To Drug or Not to Drug, That is the Question
Michelle on Nov 22 2006 at 12:01 am | Filed under: The Personal
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I got another note from the teacher in Younger Son’s agenda yesterday. The note read, “Would not stop talking ALL DAY. Kicked others while they were working. Please schedule a conference as soon as possible.”
Younger son has been diagnosed with ADHD, no ambiguity there. However, with behavioral mods, meaning no fun at home if he acts up in class, his classroom conduct is usually great. In fact, he received a 100 for conduct on his report card. He received a 65 for on-task behavior.
He is falling behind in reading, despite everyone’s best efforts. Older Son is ADD, and it has caused him difficulties in school. I gave him Adderall, aka Amphetamine Sulfate, in 5th grade, and he did great. I couldn’t bear to keep him on it, though, as he was able to pass without it, and his best friend who had been on it for years seemed to have had his growth stunted. Still, I can’t help but wonder if Older Son would be an outstanding student had he been able to pay attention.
I suspect that the recent very bad behavior is related to the drama around here. That is a big wake-up call for me to stop worrying about things like Bikini Skank and step up the nurturing. Still, no amount of nurturing is going to help him to pay attention in class. This is such a young age to fall behind.
I worry about the drugs–stunted growth, the occasional heart problem (!), the whole idea of taking medication in order to function in our system. However, I also worry about kids who fall behind. The kids I work with who have the worst behavior problems are the same kids who are the most behind in school. I want Younger Son to experience success in school, and thus enjoy it somewhat and become positively engaged.
It is a real dilemma. I don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any opinions or experiences they’d like to share?
As a teacher, I experience what it’s like first hand to deal with hyperactive, unfocused children. I would highly recommend medication, a behavior contract, or anything that would help him pay attention in class and succeed. I don’t necessarily believe it has to be medication, but then again mediation is not necessarily the devil. I guess it’s different when as an adult I decide to put myself on anti-d’s, because I’m able to weigh the pros and cons. Kids are kind of at our mercy. There seem to be a lot of choices today, so maybe it wouldn’t have to be a growth-stunting one.
As a mom-to-be, I’m wishing you lots of luck.
I agree with Mary. Kids have to be able to focus and learn, especially if they are in a regular size classroom with one teacher. As you said, you don’t want him to fall behind. That said, there must be lots of research(or experts) who know which medications are the most effective with the fewest side-effects.
my youngest was put on an anti-depressant a year ago due to his severe anxiety which was causing him to miss school. We anguished over this one because of the stigma often associated with any type of “mental” problems. That being said after I talked it over to my mom, she put it all in perspective when she said, “if he was suffering from a bad physical ailment, your first instinct would be to see if there was some type of medicine that would make him better.” She was right and so he’s been on this ever since. We have our son back and for that I’m grateful.
I don’t know if this will help, but I saw it on another blog today and thought of your post that I had read earlier. It’s a pretty encouraging site for parents of kids who are “highly distractible”.
http://sizzlebop.com/index.htm
A lot of teachers “suggested” I do something like that with my son. Perhaps I should have, maybe it is something I should still look into, but it always seems that some want to jump the gun and just get everyone to behave the same.
I like the new place and look by the way!