22nd September 2003
Sorry for my sarcasm, but everyone is so convinced by the psychiatric community that without drugs kids with ADD are completely doomed to the street, drugs, crime etc. and frankly I don't like that kind of scare tactics, so forgive my inappropriate response of "great story" as it was misdirected at you.
My brother-in-law was correctly diagnoised but was lucky to have also went to a psychotherapist who did get to the bottom of his behavior...his loving but strict father who expected too much from his son and that pressure was too much. His father, being a "rocket scientist" literally (he was an engineer on the first space shuttle Columbia when it first flew), did expect certain grades from his kids.
So after the therapist told the mom this, she threw out the Ritalin, hired a tutor, and most sternly requested(aka threatened to leave with the children), that dad lay off with the pressures!! So the son, my brother-in-law, ended up with a happy story. Tutoring and no pressure helped him do better, although he didn't excel in grade/high school but managed to end up going to college and did well there.
I knew his dad, my father-inlaw, many years before he died and he was one of the most caring, loving father and grandfather anyone could hope for. His family was his world. He had only the best intentions for his sons.... but sometimes that isn't always what works!
Anyway, one can only guess the various reasons why kids end up going astray, but meds are not the absolute answer to avoiding a life of crime and such. Since the kids who shot up Columbine were taking Ritalin and Luvox, I'd say they provide no guarentees.
My brother-in-law was correctly diagnoised but was lucky to have also went to a psychotherapist who did get to the bottom of his behavior...his loving but strict father who expected too much from his son and that pressure was too much. His father, being a "rocket scientist" literally (he was an engineer on the first space shuttle Columbia when it first flew), did expect certain grades from his kids.
So after the therapist told the mom this, she threw out the Ritalin, hired a tutor, and most sternly requested(aka threatened to leave with the children), that dad lay off with the pressures!! So the son, my brother-in-law, ended up with a happy story. Tutoring and no pressure helped him do better, although he didn't excel in grade/high school but managed to end up going to college and did well there.
I knew his dad, my father-inlaw, many years before he died and he was one of the most caring, loving father and grandfather anyone could hope for. His family was his world. He had only the best intentions for his sons.... but sometimes that isn't always what works!
Anyway, one can only guess the various reasons why kids end up going astray, but meds are not the absolute answer to avoiding a life of crime and such. Since the kids who shot up Columbine were taking Ritalin and Luvox, I'd say they provide no guarentees.