ADHD treatment: Pills for your kid? Try this instead

Editor’s Note: Peggy Drexler is the author of “Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family” and “Raising Boys Without Men.” She is an assistant professor of psychology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and a former gender scholar at Stanford University. Story highlights Peggy Drexler: Study says modifying behavior before taking pills produces better outcomes She says parents are quick to medicate kids when faced with hard work of a behavior plan But parents owe it to their children to try behavioral modification first, Drexler says CNN — You likely first heard about attention-deficit disorder, or ADD, in the early 1980s when the condition came onto the popular radar under that label, and parents and teachers scrambled to learn about treatment. And by the time many parents seek help for children with ADHD or other behavioral issues, they’re often at their wits’ end and seeking an immediate solution. They feel judged by schools and other parents for not being able to “control their kids.” Video Ad Feedback Brain training to help with anxiety and ADHD 02:57 - Source: CNN One 2012 study pointed to the stigma attached to ADHD – for those who have been diagnosed as well as those who are related to them. But a new report from the world of child psychology has turned up something that is good news to those who preach the “treat the cause, not the symptom” brand of care: that children diagnosed with ADHD improve more quickly when their treatment involves behavior modification first, and then medication, rather than the other way around – which, of course, is the more common route.