Losing Focus
Mrs. Bluebird and her colleagues have discovered that, with the school year winding down, a number of students with ADHD have gone off their meds. There's a logical explanation, it seems:
We are suspecting that many of our parents will attempt to save some money this summer by not renewing their child's medications (they are, after all, fairly pricey from what I've been told). In addition, I've discovered many parents take these kids off their meds during the summer anyway as it's a good time to make adjustments, see how they react without it, and deal with some of the negative side affects. So, since we're nearing the end of the school year, why bother refilling the prescriptions once they run out?
It doesn't make the last days of schools particularly easy on teachers, though.
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Comments
This makes me sad. Generic ritalin on insurance is like $10. I don't understand these so-called "drug holidays." Would you take a holiday from wearing your glasses? These medications improve your whole life, your relationships, everything. Not just schoolwork.
Posted by: teacherninja | May 19, 2009 11:58 AM
I don't know that "drug holidays" are particularly parent driven. I know that the docs I have been in contact with generally preferred to postpone changes in meds until summer, supposing that without the stress of school, things would be smoother. This is not necessarily the case. In the summer it is more difficult to maintain consistent structure and scheduling--simply because school is out and activities and involvements have to be pieced together from whatever is available. In addition, many summers my kid had to be in school making up stuff that he wasn't able to get during the school year.
But, I recall one year when things were crumbling at the end of the school year. I broached with our doc the subject of a possible med increase. We had a very careful, caring and sensitive doc at that time. He pointed out that he didn't like to increase meds at that particular time based on school difficulties simply because the schools tend to be more chaotic at that time and it didn't make sense to medicate kids in response to environmental changes. As it turned out, things got better over the summer.
I recall an attorney who specialized in education law. She also had a son who did not do well with chaos. She got written into his IEP that he did not have to attend the first two days of schools--as they were always so chaotic. It worked out better for him to wait until the school "got its act together" before beginning. I have thought often about the way that we regard schooling as grade by grade chunks--each having little to do with the next and the previous. I think that this is reflected in our flurry of pack up and start up activities at both ends of the school year.
Posted by: Margo/Mom | May 19, 2009 1:29 PM
Quite interesting! I have never heard of revamping medications during the summer time. That could explain alot of disruptive behavior that I have never been able to understand.
Thank you.
Posted by: Sally | June 4, 2009 12:40 PM