Last week someone posted a message asking for information about studies on whether ritalin affects academic performance. Today’s Washington Post reports on a study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh that showed that ritalin could improve academic performance in teenagers diagnosed with ADHD. Forty five teenagers participated in an 8 week summer program. They attended a history class 4 days a week and participated in activities meant to help with note-taking, social skills and problem-solving. Their parents were trained in behavior management techniques as well. Every day the subjects of the study were randomly assigned to receive one of three different doses of ritalin or a placebo. The researchers reported that on the days that they received ritalin, 80% of the subjects improved their note-taking quantity, quiz and work-sheet scores, written language, homework completion and behavior. Two thirds of the students showed the most improvement on the lowest dose (10 mg.). Half of the remaining students improved with 20 mg and a very few improved with 30 mg. Some students taking the 30 mg dose showed a worsening of symptoms. There were no other major side effects. According to the Post, the caveats are that the results need to be verified in a larger groups and the effects of the drug need to be established over a longer period of time. I would add that it is not clear from the newspaper report what was the effect of the parental training in behavioral management techniques or the training in note-taking, problem-solving and socials skills the students received. You can see an abstract of the study at www.apa.org/journals/pha/currentTOC.html, after 6/13.
Andrea