Letter to the Editor (not published)

The story on the front page of today's Washington Post has me quite worried about the message that parents will take away. The major headline indicates that long-term use of ADHD medications has deleterious effects, and that these medicines only provide short term improvements. As a person who would today have this diagnosis (inattentive type, called "daydreaming" in the '60's and 70's), and as a parent of an ADHD (inattentive type) child, I have some problems with this reporting and the study:
1) The report and study look at broad groups, not at individual students who may or may not benefit from medication. It's not until paragraph 18 at the bottom of page A7 that psychiatrists are quoted having "emphasized the importance of individualizing treatment" which is, after all, the point of having treatment.
2) The "short term" improvements to which the study and reporting refer is two years, which is 25% of the life of an 8-year-old third grader. For a kid who can't sit still and focus in class, what are the implications of having two years of being able to do so? For the 14-year-old 9th-grader, what does it mean to be able to be intellectually present in class for half of high school? Two years of learning to cope and manage oneself in school is a large percentage of a child's life. It's not until the end of the story that it's noted that medication has "a valuable role: they buy parents and clinicians time to teach youngsters behavioral strategies to combat inattention and hyperactivity."
3) A psychologist is quoted as saying "If you want something for tomorrow, medication is the best, but if you want something three years from now, it does not matter." This is not a person who sees kids who can't otherwise manage themselves in a school setting, a student for whom getting through "tomorrow" successfully may be a huge triumph. Without those series of triumphant tomorrows where is that student in three years? Not terribly engaged in school is my guess.
Having taught for 30 years now, I know that medicine is not right for every child with a diagnosis of ADHD, but I've known too many students who would never have gotten through school without medicine. At The Nora School, every child is a study of "one," a study for which there is no broad brush. Some of our students have tried medication and have seen no benefit, others could not be in the classroom without it. The key is to know your child, be sensitive to their physical and emotional development, be willing to try a variety of strategies, and be conscious that no strategy will likely last forever. In our ADD society's never-ending quest for the black and white answer to cure whatever ails us, we once again are told a story where the shades of grey are between the lines.