How effective are ADHD meds?

I have never had 10 students on meds! We hardly have any students on meds at my school, so much for the myth that we lazy educators try to get parents of every child who is a behavior problem on meds to make our job easier (god forbid that anyone’s job might become easier, then they wouldn’t be earning their money!). You can tell this is a hot issue for me. I have seen too many youth who had, diagnosed and suspected, ADHD in a moderate to severe form. Sadly, ADHD frequently causes social problems that interfere with the child learning and forming appropriate social skills and relationships. In short, the other children frequently don’t like the ADHD child because their impulsiveness is really hard to take in anything more than small doses. The ADHD child (even with positive behavioral supports) is frequently corrected (rewarded, too, but you still have to correct) and over time their self-image plummets (they are corrected more than others, they often have few friends, and they are perptually disorganized). They are at a much greater risk of experimenting with alcohol and drugs than the non-ADHD population (many of these folks were never medicated and this represents an attempt to self-medicate) and various other problems. They cannot be taught to control their impulsivity when their brain chemistry is failing them, sorry, good programs help a little while they are in place from moment to moment.

So, I have seen children completely turned around on medication. Children who whalloped their peers several times per day before, become able to manage their impulses and make friends (hooray!). Certainly, this spills into the classroom and the child is able to learn more. Yes, the change has been positive and lasting. As the child gets bigger the dosage is usually gradually increased.

It is, however, imperative to get the right medication. The wrong medication can make matters worse. There are many medications and there are probably upto 6 subtypes of ADHD, this is where things have gone awry in some cases.

What a good question but the truth is, as a teacher, I don’t know who is or is not on meds. I don’t get to see the before and after picture all the time by any means.

I did see a remarkable difference in my own son when he took medication. He was certainly helped. I have seem remarkable differences in a few students who went on medication while I was one of their teachers.

I see a fair number of kids who might be helped by it but don’t find their way to a trial. My school does not like to suggest to parents that a child has issues with attention so rarely are parents in my school told anything that would lead them to consider medication.

Hi There PGD,

You sound like a parent struggling to make a decision about whether or not to try medication for your child. If so, please remember this:

ADD/ADHD is not a moral failure on the part of parents or children. It is, however, a real difference that can have a huge impact on the child at home, at school and everywhere else.

Your decision should be made in consultation with your child’s professionals. Medication trials are not written in stone. The only way you will know if medication is “right” for your child is with a trial that allows for adjusting the kind of medication, the amount, and the frequency with which it is taken.

The decision to use medication, and to continue or not is YOURS to make. I suggest you ignore those who attempt to shock you with horror stories. These folks usually have a different agenda than yours, and it can start with an attempt to get you communicate with them off line. Be cautious. JJ

This is good advice. People tend to have very strong feelings on this subject, and most I have encountered are well-intentioned, but there are those whose main interest is in selling you something by preying on the natural concerns of any parent. If you are trying to decide on medication, you should bear in mind that the least reliable of all information is anecdotal information. In other words, the fact that my son has been helped by medication is not proof that your child will be. The fact that someone else’s child experienced terrible side effects does not mean that the same would happen to your child. Different people react in different ways to medications. Sometimes one medication will be a disaster but another one will work well, even though both are stimulants (the first line treatment). You can (and should) consult with medical professionals you trust about the risks and benefits. You also should do your own research, looking for double blind studies that use an adequate sample size. That is the most reliable source of information. Be wary of “experts” who don’t offer this kind of information to back up their conclusions. I think you will find that the reliable research to date supports the conclusion that stimulant medications are generally effective in the short-term (more so if combined with behavioral modification and counseling) and that side effects are generally mild, mainly appetite supression, some sleep difficulties and rebound when they wear off. There used to be a concern that stimulants might cause tics, but the latest research shows that stimulants can be safely used even with children who have tic disorders. What you will not find is much information on long-term use of stimulants and other ADHD medications. I think the longest study was for 14 months. So, if you are considering medication, you should know that there are still open questions about whether long-term use continues to be effective and whether there are any health risks to using medications over a long period of time. You also should know that not every person with ADHD must be treated with medication. Sometimes behavioral modification, combined with the right school environment, is sufficient to treat the problem. Remember that if you don’t like how the medication makes your child feel, or if you are otherwise uncomfortable about it, you can always stop giving it.

