My reaction

"Raising the Ritalin Generation" By: Bronwen Hruska, New York Times Aug 19 2012

This article was written about a young boy that was put on Ritalin in 4th grade to help him be a better more productive student. The student was observed for a few months with dosage changes until he was perceived as "normal" I found it odd that a medication be given just to make a child learn like all others. I mean after all every child learns differently and at all different levels. The author of this article also points out that no official tests were ever done; it was only the opinions of his teachers along with a few interviews. The author also mentions a list of side effects that includes death if a child has serious health issues. I thought it was crazy that a child be put on this medication when they haven't even reached puberty yet and there’s really still a lot that can be unnoticed health wise this young and giving a child medication that can potentially kill them just to make them learn better seems a little selfish. The interesting part of this article was that the child decided it was too dangerous and stopped taking it and was fine until he started 5th grade, they then again started to drug him with no results. There were also a lot of complaints about that teacher when it came to teaching boys in the classroom. This just suggested to me that its not about what medicine that you take its about how you are taught and the time that is spent with you during school. That child made it to high school as an honor student that was totally healthy, and unmediated. In my opinion this just goes to show you that children learn at all different levels, and they also grow mentally and physically different as well, it’s not fair to make them take drugs just to make them numb to their normal feelings just so that they focus on what you want them to. This was definitely a turning point for me in my research, this was the first article that I found that gave me results before during and after the drugs were taken and how this child was affected academically.

"Ritalin Fone Right: Children, Medications, and ADHD" By: Dr. John Grohol Oct 10 2012

This source was an online article that was written by a Doctor that had observed children with behavioral and learning disorders for over a decade. These children were given drugs, therapy, a mix of both, and then set up in an environment that had a different learning structure. The results showed how children that were given a mixture of drugs with therapy seemed to be more successful. Although these children were randomly selected I still wonder what other factors they considered in their selection of children. The author also mentions the possibility of how these children get these issues. I think that it is very important for us to look at their family history as well as their everyday environment to see if there is any correlation. I also wish that the author would have explained what therapy consists of and how long these children should have to take the medicine and therapy to be a normal functioning child. I felt that the source was very one sided but lacked a lot of real evidence. It did however open my eyes to factors that may contribute to these children’s physiological wellbeing. Are they a product of their environment? Or are they born with a certain unbalance of chemicals that affect their behaviors. I also wonder if a child can be medicated for a certain amount of time before they are cured or is it ever really curable? I have a lot to still find out.