Ritalin
Moms View Message Board: Parenting Children with Special Needs: Ritalin
I have a cousin that has been on Ritalin since the begining of the school year. My concern is that I was told that he should be in counseling while he is on it. I was also told that he should not be taken of it without his doctors knowledge. His parents don't always make sure that he takes it, let him go 2 days without because they were going to take him off it for the summer. He does not attend therapy & he would benefit from it. Do I have reason to be concerned or have I been misinformed? This has already caused major problems in the family because not everyone thinks he has ADHD.
My dd is on adderral which is very similar to ritlin. She does go to counseling, but did this prior to her dx. What her counselor told me was the only real way to help add is through meds and then with behavior modification. This doesn't have to be formal, just consistant setting of expectations and follow through. As for taking it daily, depends who you talk to. It is like cough syrup, it is in and out of your body in a matter of hours, could be 4 or8 depending on the exact type. So I do skip an occasional day, it isn't a big deal. I do notice differences, she melts down a bit more, doesn't stay as focused, etc. So my answer is don't be concerned, they are doing what they feel is best for them and their child.
I think you've been misinformed. Ritalin is a stimulant and is quick in, quick out of the body. There's no need to gradually get on or off of it. My son only takes it on school days.
I think the deal with counseling is people will say that medication is not the cure-all it's made out to be and besides adding medication to control ADHD symptoms, you must also do other stuff, like behavior modification or restrict sugar and red dye or whatever. Most kids on stimulant medication are not in counseling.
Often ADHD doesn't travel alone and the child has emotional problems, depression that would might benefit from counseling. But, if you ask an experienced group of moms if counseling made any sort of difference in their child's life, they would say No, medication made the biggest difference.
I was pretty sure that was the case, because I can't see them doing anything to hurt him. I was asking on behalf of another family member.
Yeah, it's hard being outside the immediate family looking in bec I don't think you get an accurate idea of what all is going on.
My son exhibits ADHD symptoms in a classroom setting only. He's fine at home, alittle loud, but totally reasonable and managable. I get some grief (that I ignore) from family members who don't believe ADHD exists or that my son needs meds. I've done blind studies with the teachers and it's night and day for my son. He is not teachable without his meds and his school requires he be medicated by contract. ADHD is a neurological problem that is helped by medication and that's that, they say.
On the other hand, people will say their child is ADHD when really they have a lot worse problems to deal with, like bi-polar, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder and tragic things like that. ADHD is like the entry-level dx for any child having any behavioral problem. In the case of bipolar, stimulants make the difficult behaviors much worse!
I think ADHD is always going to get a bad rap until the medical profession starts using brain scans as a diagnostic tool. We already know brains of kids with ADHD look different, but it's not cost-effective to brain scan every child who walks into the doctor's office bec the school is complaining about the child's behavior. To teachers who interact with kids as part of their profession, they can tell you which kids would benefit from medication without doing a brain scan. Parents, too. They raised the child and they've known probably since age 1 that their child is different.
I thought that was pretty common. Not giving on weekend or holidays... Some people say they are giving their kids systems a rest from the medications. I think it causes you to lose appetite or makes it hard to sleep....
Mommmie- What do you mean by this? "his school requires he be medicated by contract." My son sounds very much like your son, but I don't understand the contract thing. It should be parent choice whether to use meds or not (BTW- we DO choose to use them- but I know many parents who don't and I find it scary that schools are trying to play dr- at least that's what I interpreted from that comment!)
Oh sorry. I should have mentioned my son is in private school. Not public.
He attends a school for kids with learning differences (ie dyslexia). The kids can also be ADHD, but can't have primary behavior problems. If you go through the lengthy admissions process on medication (including a 3 day visit where they determine if the child can be helped by the program and there are no primary behavior issues), then they have admitted this child based on how he is on medication. So they write it into your contract that the child will be medicated and that if the school thinks a change is necessary then I will take him to the doctor for a med change or adjustment.
This is a hard school to get into, very competitive, and the staff really knows what they are doing, so trust them. If I don't agree with the contract, well, B-Bye.
It is also written into his contract that he attend summer school at the school.
The school firmly believes that if a child is ADHD and LD, then the ADHD must be controlled first with medication in order to teach to the LD.
From RXList.com drug info page about Ritalin:
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/methphen.htm
Under Indications and Dosage:
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/methphen_ids.htm
"Methylphenidate should be periodically discontinued to assess the child's condition. Improvement may be sustained when the drug is either temporarily or permanently discontinued. Drug treatment should not and need not be indefinite and usually may be discontinued after puberty."
From Warnings and Precautions:
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/methphen_wcp.htm
"Drug Dependence: ...Careful supervision is required during drug withdrawal, since severe depression as well as the effects of chronic overactivity can be unmasked. "
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