I have many thoughts on this. Every member of my family (3 generations) has some degree of ADD/ ADHD. Most of us are unmedicated. I refused to medicate my daughter for several years, and she has done amazing on it. My son is quite bright and the distractions don’t take away from his learning, so he is unmedicated. As far as I’m concerned, parents need to learn all the risks, growth issues, dependence, sleep problems, etc.
That being said, a lot is wrong with the learning system. One instructor I know makes his boys run 2-3 laps every day before a lesson. It takes away a lot of energy and helps with focus. Kids aren’t meant to sit for 8 hours reading. The human body is made for movement. Look back a few hundred years. How many people had the “luxury” of sitting? No, they farmed, they built, they raised cattle. They moved!
And children now, whether because of the school system or just genetics, aren’t all built to sit and learn. Some need to fidget, to sit on a ball instead of a chair, wear a sensory vest, etc. But we live in a world where a teacher can’t focus on meeting everyone’s needs, and so it seems like medicating then into normalcy is the only way to solve their differences. And I find that with many special needs children, it is easier to make an excuse or hand a child a pill than it is to adapt to their learning style. My friend has a daughter like this. Severe ADD and sensory issues. They chose to pull her from the school system and mom would home-school. The child is 13 and has completed high school, full scholarships for college. Because instead of forcing her into normalcy, they used her unique abilities to foster greater learning. Now this isn’t the case for most people, but it’s important to not run to a pill to solve life’s problems.