Based on my experiences with the system, I'm quite sure that the actual amount of faking and fraud is extreme.
In other news, we have a national Adderall shortage because it was widely prescribed to kids whose problem was being unable to concentrate during lockdown due to stress and depression. As a result, by default teenagers lose their diagnosis when they graduate. I learned this when my son's psychiatrist had to give him very explicit instructions about how to document his disability so that the diagnosis he received in grade 1 will follow him into his adult life without having to prove it again.
> In other news, we have a national Adderall shortage because it was widely prescribed to kids whose problem was being unable to concentrate during lockdown due to stress and depression.
This is an exceptionally cynical take on the situation, one that tugs the rage strings a little too neatly for me to think this is an accurate reflection of reality.
Drug companies have said it's part caused by increased demand but supply has also been affected by unpublished limitations on handling controlled substances, instituted by the federal government in response to the opiate crisis.
I'm reporting on what my son's psychiatrist told us at the same time as she wrote my son's final prescription as a minor. She knew about it because she was a child psychiatrist in a system where that policy change was made.
She also told us that, BECAUSE that policy change had been made, it was no longer automatic to have a childhood diagnosis follow you into adulthood. She then walked us through the documentation that we needed to get so that my son's long-standing diagnosis actually would transfer into adulthood.
I wound up having to fill that prescription twice. Both times I personally experienced the shortage.
You might be right that there are factors other than increased demand. But demand definitely has increased. And I have no reason to doubt the psychiatrist.
> As a result, by default teenagers lose their diagnosis when they graduate.
I believe you misunderstood what happens and why the coaching was necessary. The laws governing children in K-12 schools are different from those governing adults.
Children are covered under the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).
Adults are under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
Lots of colleges document the differences. Bryn Mawr's page looks good. [1]
As long as we have qualified doctors diagnose disabilities, I‘m quite sure the actual amount of faking or fraud will be negligible.