Why should you believe that it is "happening here"?
Let alone at a significant rate.
Why is this wild conjecture worth a discussion?
Give me a break.
As a clinician that evaluates disabilities, it is very difficult to fake one. They tend to be diagnosed at an early age, and not at "test time" in high school. In fact, as a person ages they are much less likely to receive a diagnosis. There has to be early-age evidence even if the diagnoses is later in life.
The disability rate in elite / prep schools exists but is low. These kids tend to be more on the spectrum than anything else.
Underperforming kids who don't have a disability, and might be prone to cheat by one means or another, and who aren't sports recruits tend to transfer to easier schools.
If a kid wants to go through the process of being fraudulently diagnosed by an independent psychologist with ADHD, for the purpose of accommodations, then the same process is discoverable by literally anyone with an internet connection. That is, by everyone.
And from what I know, this has much less to do with clinician corruption than it does with the individual faking symptoms. There's few to zero people risking their licenses to hand out fake diagnoses for scheduled medications that are under heavy scrutiny at all times by the States and the Feds. The liability alone is off of the charts.
Schools are only likely to accept the diagnoses if a thorough clinical evaluation is undertaken. The result of which is not able to be faked.
Why should we believe that affluent parents clinician-shop and get a diagnosis from a friendly clinician? Because of the reporting that says so, linked upthread:
What makes a psychologist an “independent psychologist“? Are they selected and paid for by someone other than the parents?
We see in medical malpractice cases that there’s always two expert witnesses and their respective testimonies always line up with the interests of the side that’s paying them. Why aren’t those clinicians worried about losing their licenses?
Edit: I upvoted your post, it was gray, I appreciate engagement especially from those that disagree with me.
There was a psychiatrist in my town who specialized in prescribing stimulants and benzodiazepines to hippies. One of his patients would get a scaled-up pill bottle the size of a small trash can full of Dexedrine every month, another got 3x a dose of Klonopin that would turn me into zombie. Frequently his "patients" would use only a portion of their medication and sell the rest for (often badly needed) income.
I almost dropped the dime on him because one of his patients was a severely disturbed friend of mine who did not have a proper diagnosis (I'd conjecture today she had schizoaffective disorder) and I think would have benefited from a change in medication -- but we never found out because she took her own life. I'm pretty sure somebody else dropped the dime on him.
Let alone at a significant rate.
Why is this wild conjecture worth a discussion?
Give me a break.
As a clinician that evaluates disabilities, it is very difficult to fake one. They tend to be diagnosed at an early age, and not at "test time" in high school. In fact, as a person ages they are much less likely to receive a diagnosis. There has to be early-age evidence even if the diagnoses is later in life.
The disability rate in elite / prep schools exists but is low. These kids tend to be more on the spectrum than anything else.
Underperforming kids who don't have a disability, and might be prone to cheat by one means or another, and who aren't sports recruits tend to transfer to easier schools.
If a kid wants to go through the process of being fraudulently diagnosed by an independent psychologist with ADHD, for the purpose of accommodations, then the same process is discoverable by literally anyone with an internet connection. That is, by everyone.
And from what I know, this has much less to do with clinician corruption than it does with the individual faking symptoms. There's few to zero people risking their licenses to hand out fake diagnoses for scheduled medications that are under heavy scrutiny at all times by the States and the Feds. The liability alone is off of the charts.
Schools are only likely to accept the diagnoses if a thorough clinical evaluation is undertaken. The result of which is not able to be faked.