Dr. Fred Baughman: Upton Sinclair Award, 2006

Dr. Fred Baughman received in 2006 the Upton Sinclair Award, an award recognized to outstanding individuals who have contributed to the field of education, who are great thinkers, motivators and believe children are important and deserve the best life has to offer.

“Fred Baughman, M.D. has not necessarily been a lone voice crying in the wilderness about the massive, gargantuan amounts of pills being pushed into our kid’s mouths these days, but he has been consistent in his communication, concern and compassion. The drug companies are pushing «attention deficit disorder» and «treatment» for this constellation of behavioral symptoms. Giving stimulants to children without providing counseling, behavior modification skills, information about accommodations and modifications and maybe even tutoring is, in my opinion, tantamount to medical malpractice.

“Dr. Baughman is fighting an up hill battle against a culture that believes that all problems can be solved by some type of pill or medication. Well, as the old Paul Revere and the Raiders sang in the song Kicks ‘Don’t it seem no matter what you do, you’ll never run away from you’! Making kids sleepy all day with Taractan, Haldol, and these other drugs, is NOT «treatment»! We are agreed that children need to be taught social skills, interaction skills, how to behave, how to control themselves, how to socialize and how to learn. Simply putting the child in an institution, or putting the child on Ritalin, or Adderol or Cylert or Strattera or some other stimulant is not the TOTAL answer. In fact, drugs should be the last resort!

“Thank you , Dr. Baughman.”

— Dr. Michael F. Shaughnessy, Upton Sinclair Awards, 2006.