I was one of those parents dead-set against any of that big-pharma medication for our son, who was and is hyper-bright and way ahead of his peers in every area except "classroom development" - which of course is bureaucratic Orwellian doublespeak for "the kid won't sit still and shut up like a good little lemming"

I still have a hurt in my heart for all the pain our son went through from teachers who had too many kids to manage, and our parental blind-spot in getting help for our son.

We finally jumped through all the hoops, got the assessments and diagnoses, got him on ADD / ADHD medication ( whole 'nother ordeal there) but it was truly like flipping a switch when he's on the meds. He's calmer, happier, everybody around him is happier, it's a virtuous cycle of improvement. Things got better, rapidly, for everyone involved.

FFWD 12 years and now he's a freshman in college with a full-ride scholarship. We couldn't be prouder.

I still largely agree with Ex - there's too much knee-jerk medication, and our schools are unable to transform themselves into the right model to teach in the modern world (whatever that "right approach" might be).

But. In our case, sample size 1, it all worked out pretty well.

Just my .02.