A CHARITY which helps children with severe behavioural problems has urged academics to carry on the work of a controversial professor killed in the Selby rail crash.

Professor Steve Baldwin defied the establishment by setting up the country's first clinic at Teesside University to wean children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) off the mind-altering drug Ritalin.

The amphetamine-based drug is widely used in the US and is said to have dramatically improved the behaviour of some of the 114,000 British children prescribed the drug last year.

But Prof Baldwin was totally opposed to its use on youngsters, believing in alternative non-drug treatments.

Last year, he set up a clinic to offer alternatives to Ritalin, and invited GPs to refer youngsters for treatment.

Following the 44-year-old psychologist's death, the clinic has been put on hold and the outlook is uncertain.

According to Janice Hill, director of the charity Overload Network International, 28,000 British families have expressed an interest in controlled withdrawal from Ritalin use.

"We have thousands of children with nowhere to go now. There is no alternative to what Steve Baldwin was offering at Teesside," said Ms Hill, who worked closely with Prof Baldwin.

"It is vital that his work should continue," she said.

Mandy Simpson, of Banff, Scotland, whose eight-year-old son Damien has ADHD, was due to see Prof Baldwin a few days after he was killed.

"It would be a disaster if they stop this programme. I don't want to put my boy back on Ritalin. I don't want a zombie," she said.

Before his death, Prof Baldwin said: "The prescription of Ritalin to young children is a major public health scandal. It's a form of child abuse."

Jan Norman, manager of the university's school of social sciences, said: "It will be very fitting if we can continue the clinic, but we have to be confident we can provide a good service."

Gill Mead, spokesperson for ADHD Family Support UK, said her organisation supported the use of Ritalin.

"It does work. I have witnessed it myself," she said.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "Ritalin is an effective treatment for ADHD, but it should only be used for more severe forms of the disorder and as part of a comprehensive treatment programme under supervision of a specialist."

l A feature about the life and work of Prof Baldwin will appear in tomorrow's Northern Echo health page.