Ritalin and ADHD

Answer:

The Davis Program is not recommended for children who are on medications to treat attention focusing problems at the time of the program.

Davis Facilitators are happy to consult with families whose children are on medication, but they usually will not provide the Davis Dyslexia Correction program to a child while on Ritalin or similar medications. Stimulant medications such as Ritalin will tend to interfere with the student’s ability to learn the control of their mind’s eye, and techniques such as dial-setting, which are a significant element of Davis methods.

Sometimes parents do elect to bring their children to Facilitators during school breaks when they can also take a Ritalin “vacation” However, the decision to interrupt medication can only be made by the parent along with the treating physician.

Many parents have children who are diagnosed as ADD or ADHD and do very well without medications after receiving either a Davis Dyslexia Correction or Davis Attention Mastery program. For example, one parent reported:

My son (age 14) was on Ritalin for years, since the first grade. He was so hyperactive that he was disruptive to the class. He initially did ok on the ritalin. The past two years he’s wanted me to let him go off the medication because he didn’t like the way he felt on it. Every time we tried school without the Ritalin, everything went down hill, so he went back on it. Getting into Davis Orientation counseling this summer was an attempt to let him get off it for good. Wow! His grades are better than they ever have been, and his LD teachers can’t believe the difference in his reading, writing, and organization. All these areas still need help, but I’m convinced that with more work in Davis methods (which we’re doing from the book without a facilitator) things will continue to get better.

(Answer by Abigail Marshall)