The journal Science reviews the current state of research on ADHD medication, finding that the drugs do not improve school performance or achievement in the long term. The article cites recent research by Janet Currie (et al.), who adds “It’s misleading to tell parents that this will help their children succeed, when there’s no evidence that it’s the case.”
Medication: The smart-pill oversell (Science)
Study: Adderall Doesn’t Help Kids Get Better Grades (The Atlantic)
How Adderall could actually hurt your kid’s grades (Quartz)
Currie, J., Stabile, M., Jones, L.; Do Stimulant Medications Improve Educational and Behavioral Oucomes for Children With ADHD? NBER Working Paper Series. (Revised January 2014)
I wish everyone would read this article who keeps recommending medication for “ADHD.” All the lines about “untreated ADHD” leading to delinquency, school failure, etc., are clearly not relevant, as “treatment” changes none of these variables in the slightest. And their argument that community treatment is of low quality also holds no water – that’s the treatment the community is receiving, and the data says it DOES NOT HELP!
Science is pretty mainstream. I hope the word starts to spread. It is hard to comprehend the magical belief system that underlies this practice. Of course, it’s easy to understand the financial motivations of the purveyors of the concept, but this science is not new and this “treatment” should have been tossed out as useless over longer than 12 months back in the 70s.
—- Steve
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Ritalin and Amphetamines (study steroids) may make you feel smarter and can boost your grades but it is an illusion.
They only increase the capacity to jam more stuff into short term memory for the test.
Its also an illusion that ‘ADHD’ kids are not paying attention, we could be looking at that squirrel out the window and still hear ever word a teacher is saying and retain everything interesting and important.
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Plainly they are paying attention to what interests them, and that ain’t the teacher.
At the age of 54 I’d still rather play with my friends in the playground than sit through double geography.
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And the data shows that you aren’t missing anything by not paying attention, because the kids who are artificially “interested” in it through stimulants apparently don’t learn any more than the kids watching the squirrels!
— Steve
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