I once had a job where I had to set up psychiatrist appointments for the 5% of our students who received the medication monitoring service in their IEPs or MPs. I feel like I've seen it all as far as that goes, from the student whose meds worked so well, none of his teachers realized he had a disability, to the student whose parents took her off the meds at Christmas--and nobody noticed!

For a few kids, it makes them so much calmer and happier, as well as more productive. I did once have a student who had been exposed to crack cocaine in the womb who seemed to have two settings: zombie when he was medicated, and uncontrollable when the meds wore off. But that's one student out of a ten year teaching career, and not the only one with prenatal drug exposure by any means.

At one point, I noticed that about 40% of the students with ADHD diagnoses in their plans had birthdays in the last two months before the kindergarten cutoff date in that district. I believe that immaturity early their school careers gave them a reputation that brought some pressure to find an ADHD diagnosis in some of the cases. I also later discovered that at least one of our students with severe ADHD whose parents were dead set against medication got busted for "self-medicating" with marijuana later in his school career.

I have a couple of adult friends who took Ritalin as kids. One just turned 50, and is a Lieutenant Colonel in the army. Another is a designer for a famous videogame company in his 40s. Both of them still have ADHD. Both of them quit taking Ritalin when they were teenagers, maybe. Both of them learned some kind of coping strategies when they were older, and found careers where they could be successful.

These days, there are many more choices for ADHD medication. The follow up appointments are really important. You can try different medications if there are side effects, or adjust the dosages for any number of reasons.

Yes, students do too many worksheets in school, and not enough problem solving. Yes, the nature of schoolwork probably means that some immature kids, some gifted kids, and a whole bunch of kinesthetic learners are misdiagnosed. But for some kids ADHD medication can make all the difference.

Last edited by Beckee; 01/29/12 12:36 PM.