According to research by a team of experts from the Center for Children and Families of the FIU revealed that i stimulant drugs prescribed to ADHD children to improve them school performances they don’t actually help them learn.
The results of the study have been published in the scientific journal Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Stimulant Drugs for ADHD Children: Here’s what the research says
For decades, most doctors, parents and teachers believed that stimulant medications were the right support for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that would help them in their academic achievement.. About 10% of children in the United States are diagnosed with ADHD and more than 90% of them are prescribed stimulant medications as therapy as most doctors believe that learning-oriented drug therapies will produce good results in school performance.
“Doctors and educators believe that medications help children with ADHD learn because they complete more seat work and spend more time on the task when therapies are prescribed“, he has declared William E. Pelham, Jr., senior author of the study e director of the Center for Children and Families. “Unfortunately, we found that the drugs had no impact on learning the actual curriculum content ”.
In order to develop this research, the researchers recruited 173 children between the ages of 7 and 12 with ADHD who participated in the centre’s summer treatment program, a comprehensive eight-week summer camp program for children with ADHD and related behavioral, emotional and learning challenges.
The children completed two consecutive phases of the 25-minute daily instruction on vocabulary and content from subject areas in science and social studies. The education provided to each student during the three-week phases was at the determined class level. Certified teachers and assistants taught the material to groups of 10-14 children in a school setting.
Each child was randomized to be treated with a sustained-release stimulant drug during the first or second phase of education, receiving a placebo during the other.. Contrary to expectations, the researchers found that the children learned the same amount of science, social studies, and vocabulary content whether they were taking the drug or the placebo.
Although the medications did not improve learning, the study showed that the medications helped the children complete more seating and improve their classroom behavior as expected. While taking medication, the children completed 37% more math problems per minute and 53% fewer classroom rule violations per hour.
Furthermore, as already verified with previous studies, The researchers revealed that the drugs slightly helped improve test scores by the time drug therapy was given on the day of the test, but not enough to boost most children’s grades. For example, drugs helped children increase by an average of 1.7 percentage points on 100 science and social studies tests.
Improving school performance is important for children with ADHD because compared to their peers, children with ADHD exhibit more behavior outside of classroom activities, receive lower grades, and score lower test scores. They are also more likely to receive special education services, be held for a degree, and drop out before graduation. Poor school performance is one of the most debilitating impairments associated with ADHD, often leading to the long-term professional and financial difficulties that characterize ADHD in adulthood.
A previous study led by Pelham, a pioneer in ADHD research and treatment, highlighted how behavior therapy, when used first, is less expensive and more effective than stimulant drug therapies for children with ADHD. Stimulants are most effective as a second-line supplemental treatment option for those who need them and at lower doses than normally prescribed. Additionally, the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (SDBP) has published new clinical lines that strongly recommend behavioral therapy as a first-line treatment for young people with ADHD.
“Our research has found time and time again that behavioral intervention is best for children with ADHD because they, their teachers and their parents learn skills and strategies that will help them succeed in school, at home and in relationships at long term“Said Pelham. “Giving stimulant drugs to our children does not solve the problem, it only temporarily removes the symptoms. Instead, families should focus on behavioral interventions first and only add medications as needed. “
Behavioral therapies and academic interventions that significantly improve long-term functional impairment for young people with ADHD include parental training and classroom management tools such as a daily report card and specific school performance services such as 504 plans [alloggi forniti ai sensi della Sezione 504 del Rehabilitation Act del 1973] and individualized educational plans for special education (IEP).
The researchers noted that the study was conducted in a controlled environment similar to a summer school and the results could be different in a normal school setting. They would like to replicate this study in a natural school setting using academic programs for one school year to further evaluate the impact of stimulant drugs on learning.
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