In my view, there’s no medical or scientific reason for concern, provided they’re administering the medication in accordance with a doctor’s prescription. Ritalin, Dexedrine, and other ADHD medications have an outstanding safety record in the treatment of ADHD. And occasional errors in administering the drugs aren’t likely to cause any long-term harm. The most common error is likely to be a missed dose. But since most of these drugs don’t accumulate in the body, an occasional missed dose won’t make a difference in the long run. If a child misses his midday dose, he’ll probably have a difficult time in the afternoon, but once he takes his next scheduled dose he’ll be back where he should be. Potentially more serious is a case in which a child receives an incorrect dose–either because she inadvertently is given a second dose or because she gets someone else’s prescription by accident. But here, too, the physical risks aren’t that great if a child receives, say, a double dose on a single occasion. (Of course, it’s still important to know that the mixup occurred, so that you don’t think your child is having trouble tolerating her usual dosage. And if medication errors are occurring frequently, you need to find out why and ensure that the school promptly takes steps to fix the problem.) Despite the relative safety of ADHD medications, however, a growing number of schools are refusing to get involved in administering them. Many cite the administrative burden; some also say they don’t want to be responsible for making sure the child complies with his medication regimen. We can debate whether these concerns are justified, but the bottom line is that if your school won’t administer medication during school hours, you have a number of choices:
