Does medicating kids deprive them of the chance(need) to develop their own coping strategies that might come in quite useful during during the unmedicated minutes hours and days that make up our lives?

I'm playing the devils advocate here.

I'd love to hear from people who took stimulates early like say 6 years old. Or parents of..

Me I don't know as I started stimulants at 20+.

Thinking about medicating Junior.

Medicating me was such an easy decision to make, but this one is tearing me up? Anybody else feel this way?

Well tell me, did you personally develop coping skills during all those years? If you are medicated NOW, then I'm guessing you probably didn't develop many of them, or "enough" anyway.
I was not medicated as a child, as I was just recently diagnosed. I think though that I'm learning more coping skills NOW, then I ever did before. I can actually do things now that help me, like make lists, write myself notes, etc. These are things that while non medicated I always knew I "should" do, but never did. I personally think if I could have developed and improved on these skills as a child, my adult life would be much more easy because I wouldn't be just starting to learn these things.
Just my opinion:)

I'm with lady M on this one..but it is a personal choice you need to make..

I will second that. When my son was medicated with Adderall at 11, he was able to come up with some wonderful coping skills, because his thoughts and his patterns became much more organized. He was also less frustrated with himself and things were much easier for him. So, from what you thought, for him it was actually backwards. The medication helped him find his own strategies, that he was even able to keep with him for a time after he stopped taking meds. That was our experience. It was beautiful.

Thanks for telling me what I already knew. I just couldn't find the whys in my head.

Like I said earlier it's kind of like the dark ages here. He is a complete mystery to the French school system. They've been telling me there's something going on here since he was three. But ADD inattentive is something they have never heard of. No he's not hyper- is their response.

I can't express enough how important I think this forum is. May I throw more questions out there? So happy to have found this place. It feels like home.

Monkeyche

Thanks for telling me what I already knew. I just couldn't find the whys in my head.

Like I said earlier it's kind of like the dark ages here. He is a complete mystery to the French school system. They've been telling me there's something going on here since he was three. But ADD inattentive is something they have never heard of. No he's not hyper- is their response.

I can't express enough how important I think this forum is. May I throw more questions out there? So happy to have found this place. It feels like home.

Monkeyche
It takes some time to resolve those questions in ourselves at times. Sometimes that's exactly what you need is another perspective, another voice, to pull it all together for you. Others experiences and opinions are always so helpful, even if you don't agree, it opens the door for more idea's and in the end you still have more information :).

Of course you can ask more questions. That's what these forums are for:D

Thanks for telling me what I already knew. I just couldn't find the whys in my head.

Like I said earlier it's kind of like the dark ages here. He is a complete mystery to the French school system. They've been telling me there's something going on here since he was three. But ADD inattentive is something they have never heard of. No he's not hyper- is their response.

I can't express enough how important I think this forum is. May I throw more questions out there? So happy to have found this place. It feels like home.

Monkeyche fire away..I am sure someone will be able to help :p

Thinking about medicating Junior.

Medicating me was such an easy decision to make, but this one is tearing me up? Anybody else feel this way?This is a toughy and I'm in the same place. I take Concerta happily and it really helps me. It's a much harder decision to make with my daughter. My husband's arguement is just what you asked, about learning coping strategies without medication first. The problem with this arguement is that if she hasn't learned them by now, what is going to be changing anytime soon and how far behind is she going to fall in the mean time. Hyperion put it this way, "It's kind of like saying not to wear glasses, because you might forget how to squint". There is something called the Matthew's effect where if one starts off behind the gap grows exponentially the farther they go.

I went through school unmedicated too (even though I was diagnosed) and I made it with good grades later in my education. My accomodation was to use anxiety to motivate me and motivate me it did. Of course, now I have a pretty significant anxiety disorder and started having mouth and stomach ulcers in my teens -- was that worth it?:confused: (I'm asking myself BTW not you - this is an issues I'm trying to work through too). Am I putting my daughter at risk of comorbid conditions that might potentially be more problematic than her ADHD?

Scattered

My child (8yo) has ADD along with anxiety issues. The untreated ADD really exacerbated the anxiety. Other problems showed up from the untreated ADD; self esteem issues, regret from the impulsive actions, social issues. It seems that any possible benefit from gaining coping strategies (and I am doubtful that there really is any benefit of being off meds) is outweighed by the benefits in other areas.

In one week my daughter went from hating and despising math, to saying math was fun and one of her favorite subjects. I don't think any "coping" strategy could accomplish that.