"[Mercogliano] makes his case
persuasively in a readable, anecdotal
recounting of the academic year as
observed through nine students. The
result is an encouraging success story
that demonstrates an alternative to
the ever-growing use of drugs for
ever-younger children and calls into
question the basis for the diagnostic
labeling and the use of biopsychiatric
pharmaceuticals in the classroom."
—Library Journal
"This powerful tale gives us an
up-close look at what is possible for
America's schoolchildren when we
choose not to drug them into silence."
—Yehuda Fine, family therapist
and author of Times Square Rabbi
"Mercogliano's books are a genus of
their own, marked by high
intelligence, a big-hearted outlook,
and a fresh take on important things.
Teaching the Restless tackles
the mass drugging of schoolchildren in
America from the perspective of a man
who knows a better way. Highly
recommended. Trust me."
—John Gatto, author of
The
Underground History of American
Education
"A sharp critique of schooling,
child-rearing practices, and America's
increasing rush to medicate away any
perceived 'problem' behaviors. In a
disarmingly honest narrative...Mercogliano
raises important question that should
be considered by anyone living with or
working with ADHD children."
—Marie Eaton, YES!
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