It's an opinion article, not news reporting. The New York Times is annoying in how often these days its brand is diluted by publishing opinion pieces on medical issues that don't have to meet journalistic reporting standards.

Worse, the author of this piece is a known axe-grinder on the issues he writes about, and doesn't even have the respect of many of his colleagues in the Department of Psychology (he himself is in the Department of Child Development) at the University of Minnesota, where I attend the behavior genetics seminar most weeks during the school year. He is still stuck in the old days of child development theories that have since been abandoned.

On the other hand, I will agree with the author, relating both to ADD and to other diagnoses, that most human behaviors have to be influenced by treatments that focus on the specific behaviors in addition to prescribed medicines. A both-and approach of supportive help for the behavior as well as the best validated medical treatment works better than merely taking the medicines. Learning to focus and direct attention appropriately is not easy, especially when many immediate relatives of the child, perhaps including both parents, may have many of the same issues. Slow and steady wins this race.