Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Giving Ritalin A Go

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.

This, this, a thousand times this. My son's school experiences were incredibly eye-opening in helping me realize the extent to which we had subconsciously structured our interpersonal interaction style and home environment to accommodate his disabilities.

I know the concerns some have expressed about why she struggled on school work. I have a DS9 who has been accelerated 2 grade levels in Math and Music. He struggled through 1 and 2nd grade math before the advancement. His struggle was from boredom. Now that I think about it, I experienced the same thing back in grade school till I was placed in a TAG program.

But DD6.5 could do any skill, but lacked the focus to be able to complete longer assignments, pay attention in class, focus during activities without wandering. In other settings it was the same. She intuitively learned to read music. But couldn't sit through a 20 minute lesson (or 5 minutes) without wandering off. Swim lessons were a nightmare!

It took us a long time to wrap our minds around the Duel Diagnosis. How could our kid be so bright, read at age 4, pick up any math skill instantly, make art like Picasso, and still need assistance from an aid in the room? And I know her Imagination-Overexcitablity really feeds into her distractability. But if this medication helps her deal with her ADD symptoms without hindering her wonderful giftings then we are going to give it a chance for HER. I want her to be able to keep up with her peers. And her spaciness was beginning to hold her back.

We have a game plan. That is to keep the dose as low as possible and to keep using strategies from 'Smart But Scattered' to improve her executive skills. We hope to get her off the medication down the road once she has developed coping methods to be successful. We are also monitoring her for the common side effects (reduced appetite, nightmares, insomnia, etc) and seeing her doctor weekly. Not to mention that we are getting her a total evaluation from the Belin-Blank Center in Iowa City in three weeks. This wasn't an easy decision, or one we rushed into. The school didn't push us into this. Nor did a doctor make a rush to judgement. This decision was a long, labored one by all involved.

MOST OF ALL, we are watching her creative output. She has always been such a gifted artist and builder. If those activities were diminished (as an artist myself) I would stop this little experiment immediately! We will do whatever it takes to help her succeed. I believe I am raising a future Leonardo di Vinci. We hope this will help her succeed.

There is an editorial in today's New York Times about how ADD medications have never been shown to provide any long-term educational benefit to children. It also talks about the many side effects. Food for thought!

One of my sons (age 9) is extremely creative (I'd call him HC+ if there was such a designation), and suffered from some of the same things you've described about your daughter at the same age, at school and elsewhere. He could never pass a swim test and would spend the whole swimming lesson bouncing around.

It seemed to be going the same way last summer. They put him in a Level 2 class initially (translation: "We're pretty sure you can get into the pool by yourself, but we'll work on that skill over the next two weeks.") By the end 8 weeks of lessons, he had passed Level 5 (end of level test: do a racing dive into the deep end followed by five laps of four different strokes, including back crawl and butterfly). He had taught himself how to do the racing dive the summer before and could swim to the bottom of a nine-foot pool when he was seven. But he just wouldn't pay attention during lessons until last summer.

As he's matured a bit, he's become much better at this sort of thing. He still has a way to go, but we've seen a lot of progress. It can be frustrating and difficult, but I think that with him, at least, he needs time for the right circuits to form in his CNS.

The article has some elements of fear-mongering, or at least provocative and not that well substantiated opinion.

It is not clear from his description what long-term benefits they were looking for in the study. Is "behavior" (which?) improved in 20-year-olds as opposed to 10-year-olds? One hopes so, he says it was not, we have no idea what was measured. What does he mean by "behavior problems" that didn't improve over a 10-year period? Against what baseline(s) were these problems assessed?

He thinks "the illusion that children�s behavior problems can be cured with drugs prevents us as a society from seeking the more complex solutions that will be necessary." And he says that "Drugs get everyone � politicians, scientists, teachers and parents � off the hook." I don't think very many people actually advocate using meds as the only treatment option for ADHD. In the short term, meds can help a person access the other treatment that's being offered, and gain enough impulse control to practice the skills that are being taught. That's a short-term gain, but one with longer-term implications for both functioning and self-esteem. The author doesn't address any of the subtleties around how and why these drugs are used.

