Handling of ADHD students criticised

Maybe the drugs really weren't needed in the first place. As seen in this story from Australia

Schools could be failing students suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder by treating them as backward, when a focus on their academic and social needs could wean them off their dependence on medication.

Sufferers of ADHD - the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder among school-aged children in Australia - say teachers were often "quite condescending", treating them like toddlers or primary school students requiring remedial education.

The first study of its kind in Australia, which is to be included in Brenton Prosser's new book Seeing Red, found those students receiving traditional treatments deal with the disorder through school and adult life by relying purely on medication.

"They talked about how they feel the stigma of the label from the media, and that while they need support from school they also don't want to be labelled, in their words, as 'psycho'," said Dr Prosser, a lecturer on ADHD in schools at the University of South Australia.

"The problem is that it's not that young people with ADHD don't understand school-work, it's that schools don't understand how the students work."

The treatment of ADHD with dexamphetamines such as Ritalin has soared in recent years, with about 80,000 young people diagnosed with the disorder.

Dr Prosser said traditional teaching strategies such as remedial intervention were not viewed as successful in engaging ADHD students or supporting their learning needs, and could often lead to resistance.

He said this neglect of students' academic and social needs during primary school years often resulted in significant difficulties emerging in the middle years of school.

Schools and teachers could reduce the pressure on young ADHD sufferers by ensuring, for example, that students with hyperactivity problems did not sit tests after recess or lunch-break, when they have been out in the schoolyard.

Students who had only received medication in primary school also struggled when they came up against the greater social and academic demands of secondary school.

"It's about saying pills don't give you skills," Dr Prosser said.

"Those students who didn't have support, who had only medication, tended to say they had significant problems with ADHD and they were still grappling with adult ADHD and felt they strongly needed the medication to survive through schooling and get through life."

By contrast, students who had received support told Dr Prosser about "growing out of ADHD".