Hey everyone, this is important information you're going to want to know if your child is perhaps a teenager and/or nearing graduation. College can be where it all comes undone for an ADHD student who has been medicated for a long time (before high school). Students, during early years, become reliant on the medication and parental prompting to take the initiative to do homework, studying, etc. I know that I was a straight A student in middle school and high school, but never developed any real study habits, and now it's coming back to me in college. You see, medication only lessens the extremity to which the major symptoms of the disorder (inattentiveness, hyperactivity, impulsivity) are shown. If you look, the child probably still has problems with short-term memory and some attention, keeping up with relevant things in a conversation (vs saying something totally random). In other words, the medicine may help a child focus and be more attentive and subdued, but it does not teach discipline or study habits. I, and my parents, who naturally assumed that I had picked up study habits with the medicine, found this out after my first and second semesters of college. I'm no Einstein, but the one thing for which I am best known is my intellect. I know what I'm capable of, and yet, I was unable to force myself to do better than "just enough to get by", and so my first semester I had a 2.5 gpa, then it went down to a 2.4, then 2.1, then a 1.9 cumulative. Currently mine is a 1.875. I've been medicated while I've been here and yet I have trouble remembering to check syllabi, emails from professors, and studying or doing homework. I don't want the next generation of ADHD college kids to have the same problems, or the parents to have the same worries, so please, try to make sure your child is prepared for college. I have missed midterms because the medication kept me up late and I was not able to wake up to my alarm clock. These are serious issues that should not be taken lightly, because if you get in a rut like this every time you "rebound" and yes, you rebound psychologically with every one, except maybe Strattera, you are more likely to have a bout of depression, made worse by a sense of "failure". Grades may be everything in high school, but it's how the child is able to get the good grades that matters, because they don't have a parent prodding them in college. Sorry if this has seemed more like a complaint or venting, but I hope it helps. Hopefully, what happened to me doesn't happen often, but I have been told otherwise by the LD services at my school, so I hope this all helps.
ah see i wasn't medicated during high school (i was on ritalin from the time i was little til 14). i went to an alternative boarding school and they were FANTASTIC at teaching good study habits. i learned to work efficiently w/o meds and then i got to college and my attention span (or lack thereof) started causing problems. now i'm on adderall and the combination of that and my good study habits seems to be working pretty well for me
YOU SUCK! Just kiddin. See, i'm still not in the LD services thing yet, which is really being a pain for me. glad to see my theory works, hahaIm sorry to hear that your having such serious issues in college but this is not the case for my son. What medication does is it unlocks the potential in the child and eliminates the lack of focus and impulsivity factor. As a result of that, in conjunction with behavior modification, the child does learn to develop good study habits and discipline and eventually learns to compensate for their limitations. Stimulant medication does not subdue the child. It eliminates the element of distratibility thus allows the child to focus instead of having their thoughts all over the place. When the child succeeds, its the child that deserves the credit, not the medication. When the child goes to college the parents can continue to be a support system and the great thing about many colleges is that they have an office of disability that can provide many support services for the ADHD student. If the student has an IEP, they can utilize the accomodations setforth on the IEP. For example, extra time for test taking, use of a calculater, use of a tape recorder and use of a laptop. If your on medication and you have to force yourself to do better and your also rebounding, perhaps you need to explore having the dose adjusted or changed becasue clearly, the medication is not giving you maximum benefit and if your rebounding, if your on long acting stimulant medication, you made need a dose of short acting ritilan which would eliminate the rebound. I suggest that you talk to your doctor about the fact that your struggling and rebounding, despite being on medication. Also, if your college has a disabiltiy services I suggest you take full advantage of the support services offered as that plus the right medication can make all the difference