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Morgan McCallister Shaelynn Long-Kish Eng.111.DO2 12/2/2013

Medication in Education ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a very common disease in the school system especially. The medication that is used for this disorder is used to enhance your brain, make you pay attention and make you stay awake. Many studies have been done with this disease to see if the medication affects learning and the childs ability in the classroom. Opinions of Medications There is a lot of controversy about children taking prescription medication for ADHD in the school system. Some people say it is a good thing and some people think it is horrible. I personally think that it is a great thing if the child actually needs it. I actually think a lot of kids are misdiagnosed or just need to wait a little longer to be on the medication. I always also wonder if the child is actually taking the medication or if the parent just wants the child to be on the medication so that the parent can take it. I think that the medication is a little bit abused. I think that it really does help children learn better if they have ADHD to be on some sort of prescription medication. Medication in the School Setting There have been many studies on medication in the school setting and most of them are conducted on ADHD medications. Almost all of them say that these medications do in fact help with the disorder. Test scores are increased and so are grades. But this all depends when you start

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the child on the medication. If you start them on the medication too young it can in fact be bad for the childs learning; whereas if you start them after about 4th grade it doesnt affect them in a bad way it actually works magic if you will. In a recent study by Mayo Clinic they had 5,000 children they evaluated out of the 5,000, 327 of them had been diagnosed with ADHD. Out of those half were treated with brain stimulants like methylphenidate. With the stimulant they showed to be 1.8 times less likely to be held back a grade because of their learning abilities. When Should the Disorder be Treated? Many people think that ADHD should not be treated until about 4th grade. This is not a good idea because if you ignore the symptoms for that long the child could be at a 1st grade reading level in 4th grade which would be a hard thing to get the child to catch up in. If you diagnose the child in about kindergarten or first grade they wont fall as far behind and they will be much better off. But to start off the child should be monitored and have his or her learning performance monitored to see if they actually have ADHD or if they just need a little extra help. Then the child should be medicated, dont just let a doctor assume that the child has it right away. I think that is actually the major problem. I think that doctors do not thoroughly monitor all the symptoms I think they just automatically prescribe the medicine. Some of the children may actually need it or the child may just want attention and the child is getting it through the doctor and parents. Therefor the child should be monitored very well at a kind of young age. Do not wait too long.

Cost is an issue Another issue you encounter with the ADHD being diagnosed is that a lot of children who develop it do not have the financial support or insurance to be diagnosed or to get

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medication for it. The medication itself can be very expensive. Then you add in the cost of the diagnosis and all the testing you should go through to be considered to have ADHD. I think that could also be a very big part of the problem in todays school system. The Not So Good Side Some researchers say that children are drugged in school to make them smarter just like athletes are drugging themselves so that they are faster and stronger. Many children, especially as they get older and have friends influencing them, will fake the symptoms of ADHD just so they can get the medication to make them feel better or get them high. The childrens friends also want to buy the medication from them and pay them a lot of money. This is the result of parents being so hard on their kids that they feel like they need to take this medicine to kind of calm down and focus. The children also feel as if it kind of escapes themselves from reality and makes them feel more calm. In one interview with a student he said Either you have a prescription or a friend who does, this was in response to the research that students take other peoples medication and snort it before tests or exams so that it increases their brains ability. It is said that at least 1 in every 3 people who have been diagnosed with ADHD have faked their symptoms just to get a prescription for Adderall or Ritalin. Faking the Disorder Faking the disorder has become a big problem. A lot of children fake this so that they can get this medication to help them feel better and not struggle so much throughout school. The struggle comes from the expectations of parents and teachers. Children do worse in education when they abuse the diagnosis like this. There is not a lot of people doing this in Europe and countries that have schools for the special things that children want to do. But when you are in a school like in America where everyone is supposed to learn the same way and learn all of the

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same material a lot of students feel pressured and extremely stressed out leading to the abuse of the drugs used for ADHD.

Reducing Abuse Many researchers are saying that schools could start dope testing before the students take tests. This would be random and almost like in a job setting with random drug testing. This would maybe help reduce the problem although it wouldnt completely get rid of it. Favoritism Toward Those with ADHD Many students in school systems feel as if the people with this disorder get special attention. The children with ADHD get a longer time to do assignments, get to take tests home, and get longer to take SAT and ACT tests (which are supposed to be standardized). I think that a lot of students fake this so that they can get the special attention. Which a lot of kids now a days do not get when they are at home or from their parents. Effects on the Body Many different studies have been conducted to see the effects that the ADHD medications have on the body. These medications (Amphetamines) have been linked to many people having suicidal thoughts. Taking these medications also has a lot of horrible effects on young children they take them like the growth of the heart and other organs. It leads to depression and can trigger rage and violence. These medications are also linked to high blood pressure. Wrapping it all up With all of that being said about medication and the effects it has on learning, I can say that I agree with getting ADHD treated as long as a student is monitored just not automatically given the drug. Many researchers agree with that and they have done many studies and

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interviewed many people who have dealt with this problem. I also agree that it is a good idea that you randomly test students for the drugs before test so we can reduce the abuse that is happening with this medication.

Works Cited

McCallister 6 1. Mayo Clinic. "Medication For ADHD May Help Students Succeed At School." ScienceDaily, 24 Sep. 2007. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. 2. Chitale, Radha. "ADHD Drugs Help Affected Kids in School." ABC News. ABC, 27 Apr. 2009. Google. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. 3. Kosterich, Joe. "ADHD medications: Performance enhancing drugs of the mind." KevinMD.com. MedPageToday's, 30 Sept. 2012. Google. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.