Risperdal is mentioned in the same breath as the standard ADHD precriptions. This is an anti psychotic which is meant to be prescribed to help manage recurrent aggressive / violent behavior and has a huge slew of side effects.

In contrast, most prescription stimulants used to treat (actual) ADHD have no side effects that persist after the cessation of taking the medication.

Likewise, it is well established fact that ADHD medications such as Adderall and Concerta are only effective when coupled with behavior therapy of some sort.

The larger picture behind this is that these adhd medications when taken at their recommended dosages help to make it easier to enter a focused state (as in the metaphorical sense of reducing the activation energy for a chemical reaction), and so direct efforts to develop the habits/ behaviors that are difficult with unmanaged ADHD are needed to attain any long term value out of ADHD medication.

point being: nothing new in this article, just lots of anecdote and a story built out of a single families mental health issues. Like wise the statistic that relevant diagnoses are increasing + a handy quote from a single doctor does not establish a systematic trend that should call to question the validity of a health condition.

this is also separate from the question of whether a school system designed around the time of the industrial revolution is still appropriate today