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Sylvia Rimm On Raising Kids: Boy Could Be Bored

Sylvia Rimm

Q. Our 12-year-old son has been on Straterra for the past year and has always hated taking the pills. We've spoken with his doctor who said that perhaps the dosage wasn't correct. Despite this new dosage, he still hates taking his pills. He says they make him burp a lot. We've said that if he doesn't want to take the medication, he has to prove to us that he doesn't need it by listening and focusing when we, or his teachers, speak to him. At a recent parent-teacher conference all six teachers commented on how he "zones out" during class, despite getting decent grades. He'd get higher grades if he'd turn in his assignments. Most of his test grades are between 85 and 100, but his missing homework greatly affects his grades. Could you suggest something? Is ADHD something one outgrows? My husband says that two co-workers who say they're ADHD are completely useless without their medications, and he can tell when they've forgotten to take them. Thank you for your consideration.

A. Attention disorders are variable and often a matter of degree. Some children and adults have extreme disorders, while others attend well to activities that interest them and struggle only when their tasks are uninteresting. Some have difficulty paying attention in childhood and seem to outgrow their problems in adolescence or adulthood, while others continue to require medication during their adult lives.

There are also many medications appropriate for attention problems, but unfortunately there aren't formulas to determine those that work best for specific children, so trial and error are often involved in determining the right prescription. If Straterra isn't helping your son, and I assume it isn't since he continues to have many missing assignments, either the medication is wrong or the diagnosis of an attention problem is wrong. If he consistently gets high grades on his tests, it does seem that the homework could be unchallenging. It could also means that he struggles with handwriting (a common problem for many boys) or would just rather be playing video games or baseball. Even his zoning out in class could be an indication of boredom, since he learns the material anyway. Perhaps he already knows the material, or maybe the zoning out only reflects poor social skills and he's paying attention without appearing to do so.

You can see how complicated your son's issue can really be. If medication doesn't help your son’s problem and he’s resistant to taking it, go back to your physician until that problem is solved or go to a psychologist for a full evaluation, so you can determine if there are alternative causes of your son's problem. My book "Why Bright Kids Get Poor Grades And What You Can Do About It" (Great Potential Press, 2008) may also be helpful to you in identifying potential causes of your son's problem.

For free newsletters about "Why Bright Kids Get Poor Grades" or ADHD, send a large, self-addressed, stamped envelope to P.O. Box 32, Watertown, WI, 53094, or go to www.sylviarimm.com for more parenting information.

Dr. Sylvia B. Rimm is the director of the Family Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, a clinical professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the author of many books on parenting. More information on raising kids is available at www.sylviarimm.com. Please send questions to: Sylvia B. Rimm on Raising Kids, P.O. Box 32, Watertown, WI 53094 or srimm@sylviarimm.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

This news arrived on: 01/07/2009

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