The question of whether deficits are inborn or not, highlighted in the second page of the article, is interesting, but the author appears to be rather eager to blame parents (and the environment parents provide) for their children's disabilities. Environment plays a huge role, I'm sure, but I don't think we have enough science yet to say that most cases of ADHD should be blamed on causes in the family home. (I imagine the highly nurturing parents here whose kids have attention issues may have something to say on this subject.)

I'm not saying that everyone needs meds, nor that all meds are safe, only that the use of carefully prescribed meds to improve the lives of people who genuinely benefit from them should not be unjustly stigmatized.

DeeDee

We have to keep in mind how much intensity and effort a gifted parent can pour into keeping a child functional when in truth the child has fallen well behind agemates. Not to mention how much energy, intensity and effort the child is pouring into holding it all together. This is a very difficult situation.



I can't get quoting working on my phone... But I may need tonprint and frame that.

The quote you made says, He thinks "the illusion that children’s behavior problems can be cured with drugs prevents us as a society from seeking the more complex solutions that will be necessary".   

That's the thing right there.  "us as a society" is not going to change the way it's running things just for one little child right now at this moment.  Trust me I worry about this.  As a mom I do constantly re-direct, reframe, rephrase, generally work on getting the behavior I want to see out of my kid.  I don't trust that teachers will want to put in that same effort.  My kid's just loud and opinionated and has "a high sense of entitlement".   I resent that other people's "not perfect" is ok, but mine might not be.  I worry.
I want for him to be able to go to school.  I feel like the world has more to offer him than just I do.  I like what aculady posted in a recent thread re:learning styles.  "a noticeable area of strength is a  learning style.   a noticeable weak area is a learning disability".  I want my kid to be able to go to school as long as they have something to offer him.  I don't want him to not be able to go to school because he is unable to participate.  The disparity between that quote above and reality is the difference between just wishing what all of society would do and deciding what you as a parent will do for your child in the circumstances you're given.  I don't think my kid has ADD, but if I thought so I would choose like Art dad to seek out respectable professionals to help find a way to relieve unnecessary suffering.  I'm pretty all natural, I had natural water births for my kids, cook most meals from scratch.  When my kids have seasonal allergies they get children's Claritin.  Why not relieve unnecessary suffering?  


About ADD. From what I've read it's called "the medicine merry go round" because it takes several tries to get the right prescription and dosage because we're all unique, but the results are worth the effort.  I know someone who's kid took Ridlin  through school.   They said it wasn't a cure-all, but what it did was allow him to tell his kid honestly, "the Ridlin is treating the ADD part of your brain, now you are responsible for your behavior and will be held accountable".  

Ps, lol. I told my dad I read about ADD inatentive type and I think maybe that's what I've got because I can't seem to focus. He said, nope, you just have a four year old and a toddler. Your brain went on vacation. Wouldn't you?

It seems to me that some children feel more comfortable inside their own skin with Stimulant medication than without. As a parent that's what I'm looking for. Having great big ideas and not enough power to explore them is a particular pain. Looking at agepeers and concluding that one just isn't that smart actually can have long reaching negative effects.

My other insight is that similarly to how gifted children seem normal to gifted parents because the apple didn't fall far from the family tree.....2e kids seem normal to 2e parents...but that doesn't mean that they aren't 2e.

I was wondering - Art Guy - what kind of responses you were hoping to get from your original post.

I'm wishing that people didn't want to turn this thread into a political discussion of the wider implications of ADHD in America, but I realized that I'm not you, and this might be exactly what you were looking for.

On rereading, I'm thinking that you might be looking for me to say: 'Wow, good job in going that extra parenting mile. BB sounds exciting. I hope you find the medication that opens doors for your DD right off the bat. One never has all the answers one needs to make these important decisions, but it sounds like you are doing everything in a good way - that's the nature of parenting, one has to jump in a try.'

Which is how I feel.
Smiles,
Grinity