Teens’ ADHD treatment gets low-dose boost
By Bruce Bower
Most children diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) still exhibit the condition’s symptoms as adolescents and continue to take large, daily doses of prescribed stimulants. Teenagers with ADHD improve their schoolwork and behave better in class when given a low dose of medication combined with behavioral training, a new study finds.
The investigation, published in the May Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, represents a rare attempt to track classroom learning in teens receiving ADHD treatment.
“For students who completed a behavioral-treatment program, those taking low doses of stimulant medication were more likely to get schoolwork done and to do it more accurately than when they were taking a placebo pill,” says psychologist Steven W. Evans of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.