Ritilin can have a negative inpact on a child's development

I disagree with what you are saying. I put my child on a very small dose of ritilin, half of the dose that the doctor gave him. He's been on the med for 4 yrs. He is 10 yrs old now. BUT I have never told my child what that medicine is. He is very confident and he just learned this year that he has Dyslexia - which I've known since 1st grade. I decided to give him the med to take the edge off of him. His teachers said he had ADHD but I beg to differ. My child is different in his thinking, he thinks outside the box. The medicine helps with his focus. No one knows he is on any medicine but me and his doctor. I chose not to tell him because I didn't want him thinking he can only do good when he takes it. By breaking his dose in half, it just knocks his edge off so he can concentrate at school-and we have none of the side effects that are associated with this med. Thus he has the confidence to do well in school. That way later in life he will not feel like he can't do anything because I've shown him he can. I do not give it to him in the summer or the weekends but I do bring to his attention when he's getting unfocused and I make him take control of himself to bring himself back in control. That way he is learning how to handle his own hyper-activity. I am very conscious of his sugar intake and we eat a lot of sugar free foods. But I think its all in how you handle the use of Ritilin. My child tends to act the same on or off the medicine. I give it to him so he can concentrate better. By him keeping his grades up that keeps his confidence up. That is why I never have told him that he takes Ritilin. To him, its a vitamin for his allergies. :)