Reply to New York Times Magazine article questioning adhd commonplaces (including meds)

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Reply to "New York Times Magazine article questioning adhd commonplaces (including meds)"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I do think that the ADHD medications have been overhyped and overused. There is a lot of pressure placed on kids and parents to the effect that your kid is a problem at school and perhaps at home too and meds provide an easy fix so why won’t you go with the medication? You’re being an irresponsible parent if you don’t medicate your child if they are identified as having ADHD. Now, at least there is evidence that it is not that simple as just taking the medication or not. Also, the medication suppresses not just appetite but physical growth in kids. That is wild to me[/quote]

The increased risk of mania and psychosis is pretty shocking too. [/quote]

+100. We are too cavalier in this country with attaching labels to various behaviors and expecting everything to be fixed by taking a pill. 
Why do kids need to conform to certain expectations? Maybe we need different types of schools to accommodate different types of kids. Why do we have the expectation that if you are not getting As and Bs in school, there is something wrong with you. Maybe you are just wired differently and that is ok. Maybe everyone is not meant to have a desk job where you are sitting in boring meetings all day. Why do we venerate white collar jobs but look down on people who work with their hands? The college for all movement was extremely misguided and forced all kids to be placed in a one size fits all box[/quote]

My son has adhd. He watches engineering videos for fun and tests in 97% in math and reading. His middle school science teachers tell me they learn things from him. But even with medication, he makes b-s in all his classes and is miserable doing homework. Absolutely the environment (school, school work) is a bad fit for him. He learns at school but it's a terrible mismatch for him, and much of his school work doesn't capture his mastery of the material.

But I want him to go to college so he can have a fulfilling job and not be consigned to well-paid but physically taxing, dirty labor that will break down his body by age 60. He doesn't want to be a plumber or an auto mechanic. If he grew up in the 1960s, that would have been his future and the future of the 25% of the boys who were bad at school despite loving to read and being curious, knowledge sponges in ways so many boys who are "good" at school aren't.  Now, the expectation of "college for all" is what keeps the school taking him seriously and not funneling him to vocational ed.
[/quote]

Is your kid involved in a robotics team? If not, please try one.  It's made such a big difference for my kid in just two years.  The First Robotics high school league.  I think there are some community middle school teams in MoCo.  [/quote]

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