ADD Student

Archive for August, 2007

Yes and no. Yes, medication is supposed to change your child, in terms of behavior and ADD symptoms. It should make the symptoms less obvious and easier to manage.

The fear most parents have in regards to medication, though, is that it will turn their child into a zombie. Nothing could be farther from the truth, provided:

• It is the proper medication for your child, and is given in the correct dosage. Note: when a child first begins taking ADD medication, there is a trial period – finding the proper medication and the proper dose. Some meds do cause extreme drowsiness or sluggishness, but usually wear off in a few weeks. Your doctor can tell you if that is a side effect of what he is prescribing.
• The child is not abusing the medication.
• The child actually has Attention Deficit Disorder.

As long as the doctor prescribing the ADD medication is someone who is trustworthy and well informed about Attention Deficit Disorder, you needn’t worry. You always have the option of changing the medication or taking your child off of it. Don’t forget, too, that the longest that any ADD medication lasts is about 12 hours; they don’t remain in the body or build up.

What you are most likely to notice when your child first starts taking the medication is absolutely nothing, because generally the initial doses are too low to be effective. As you begin to approach the correct dosage, you will start to see a very subtle change in behavior – for the good – and that’s the point.

Medication for Attention Deficit Disorder is probably one of the scariest topics there is for parents. It’s a hard decision to make and one that parents really agonize over. Medication will be covered in depth in another topic, but for now, here are some guidelines about ADD medications:

• Medication has been proven to be the single most effective treatment for Attention Deficit Disorder.
• Finding the proper medication and the proper dosage level takes time, but is ultimately worth it.
• Medication, in the correct dosage, will not turn your child into a zombie.
• Side effects, like sleeplessness and loss of appetite, will go away in a few days.
• Put your child on the longest lasting dosage you can, usually 8-12 hours. This eliminates having to take medication in the middle of the school day, and helps keep your child’s privacy intact.

This is one of the things that can really confuse people about Attention Deficit Disorder. Your child can get so wrapped up in something – like a video game or a book – that they totally tune out the world around them. This is called hyper-focus, and is actually a symptom of ADD.

Parents think that if their child can maintain focus on some things (like that video game or book) then they can focus equally well on others (like school work). And, the thinking goes, if the child can focus on anything at all, then he must not have Attention Deficit Disorder.

Here’s the error in that line of thinking: the ability or inability to focus on something isn’t quite the issue here. More to the point is the amount of control that a person has on whether or not to pay attention. This is at the heart of ADD. There is rarely a conscious effort made on whether or not to focus or pay attention; it just happens. If ADDers could control their attention, they wouldn’t have ADD.

Slipping into that book or game or slipping away from class is not something that was planned and decided on; it just happens. Really.