Andrea

Hello,
My husband and I are both Special Education teachers in Ga. We both have had students in our classroom who have ADHD. For students who truely have ADHD most are benifited by being on medication. There do seem to be different side effects and each child reacts differently to different medication. We will say that from our experience, the positive outweights the negitive. Medications and their doses will not be the same through out a persons life. While the body grows, medication will have to be adjusted. We could not imagine some of our students without medication.
Usually when a child is suspected of having ADHD the parent takes the child to the family doctor. The family doctor should have the teacher and the parent do a behavior evaluation concentrating on ability to attend a task. The doctor should also do a physical evaluation. Then the doctor will use all the information to decide if and what kind of medication should be used.
Please do not just take the word of the teacher or doctor without some kind of evaluation being done. Parents who have children with ADHD would be good sources of information. Another source we have fould helpful is the book:
Learning Disabilities “Eighth Edition” by Janet Lerner. Chapter 7 goes into more detail about medication.

As a parent of a young girl who was having problems in school, I followed the advise of the school and had my child tested. The test results indicated that she had AD/HD. I did everything the Dr. told me to. I cut down on red meat, took away the sodas, limited sugar intake, and put her on Ritalin. After 18 months of being on medication I saw no significant rise in her test scores and little if any change in her behavior. I also began hearing negative things about the Ritalin by other students who were on the medication and the media.

I decided to take her off the medication. Her grades had not dropped and the teacher (not knowing I had taken her off the medication) has not complained of her behavior. I have changed some of the things that we do at home. We spend a lot of time on organization, and spend short sessions on homework and studying. I have gotten her involved in several sports activities and make sure that on a regular basis she gets plenty of excercise and rest. It takes a lot of time and effort but slowly we are making gains in organization, responsibility and she is not as socially acward as she use to be.

These are some cites with information about AD/HD medications and other helpful information.

192 children diagnosed with ADHD at the Canadian clinic, 98 had been placed on stimulant drugs, mostly methylphenidate. Psychotic symptoms developed in more than 9% of the children treated with methylphenidate. http://www.breggin.com/ritalinconfirmingthehazards.ht

Peter R. Breggin M.D. Testimony September 29, 2000
Before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Committee on Education and the Workforce U.S. House of Representatives http://www.breggin.com/congress.htmlml

Lawence H Dillar, M.D. gives helpful tips for teachers and parents at his website http://www.docdiller.com/html/help/teachers.htm

Because the 90s was the decade of “The Brain”, much research is now available regarding ADHD and the brain. It has even been shown through MRIs that there are different types of ADHD as shown through brain images. Researchers also believe that different medications and behavioral management are needed for the different types and needs of children with ADHD.
You can find vast amounts of information from CHADD a website for parents and children with ADD. And just typing in Attention Deficit in a search engine will give you many resources for you to read and to share with a good pediatrician or child neurologist.
And, yes, I do believe that medication is an asset for a child or an adult with ADHD. I always looked at it as this: If my child had diabetes, cancer, or any life threatening disease, I would seek medication. A child or adult with ADHD has a life threatening problem, too. They will have a difficult time reaching their true potential if unable to store and retrieve needed information in their brain.
I was once told if a child was truly ADD/ADHD, a medication would demonstrate positive effect within 30 minutes of ingestion.

I believe the medicine that is given to students with ADHD are not needed as much as some doctors prescribe it. Some doctors prescribe the medicine because a parent might want his child to be on it before assessing the child. The medicine might help 4 out of 10 children. We as professionals need to come up with better modifications on identifying ADHD and not use it for an excuse that a child has a short attention span and can not be still for a long period of time. The child could be board and need something else to occupy his time.

I am currently working on my degree in learning and intellectual disabilities and have learned a lot about ADHD. For a part time job I worked at a day care that had children who were ADHD and took medicine for this. At first the medicine seemed to help the child cope and perform better. However in looking over the full year I was around the child taking the medication I saw a big difference. The child began to act the same way before the medication was given to her and other side effects began to take place such as sleepiness and irritability. So her parents ended up taking her off the medicine. In the end the child just needed a little extra help instead of the medicine. So as a future teacher I do not believe that the medications are as effective as they should be, and I guessing it actually helps 4-5 out of 10 of the ADHD children. As stated earlier many times the medication either causes other side effects or does not even actually help the child. My opinion is that other modifications can be done to help these ADHD children instead of medicine. We need to do what we can to help these children cope without relying on this medication to help them.

