On my way to work, Tuesday morning, I heard an NPR article on a FDA probe linking food dyes and kids’ behavior. The gist of reporter April Fulton’s article was that food colorings are causing ADHD behavior in children. I was somewhat skeptical of the articles premise while listening to it and didn’t give it much further thought until later. Returning home that evening, I found Anne lying on the couch with a wet washcloth across her eyes. I asked her, “Are you OK? Did something happen at school today?” She kind of groaned, lifted the washcloth off her face and then sat up and told me her story.

You know how some students are always asking to go to the bathroom during class? There was this one boy today that asked to go to the bathroom in every single class. In the afternoon, we had a birthday party. The mom brought in yellow cupcakes and red Hi-C. I don’t know what she was thinking. Johnny, oh, I shouldn’t have used his name. Anyway, Johnny had to go to the bathroom again and I wrote him another hall pass. By the time that he got back, all of the other students were bouncing off the walls and ceiling. It was total chaos. A minute later Johnny had to go to the bathroom again. I asked him to wait. Try saying your a, b, c, forwards and backwards, I suggested. He started reciting them forward, “a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z” and then backwards, “z, y, x, w, v, u, t, s, r, q, o, n, m, l, k, j, i, h, g, f, e, d, c, b, a”. I asked him where the p is. He said, “Running down my leg.”