<p>I remember reading about this (and discussing it with our pediatrician) when my son was a senior, I worried about how recreational they were getting. He told me he has seen parents that want them when the child doesn’t for purposes that aren’t always good.
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/education/edlife/jacobs31.html?_r=1&oref=slogin[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/education/edlife/jacobs31.html?_r=1&oref=slogin</a>
My son had mild to moderate ADHD and never wanted meds…was able to get A’s and B’s by compensating, but it was gettting tiring. He really had trouble with long tests like the SAT but still refused drugs, didn’t want them, but said if college got too difficult, he would call his doctor. (so far, so good) But I admit, I hate knowing how much longer he has to read things, study,he has to take many breaks, etc. but he says it’s “normal” to him. His doctor, a graduate of Yale med school said he had it many years ago and they didn’t have meds. He almost flunked the first 2 years of college and then he found a way of compensating (and he believes age helped) He said I know it’s hard to watch, but a student of any age has to want to take the meds or it wont work. They also have to understand the limitations of the drug.
I think what helped him in earlier years was it wasn’t severe, he was in a Catholic school that kept distractions down and he was kept engaged (most of the time) in class. I also used some natural things, but they only work for some mild cases.
For moderate to severe ADHD, meds can be a godsend.
I wonder though if a student goes off, what happens. I aske because a student told my son is when she decided to go off because nothing seemed to agree with her, it was hard to get to know her “old normal” She did worse at first than before the meds because she forgot how to compensate, her brain had gotten used to the meds. It didn’t want to work that hard to concentrate again. After a few weeks though, she was doing much better and is taking a break before she decides to look into a new ones.</p>