Even if meds are effective, they are not a “magic pill” which will take away all of the child’s problems! (Assuming the child has been carefully diagnosed and is matched with the proper med, it certainly can be helpful, however!) Good, creative, well informed teachers can and do make all the difference in the world!

“The ADD/ADHD Checklist, An Easy Reference for Parents and Teachers ” by Sandra Rief is an EXCELLENT book. It has many practical ideas that will help ALL children, not just ADHD kids, in school.

I would have to say, based on my observations in the classroom, that at least 7 out of 10 students are truly helped
through the use of medication. For the past three years I have had the oportunity to teach at a school that has a high rate of ADHD students. Some are served through special education and others are not. I had one student that was placed on medication after being placed in special education and in a years time he was on grade level. His self-esteem, however, had been damaged. I have seen the difference that medication can make in a childs school success. I had many students that had to come to me for homeroom or until the medicine took affect.Once the medicine took affect they could go to their regular classroom and participate in an appropriate mannerand they were learning. Every once in a while they would run out of medication and their entire lives and the lives of the people around them would be turned up side down. However, I do believe that a thourough evaluation should be made through collaboration with doctors, parents, and schools, after all other interventions have been used with out success.

The process of treating adhd that seems most successful is multimodal. Just using meds alone won’t always help, teacher accommodations or sped ed alone won’t always help, counseling alone won’t always help. My son started taking meds in 1st grade, but wasn’t reading until end of 2nd (really long story, 3 schools and 9 teachers by 4th grade) finally qualified for sped in 4th after second time evaluated. He would not be as successful without caring responsive teachers and they would not have been able to reach him without his being on meds(we tried before). As far as counseling, we had to use it in 3rd grade when his self esteem hit bottom. He just finished 6th, and since being monitored by sped teachers, he has been very successful in reg classes.All kids are different, meds will react with each differently. Meds and education can’t be one size fits all because we are all individuals. I do hope that more teachers are learning about adhd, and other learning differences. It will be wonderful if parents are be able to send their kids to school with the confidence that their child will be taught in the ways they learn best, be it auditory visual or kinesthetic.Or all three maybe? Some adhd kids are hard enough to parent without riding the emotional education roller coaster too, just to get our kids help in school.

Depends on what you mean by ‘really helped’. The medication will decrease impulsivity and disinhibition of behavior which might improve classroom behavior and productivity and the quality of life of the student with ADHD, however, the medication (by itself) doesn’t improve academic skill levels or attitudes or motivation to complete school work.

I am a 14-year-old in the 8th grade & I take Ritalin 3 times a day. Before I started meds I was extremely inattentive, disruptive to the class, and I was always making careless mistakes. Mostly I was a B/C student who didn’t even study much less do my work. I recieved an incomplete for my math report card grade @ the end of my 6th grade year. Now that I take meds I am a straight A student and I LOVE all of my subjects and school in general. I wake up smiling and happy to go to school b/c I know I’ll do well. I usually get 100’s on my tests i.e. latin and my classmates see it and tell me how much they hate me! I realize that taking meds has been the major thing that allowed this to happen but it is also b/c my teachers strive not to lecture all the time & they use various teaching styles. In science we do experiments and labs, we visit islands overnight & do hands on activities there to learn about saving the bay, we go to rivers and collect water samples, etc. In latin we have chariot races, plays in amphitheaters, & Latin competiton days against other private schools. In spanish we play games, perform hilarious skits, & play simon says to learn vocab. In history we dress up and perform skits about events in history, have simulations where we invest in the stock market & are unware when the stock market will crash and the Great Depression will begin. It feels as if I am reliving history & when it crashes I’m heartbroken. My classes have around 15 peeps each & everyone knows those who have ADD or LD & don’t care its a very supportive and stimulating enviroment. I go to the nurse each day & my teachers all know & when I come back late they don’t make a scene & my friends don’t ask where I was. To improve my concentration I sit up front, ask to go somewhere quite if peeps are too loud, ask for extra test time, etc. Meds are definetly a key factor in the success of my life my academic talents are no longer latent.