Things have been going pretty well around the Wildebube household lately, so I haven’t written much, but I have to weigh in on this one. D13 is ADD (not ADHD) and is on Ritalin. She also suffers from Tourett’s, but that’s another story.
I’m very much opposed to drugging kids and heartily agree with the things GGB and Lil have said. I seriously doubt that ANY of you are more averse to drugging kids than I am. I absolutely believe that the vast majority of hyperactive/ADD/ADHD kids are nothing more than victims of bad/lazy parenting and are being drugged into submission because it’s convenient and removes any element of blame from the parents. But having said that, Ritalin has been a miracle drug for D13.
Even in the face of a diagnosis resulting from extensive testing at the Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas, I just couldn’t put her on drugs. I finally wavered when the adult son of a friend talked to me about it. He started Ritalin at age 15 and told me that it was the best thing his parents had ever done for him. He said that for the first time in his life, he was able to do his school work. It was the first time he felt able to control his mind. I was still against it, but I agreed to try it for a short time – with the understanding that I would discontinue it if either I, or D, didn’t feel like it was helping.
She started on it thirteen months ago and she is a changed person. Her grades went from C’s mixed with an occasional B or D, and literally hours and hours of homework, to a pretty even mix of A’s and B’s with homework usually finished by the time I get home from work. She went from being a complete social outcast with zero – ZERO – friends, to being a normal kid.
So while I agree with everything that’s been said, that these “disorders” are way over-diagnosed and the medication is way over-prescribed, I can’t routinely condemn it like I used to do. In D’s case, it’s been life changing.
