Briefly:
Because Ritalin is a controlled substance, aren't there some sort of guidelines regarding confirming that student has swallowed it?
I am battling my "anti-medication" ex-spouse over making sure our child takes her med. My daughter claims she has been spitting it out at the nurses office. I want to be prepared about the law before I confront the nurse.
Thanks

I'm not sure if the following is legal but perhaps you could share your concerns with the nurse. The nurse might be able to crush the tablets into a powder and mix with a drink. Make sure she drinks the whole cup. That way you can be sure.

Have you considered switching to something long acting like Concerta? It is methylphenidate the same as Ritalin but in a slow release formula. You could give it to her before she goes to school and it would last (depending on her metabolism) 8 to 12 hours. Then you would know it had been done and not have to ensure that the nurse supervised more carefully. There also tend to be less jarring ups and downs with Concerta because of the release pattern.

One concern though is that if your daughter is really fighting taking this medication, you may want to reconsider whether you are going to force her too. Hallowell and Ratey in their book Driven to Distraction really emphasis that there is limited benefit in forcing a child to take medication that changes her thinking patterns (their book Answers to Distraction has a question and answer format with a chapter just for kids and another one for teens that might help). If you haven't enlisted her support the chances of it being as effective are greatly dimenished and the chance that she'll keep on taking it as a teenager are almost nil. She and your ex may need to see what her life is like without it before they're willing to take another look at medication. As tough as it is -- don't make your daughter a battle ground with your ex husband. Her future and her acceptance and attitutude toward her ADD have too long reaching a consequences. Better to fall on her face a bit now, rather than later when the consequences are higher.

I was prescribed Ritalin as a child (I was extremely hyperactive) but my parents decided against it. It took a lot of extra time, energy, patience, tutors, etc but I survived. It probably would have been easier with meds for all of us (I take them now), but not easier than an all out war.

Take care,
Scattered