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My son is ADD and it was suggested that he be put on Ritalin-I insisted NOT to. Behavior therapy worked great for both of us as it taught him how to understand himself and it helped me to learn how to react to his behaviors. Many people I know have had kids on Ritalin-in the 80's and 90's it was the thing to do-now these kids are troubled young adults and they have been in jail or drug users or both. They were never taught to deal with their 'differentness'-it was merely suppressed by a chemical. Also, for what it is worth, it seems to me from dealing with my own child and working with kids that ADD is overused in analyzing a child's (particularly boys) behavior. While my son fit the criteria in a checklist given by the therapist, he was in no way as seriously off-balance in his actions or attitude as some of the kids I dealt with. And, while I could see how the children were both with Ritalin and those days they'd 'forget to take it', I feel bad for them and their futures-when they have to deal with life without their little pill.
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