I agree that medication is not the place to start treatment. My son was diagnosed ADD inattentive type by two different professionals when he was eight and nine. We were very opposed to meds and tried all kinds of alternatives, including natural remedies, vitamins, cranial sacral therapy, and behavioral techniques. NOTHING made a difference, and we ultimately went to stimulant medication last Spring, two and a half years after the first diagnosis. He is on a very low dosage, but it has made a great difference.
I want to emphasize that my son is homeschooled- if he had been in a traditional school, he probably would have had the teachers trying to slip him some ritalin from grade one! I can remember touring his Montessori preschool when he was three and wondering how in the world they'd ever get him to sit still for circle time. He wasn't aggressively hyper, but he was always twitching and fidgeting. He was very easily distracted and got in trouble for wandering around the room and "helping' other kids with their work instead of focusing on his own. Homeschooling allows a lot fo flexibility to deal with attention issues, but I was exhausted from constantly trying to redirect.
DD was diagnosed at six with ADHD and she is clearly hyperactive. But we have not felt a need to medicate her as yet, though I can see that we might go that way later.
I have heard of kids using these meds for performance enhancement, which is totally illegal and immoral.
