Wow, I know lots about this topic due to the fact that two of my kids have been diagnosed and treated.

My daughter is 19 and has been on medication since second grade for ADHD. Now professionals are saying there's no difference between ADD and ADHD and I totally disagree because my son has ADD and thier symptoms are very different.

ADHD has the hyperactivity component. Both are treated with the same types of mild altering drugs. Yes, they are mind altering. No getting around it.

During the time that doctors and teachers were suggesting medication, I was totally freaked out. No kid of mine was going to be medicated. I was very ignorant. I read, visited doctors, psychiatrists, educators, etc. and came to realize that there was no harm in trying. If it didn't work, then no more medicine. Ritalin was tried and it worked like a dream for school, but it altered her appetite and sleep. Theough much thought and consideration, we chose to stay on the medicine because she felt better on it and was able to sit still, learn, and it improved her relationships too.


My daughter also has learning disabilities. We learned this very early on in her education so she went to a private school for kids with learning disabilities from grades 6-12. It was a godsend. She had no more than seven kids in her classes, often only a few. These kids are bright, they just have issues they make their learning slower, harder, more complicated.

The school she attended taught through many applications. They did lots of hands on learning. Some of their tests were given in bigger print, separated into sections, even able to take tests orally. The point is that the kids absorbed and learned fabulously. They just learned differently than being lectured to. Most school systems lecture and expect kids to absorb.

Okay, so now she's in a small college and doing well. Again, small, but nothing like her old school. This is your typical college but they do have support for kids who need it jsut like all colleges must offer. She learned to be a tremendous self-advocate at her old school so she's gone for tutoring, meetings with teachers, asked for more time when testing, etc. Some kids would suffer in silence, but the beauty of my daughter is that she knows who she is and what she needs. She learned all about her learning disabilites, understand them, and know what she needs to succeed. It's who she is and she's totally cool with it. She works incredibly hard. Others would never put forth the effort she does to learn new things because they've never had to. She's awesome and I admire her tenacity. Her work eithic will take her very far in the work place.

Now all of this is by the grace of God because we were fortunate to be able to send her to that school. It cost more than 20 grand a year. Our son was going to college cheaper. Anyway, that's part of my point. Many children do not have this type of opportunity. They have to put up with the public school system which says they meet the needs of each child, but it's impossible.

Now, my son wasn't diagnosed with ADD until he was in high school. He's the kind of kid who did well enough, listened, got along well with others, was loved by others and just got by being a good kid and doing his best. So why have him tested?- oh yeah, I forgot to mention all the education testing my daughter went through. She had several batteries of tests done by three different specialists before we agreed to medication. Anyway, we had him tested because he said he couldn't stay focused, couldn't study, his mind wandered, etc. Sure enough he was diagnosed with ADD and an auditory learning disability which apparently often go together. He tried medication and the first day he was on it, he got in the car when I picked him up and said, I felt like I could have written forever in English. It was Adderal. It made a tremendous difference. He quickly became an all but one course straight A student. No kidding.

But here's the rest of the story. He didn't like the way her felt when he was coming off the medicine. He felt all pent up and bothered whicih is totally out of character for him. He told the doctor and she told him to take another dose mid to late day and that would carry him to bedtime. Remember, he's in high school so he's speaking for himself.

He didn't want to do it so he stopped taking it completely. He finished high school without taking any medication except when he had to take tests, especially the SATs. His doctor told him he could use it when he wanted and that's what he did.

Now he's in college and decided he needs to take it again. They switched him to Ritalin and he's taking medicine again. Only on school days. Says he can't tell a big difference so he probably needs a little bit of a bigger dose but I'm leaving it up to him.

Here are some things I've learned through the years. When our doctor put my son on his medication, she told him he might not always want to take it. He's very creative. He's our film major. She shared that his mind is quick and able to carry many thoughts at once which is beneficial to a person in a creative field. She offered that he may only want to take it when he needs to learn new information. Interesting, huh?

Oh gosh, I could talk forever on this topic, but I'll take a break.

here's one more thing before I go. I know a young man who turned 18 and said he didn't want to take his medication any more. He'd been taking it since he was six. He no longer takes it and is absolutely fine. Now don't you wonder what his childhood might have been like had he not been medicated?

This is a very complex topic.