When we moved to Texas, the school system wanted to put my son (7 years old) on Ritalin. In Virginia he had started kindergarten at 5. In Texas they don't start until 6. So my son was effectively put back among his age peers but not his educational functioning peers. Add to this scenario that when he was in Virginia his skill level was 2nd and 3rd grade reading and comprehension range while he was in kindergarten. He could read, write (though he hated writing) and do simple maths.

The Texas school said... we cannot control him. He is always talking, always out of his seat and "helping" other children do their work. Either he goes on ritalin or he will be removed. No lie. The school referred us to a child neurologist who did find mild hyperactivity, high intelligence and very low attention span.

We tried ritalin for 3 months. He became a zombie part of the time, part of the time a monster who tried to strangle his 2 year old sister and burn the house down. Who broke things not in curiosity to find out how they worked, but by smashing them in anger. Anger! There was an anger I had never seen in my normally happy little boy. In short I had been given a changeling. He was unhappy in the extreme while on Ritalin, so I took him off and worked with the school to educate him at home part of the week.

To be honest he was never the same child after he was on Ritalin that short time. School was more often than not a huge problem for him. He no longer knew how to behave around peers. He was bullied by students and teachers, especially for knowing things beyond what they deemed his remit.

Yet he became at network engineer under his own study. Not from college. But by reading the books and solving problems for himself. For fun he writes computer programs in binary on table napkins. Since he was 10 years old, he could sit for hours with a fishing pole in his hand. Now tell me this is someone with ADHD.