October 28, 2013
Argumentative Essay

ADHD and Medicine for Children

When you think of zombies what do you imagine? Do you imagine green, bloody, brain-eating monsters or small, skinny, sleep deprived children? In many cases this is what ADHD medicine turns many children into – zombie-like creatures.
Stephanie’s daughter, Hannah, had always been a handful. Even as a preschooler, she would tear through the house like a tornado, shouting, roughhousing, and climbing on the furniture. Nothing seemed to have Hannah’s attention for very long. She would run away in the grocery store or in the mall. It was a full-time job parenting Hannah. Stephanie thought that her little girl was a normal child that got overly excited sometimes. Hannah’s second grade teacher began to notice how hard it was for her to calm Hannah down when she got too excited in class, so she talked to Stephanie about Hannah’s inattentiveness and disruptive behavior.
“It was a struggle to get her to do simple tasks such as, homework, coloring, and brushing her teeth. She was so energetic and hyper all of the time. She couldn’t stay focused on anything for long. She would get annoyed and move on to the next thing that caught her attention,” Stephanie says. Her concerns lead her to Hannah’s pediatrician who recommended an evaluation for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
ADHD is a common behavioral disorder that affects an estimated eight to ten percent of school-age children. Boys are about three times more likely than girls to be diagnosed with it, though it's not yet understood why. Children with ADHD have trouble focusing, act and react without thinking, and are hyperactive.
Most children act this way, but with ADHD children their excitement or anxiousness last more than normal. This makes it difficult for them to function socially, academically, or even at home.
New research has