When a child is diagnosed with ADHD, a question comes to a parent’s mind about whether or not medications would be beneficial for their child. As a parent of a child who has this condition, I understand there are positive and negative benefits about medications that my child could take. Children who have ADHD have impulse control issues, hyperactiveity, or inattentive. Should he have behavioral therapy, medications, or a combination of the two? What are the factors to look at when making that decision?
My question on whether children who have ADHD should use medication, behavioral management or both began when I went to the Anoka Technical College library website and searched ADHD behavioral management. At the CQ Researcher, site I found and article by Gregory Fabiano and William Pelham Jr. who are graduate students from University at Buffalo titled “Push to Medicate ADHD Children Ignores Successes of Behavioral Treatment”. The article addresses that there an alternative to medications for parents and children who have been diagnosed with ADHD in the form of behavior management. Many children have parents who put them on medications as recommended by their pediatrician and their teacher at school. According to Pelham (2004), “Unfortunately, the end result is that many parents of ADHD children are not made aware that there is a well-established, evidence-based alternative to medication behavior therapy” (p. 94). The article suggests that if