Letters to the Editor
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Take a walk through my life
My son has ADHD. Yes, he's seven, and yes, he takes medication. Go ahead and call me what you like. But this is the kid who when we forgot his meds was at school not just jumping in puddles but drinking out of them. This is the kid who when he's on his meds is literate, articulate, imaginative, and a joy to be around. Off meds he's a turbo-charged bolt of lightning who couldn't learn to read (or anything else for that matter) for any amount of money in the world. In terms of maturity, he's about two to three years younger than his peers in his behavior when he's off meds. Just try putting a mental four year old in second grade and see how he does. It's not fair to him, his teachers, or his classmates. Lacking the personal funding for both a zookeeper and a full-time tutor, this is what helps him survive in public school. It's not all roses, and it doesn't solve everything. There are side-effects like sleeplessness and appetite suppression which we struggle with every day. But the medication means that he can have friends, he can learn in school, he can play soccer, he can participate in life in a meaningful way.
ADHD is real, no matter how much you'd like to write flippant articles and believe it is not. Maybe ritalin is over-prescribed. Maybe it's not. But articles like yours don't leave any room for real cases.
I have yet to meet a parent of an ADHD child who tried medications lightly, without spending years doing everything else first. Therapy, behavior modification, diet, everything. Exactly how long is it that I should wait, watching my son struggle and fail, because it's only a recreational drug? Get real.