We have a soon to be 12-year-old child with ADD. Not ADHD, there has never been any hyperactivity problem with him. And he has never, ever, ever, EVER been a disciplinary problem.
He had a bit of a difficult time in first grade, but made it through. This really started manifesting itself at age 7, in the second grade. Three weeks into the school year, his teacher called us and asked us to come in for a conference. When we came in, the principal of the school was there as well. Being that we send our kids to a private Christian school, we opened this conference with prayer. So we're not talking about the dreaded public school bureaucracy.
Anyway, his teacher, a saint of a woman, started going over the problems our son had been having in detail. The big thing she said was "he's not with me." In short, he was on his own private planet with his own private area code and zip code. He was completely and totally unable to focus in class or stay on task. He would literally, and I mean LITERALLY, get distracted by a fly on the wall. If he heard a siren or something, he'd get up out of his desk and run to the window to see what it was.
His principal related something as well, having sat in as a substitute teacher once in my son's class. He gave the class a phonics test and he said he saw that my son was off in the ozone, it was obvious from the look on his face. And when my son turned in the paper, it was so wrong that it was almost like a dyslexic had done it. The principal, instead of giving my son an F, gave him the test again, and my son stayed focused this time and made 100 on it.
Anyway, at this meeting, my son's teacher read off something with, I think, the 13 signs of ADD. Our son was 13 for 13. There was no pressure put on us to put our child on meds or anything, the teacher and principal said they were just giving us this information because they thought we needed to know it and that they would support us and work with us whatever we decided to do with the info.
After much prayer and discussion ... including discussion with a friend at church who had a son with ADHD who was on Ritalin during his school career, and as an aside there must not be a complete ban on people with that on their medical history being in the military because this fellow, who's in his 20s now, is currently serving in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in Japan, and is crew chief on a fighter plane and is about to make sergeant ... we decided to consult a doctor who specializes in these things. Our son was assessed by this doctor and diagnosed as having ADD, and was put on Ritalin. We were one of those who said we'd die and go to Sheol before we ever put a child of ours on Ritalin, but we decided to go with it. And the difference in our child was immediate and dramatic. Within a week ... the doctor said we'd see results quickly ... our son's teacher was saying "he's with me" and saying that it was like night and day.
Our son has been on meds since then. We took him off Ritalin a few years ago because it was producing facial tics, and he now takes a drug called Strattera. It's a non-schedule drug, you can get 90-day supplies and multiple refills on it. He takes the smallest possible dose for his weight. It's not really as strong as Ritalin, he's liable to have more occasional "zoned out" moments on Strattera, but we are pleased with how he is on this med. We are hoping at some point to wean him off meds and see what happens. We're not quite there yet, but I think it's going to happen.
Basically, my point in posting this every time there's a Ritalin or ADD thread on here is to let people know that you shouldn't make blanket judgments on things unless you've walked in people's shoes. I do think it's probably overdiagnosed. I think there are probably parents out there who put their children on meds simply because they don't want to be bothered by them. I find that reprehensible. But there are legitimate cases where a kid has a problem and meds help. I know. They've helped our son. And we don't regret going that route. He's turned out to be a normal kid in pretty much every way. He's active in church, he's not really an athlete but is into music, has taught himself to play piano and guitar by ear and plays the clarinet in the school band, is very interested in history and geography and science, still struggles a bit in math. And he's never given us one bit of behavioral problems that we couldn't handle. If I had to give 100 reasons why we put our son on meds, behavioral problems and discipline problems would probably be No. 1000 on the list because they're non-existent. He simply was unable to focus on any classroom task at hand. The meds have helped him there and we're hoping and praying that maturity will eventually make them unnecessary.
He simply was unable to focus on any classroom task at hand. The meds have helped him there and we're hoping and praying that maturity will eventually make them unnecessary.I'm so glad to hear these stories. I grew up in a time when ADHD was not so well understood, and school was a big struggle. Like your son I never expressed hyperactivity, but I was very impulsive and distractable.
Fortunately in about 60% of the cases the symptoms go away as children approach adulthood. Unfortunately if the symptoms perisist into adulthood, it's a lifetime condition. Fortunately, we live in a time where there are very good treatments for ADHD. I'm interested in knowing more about how Strattera is working for your son, almost everyone I speak to about Strattera seems to believe that it is a very promising drug.