Nonmedication treatment for ADHD includes cognitive behavioral therapy, extra time on tests, creating lists (what to put in the school backpack, for example), bouncy bands and wiggle seats for desks. Additionally, during the months that children were learning remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, impaired communication, eye strain, distractions, and anxiety were also reported, largely as a result of the struggle with virtual and hybrid learning. When discussing what ADHD looks like, Prange explained that the main component is poor executive functioning in tasks that include planning, time management, attention, organization, self-control, and others. Also in this survey, it was reported that 77% of these children were receiving some form of treatment, and roughly 32% of that group received both behavioral and medication treatment.
Boys are diagnosed twice as frequently as girls.
For the purposes of this discussion, however, we are going to focus on medications that have been approved in the past 5 years.”Īccording to a national survey in 2016, roughly 6 million children in the United States have been diagnosed with ADHD. Erin O’Connor Prange, MSN, CRNP, from Children’s Hospital Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, began her session by explaining, “Drugs for ADHD have been in the market for more than 45 years, beginning with Ritalin, which was approved in 1955.
