Many of us, as parents with ADHD children, have questions about ADHD treatment, even after diagnoses. The decision about weather or not to medicate our children is a difficult one. Social stigma has painted a picture of the disorder over the years and the opinions of our doctors and our friends and family can be conflicting. Before deciding about the best way to help our children, we need to be informed about what ADHD really is and what medicating them really means.

A little over thirty years ago the theory of Attention Deficit Disorder was developed to explain why children display hyperactivity, inattention, defiance, and acting out. This theory has come a long way and has been a subject of scrutiny, debate, and no small amount of speculation by both the medical community and society at large.

In the 80s and 90s many people thought of ADD as a catch all explanation for misbehavior in children. Medicating children for ADD was thought of as a method of subduing them. Parents and teachers of children who had been diagnosed with the disorder were criticized for seeking a medical solution to handle more difficult behavior issues. As opposed to using regular disciplinary actions, medication seemed to be the easier way to placate over active children. Doctors were criticized for over diagnosing ADD in order to placate overzealous parents and teachers.

Since then, while many have retained these opinions, there has been an increase in understanding and awareness of this disorder. In the past two decades there have been large strides in the field of brain research. ADD is now more commonly referred to as ADHD, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, and has been scientifically validated. We can now prove scientifically what many medical practitioners have known all along. ADHD is an actual disorder causing missteps in the thinking process. Extraneous circumstances such as information over load or disruptions to comfort zones or routines can cause information processing to falter.

Medicating children was never about managing behaviors. It was about stimulating thinking. The most common form of ADHD in children causes them to react to thinking discomfort by acting without thinking. Fidgeting or talking to much, inability to focus on task, acting out and defying instruction, are all common reactions to the inability to process information while under perceived duress. Medication is meant to stimulate thinking in order to help with the discomfort, which in turn, minimizes the symptoms.

Understanding the realities of ADHD can go a long way to influencing our decision on whether or not to medicate our children. It is, however, important to understand the actual considerations required, if taking the medication route, and it is even more important to understand the role we play as parents in helping our children to cope with ADHD.

Medication is always tricky business. While people are, in essence, biologically the same, the specifics of the functionality of our bodies tends to vary greatly from person to person. Finding a medication and dosage that works the way we want it to is not always, strictly speaking, an easy ordeal. Many parents may not have the desire to watch their children undergo the experimental process necessary in order to manage ADHD medically.

Long term effects of drugs for ADHD are also a consideration. Little is known about how ADHD medications affect the body beyond the three year mark. Medicating ADHD is, unfortunately, not a cure, but a coping tool. It is necessary to continue to take the drugs in order to manage thinking dysfunction caused by the disorder.

In any case, the role we take at home is essential to helping our children to cope with the disorder. Establishing order and maintaining an environment to help our children to think is key. We need to open up a line of communication and help our children to understand their disorder. We need to inform others who have contact with our children, like their teachers and other parents. Many believe that home support is enough.

Parents of ADHD children know how difficult it is to live with having to watch their children go through problems caused by the disorder. Being socially out-casted, having difficulties with school, and having difficulties with learning in general are only some of the horrific effects. The lesser talked about problem however, is the isolation that parents feel.

Social stigma, lack of understanding, and the human propensity to judge others in order to make ourselves feel better are all culprits in making parents feel alone. Know that there is plenty of support out there. Reaching out to other parents to seek counsel and vent your frustrations can help you to keep up your strength. Your children need it, and so do you.

Deciding on treatment for ADHD children is a matter of understanding the possible solutions. Like any decision it is best to consider all of the elements, and their implications. This includes the most neglected one, you. Whatever you decide, your involvement, as a parent, with your ADHD child is the most import aspect to helping your child to overcome.