meds

Do you mean medications recommended by a medical professional to treat a diagnosed condition such as ADHD and ADD?

Should be 100% up to the kid.

My shita would be to make the decision based on the advice of the kid’s doctors, teachers, and other professionals who know him/her and not on a poll taken in the CR.

A nes galui – I agree with Joseph. Some schools have developed a strategy for dealing with “difficult” children – send them for a Ritalin prescription and keep them quiet that way. Sure, there are a few kids who would find medical benefits from meds, but they’re being prescribed because, in some cases, the school insists on it for disciplinary reasons, and sometimes because parents are having trouble coping with a “difficult” child. The first choice for helping a child should always be a behavioral and psychological evaluation and counseling. Meds should only be a last resort. What if all the kid needs is a gym class to burn off extra energy? Or he has a vision or hearing problem that hasn’t been diagnosed? The meds won’t help, and will keep the real problem from being addressed. Only if a child is depressed, and in danger of self-hurt, would it be advisable, and then only short-term.

Don’t ever, ever start your kid on meds without a thorough non-medical workup, and ALWAYS get a second opinion. We worry about what marijuana does to a developing brain, and feel fine exposing our kids to heavy-duty stuff like Ritalin.

Yes, a child with severe ADHD can get medication and be helped, but too many kids who are just “outside the box” are getting dosed with powerful medications just to make them easier to handle for the school/parents. Giving Ritalin to a child who doesn’t need it is also creating a risk for addiction and depression. Most “difficult” children will benefit from behavioral methods, but those cost effort and money. It’s cheaper and quicker just to give the kid a pill.

Midwest2-the schools are trying to get the kids dosed on riitalin for their behavior but doctors arent usually that stupid. They have diagnistic criteria. I do agree that many parents and schools are the ones putting the kids into situations were they display adhd type behaviors but they dont get mess from honest and *real* doctors wothout meeting criteria. Also, ritalin is speed. When a kid with adhd takes it, it helps him focus. If the kid doesnt have adhd the ritalin is not going to improve his behavior or focus. So one day on the sruff will probabaly be convincing. If it worked, than it probably wasnt wrong. Dont know if that makes sense, typing on my phone is annoying and the format makes it too hard to proof read.

Also, i know of one person whos life was made worse by the meds, and a huge number of kids whos lives were made worse by parents who refused to get them for them.

Huh?

To help them manage, not focus. To make them alert when they are exhausted, to make them wired so they have the energy to maintain their focus when their reserves are depleted. Thats not the same thing as giving someone with a limited attention span the ability to focus.

No. Wired isnt relevant to school children. Taking stimulants instead of sleeping adequately isnt relevant to school children. Do you understand the difference between wired and alert or well rested?

Are you having a two-way conversation?

Yes, some schools push meds too often. But many do not. And some kids thrive on them, where they were failing and thinking they were a failure without them. Imagine being a first grader who cannot function like your peers. You feel completely lost! But with a bit of extra attention in the classroom and a bit of medicinal help, you suddenly find that you aren’t a failure, you do belong.

My kids yeshiva didn’t push meds. But we tried everything, tefillos, tsedaka, small classes, therapies and he was still lost. Sometimes we are to fast to perscribe, but on the flip side, sometimes we are too hesitant to give our kids the help they need. We would never ask a kid to make do without a wheelchair or heart medicine. If you have explored all options, yeshivas, special Ed, etc. If you have met with all the rabbeim and Morah, the hanhalla and experts in chinuch, don’t feel guilty for giving them what they need.