Stimulants as a means of diagnosis

[Malika]

Just to say in addition on this that... I truly think the decision of whether to give medication or not for ADHD is a really big and difficult one. I think I'm partly just fantasising that some pill or potion is going to take away my son's difficult nature and hyperactivity and make him easy to manage... A tempting vision but probably not a very realistic one. Great for the grown-ups but might not be so great for him.
I suspect that it is going to be school performance that determines this - if he can make it in school without medication, I might never get to the point where I can accept it. Or everything might start going horribly wrong in school because he can't attend properly and the decision will kind of make itself.

 

[sarge]

Here is my perspective as an educator and as an adult with ADHD.

I often tell people "Everybody has ADHD. Some people just have it worse than others."

The first question to ask is whether or not any attentional or hyperactivity problem are causing him actual, material problems at home or at school. He could be bouncing off the walls most of the time, but if he's not breaking things, injuring himself, getting in trouble at school, or failing academically (yes, I know he's 5 but he won't always be) then putting him on medication may have fewer cons than pros.

Next, if any of the above situations do apply, then the next thing to remember is that people's expectations of the medications is often far beyond what they can do in what I'd consider to be a safe and reasonable dose. Ritalin, Adderall, or anything else can not and should not turn the Tasmanian Devil into a perfect student who sits quietly on the floor and listens to an hour long lecture on the use of onomatopoeia and alliteration in "The Itsy Bitys Spider." If it does, then he dosage is way too high.

I always suggest to parents who are considering putting their child on ADHD medication to not tell me when they do. First of all, it's none of my business. But more importantly, not telling me allows for an informal single blind study of sorts. If they put their child on medication, and at the end of the week I call to tell them their child's behavior has improved, then they know it's working.

I hate it when I hear teachers say "Yeah, the parents said they put him on medications, but they are obviously not working. He still goes off task and I have to redirect him!" What they miss is the fact that he's not going off task as much and when they redirect him, he actually goes back on task for a much longer amount of time. Under those circumstances, the medications are working.