Letter: ADHD detail

Regarding the prescription of drugs to children for ADHD which attracts the attention of health services (your report, 22 December) it is interesting to note that a strong motivator for parents to push for diagnosis and treatment is the enhancement of benefit payments they receive.

An appraisal of the proportion of families reliant on state benefit whose children are diagnosed in comparison with those not receiving benefit would be enlightening.

Parenting support in early years helps but there do appear to be parents out there who promote challenging behaviour in their children with the intention of obtaining increased benefit income from disability living allowance.

Perhaps someone has researched this or has figures to support or refute this observation.

David Reid

Albany Terrace

Dundee