SCT to Hit Fans in Educational Establishment

If you are a parent you have, by now, heard of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and may have even spent enough time thinking about it to determine for yourself whether this is a real disorder and, if so, whether it really is common or is merely over-diagnosed. But you probably have not yet heard of Slow Cognitive Tempo (SCT), which a leading proponent claims to affect around two million children in the United States:

Dr. Allen Frances, who headed the development of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV for the American Psychiatric Association, is not amused and is making no bones about it.

"Sluggish Cognitive Tempo is a remarkably silly name for an even sillier proposal," Frances wrote at the Psychology Today website. "Its main characteristics are vaguely described but include some combination daydreaming, lethargy, and slow mental processing. [minor format edits, links removed]

Having an imaginitive daughter and remembering my own tendency to daydream as a child, I am none too thrilled to learn that momentum is building behind SCT. Perhaps I should consider placing a wager that some busybody will want to medicate her for it at some point down the road, as a means of financing her higher education.

--  CAV