INTERVIEWER: Do you have any thoughts on the controversy surrounding medication and ADHD?

MOM: Well, I don’t have the numbers but I certainly see enough television shows, news reports that call our attention to it of children being over medicated. I think the children who need it should not be denied the medication. There’s a lot of fear out there from people that I talk to about putting children on medication. I think that their own fears are getting in the way of helping some of the children that have problems and really need to address it and not their fears and educate themselves about the medications. I don’t really think that children should be taking medications because their parents aren’t properly addressing the problems. I think that a parent really needs to look at how they’re interacting with the child first and see if behavior modification techniques work and what they might be doing to aggravate a problem and what they can do to help a problem. When things are progressively being tried and failing to accomplish what is necessary for the child’s well-being, be it learning or just social interaction, then I think that medication is the next choice and it can be used without fear, but I don’t believe in a hasty decision to put a child on medication.