In 2011, approximately 11% or 6.4 million children aged four to seventeen were diagnosed with a condition called ADHD. These numbers have steadily increased from 7.8% in 2003, to 9.5% in 2007, and now to 11% in 2011. The number of children receiving medications to treat ADHD has also continued to increase. The percentage of children ages four to seventeen taking these ADHD drugs like Adderall and Ritalin rose from 4.8 percent in 2007 to 6.1 percent in 2011. These rising numbers have led to an overdiagnosed condition among many children in the United States. Many doctors, parents, and schools turn to medications to treat ADHD because they believe it is the best way to treat the condition. In reality, these drugs are overprescribed and given to children because their parents and teachers do not want to deal with their immature behaviors that usually stem from childhood. There are many other alternative treatments that can be combined to safely treat ADHD that cost less and have fewer effects on these children into adulthood. ("Data and..."). Doctors say that when diagnosing a child with ADHD, there is a process that involves several steps. First, they need to focus on observing symptoms and decide whether there is a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity that hinders normal functioning and development. For a child to be considered inattentive, he or she must show six or more symptoms of inattention if he or she is sixteen years of age or younger, or five or more symptoms if he or she is seventeen or older. These symptoms must be present for at least six months and be considered inappropriate for their developmental level. Some symptoms of inattention include being unable to…middle of the paper…a setback (Cohen). The ADHD controversy will most likely never be resolved. With doctors handing out lifetime diagnoses, which can have effects throughout adulthood, something needs to be done. Overprescribing ADHD medications, mostly unnecessary, will only cause problems for children who are given these medications to moderate their behavior. Giving drugs to children who may not even have ADHD as an easy treatment is not a solution to a lifelong behavioral condition. Overprescription of drugs is hampering the abilities and possibilities of children who don't really need them. The number of individuals with ADHD continues to grow, and while doctors continue to hand out prescriptions without real evaluation, individuals taking medications to control their behavior may not be the only solution.