Ra - I once shared your opinion. I thought putting children on medication at that age was lazy, irresponsible, and dangerous.

As I said many times, I went to a specialist; actually it was a husband and wife team. He was an MD, she had many degrees, MD, psych, specifically child behavior and something to do with disabilities. The documentation we had to submit to get an appointment was mind boggling. The initial consultation was a five day process that was a 6 hours 3 of the five, 4 hours the other 2. When the diet therapy did not work, we tried a variety of other things. I WAS NOT going to medicate my six year old child. (He is 23 and is not nor has ever been a discipline problem).

The female Dr. Z and I got into a heated discussion (she was very rational, I was not) about this. She pointed out all of the hoops I had to jump through to get my son into their program, all of the things that we'd tried over the previous year in an effort to make his life easier for him (He was also dealing with learning disabilities). She pointed out that less than 30% of the children in their program required medication, they felt he was one of those 30%. I eventually agreed to medicate him only on school days.

The difference was night and day. Homework that previously took hours with him dilligently working took less than an hour. He was MUCH less frustrated and overwhelmed. So while I respect the fact you are entitled to your opinion, it is my opinion that withholding that medication and making my child's life more difficult is more wrong. Any medication has the potential to be abused.