ADHD Medication Shortage: How is it affecting learning?

Payton Crawford

10/23/2023

The ADHD medication shortage is having an extreme effect on learning and not in a good way; according to a New York Times newspaper article over the topic, The Collateral Damage of A.D.H.D. Drug Shortages, children and teenagers with no medication are struggling with self esteem and school work. 

 Most children with ADHD are not able to stay on task with school work because they aren't able to focus or because they struggle with motivation, like Kari Debbink’s daughter who is about to enter her senior year of high school, who keeps losing motivation to do her school work when she doesn’t have her medication called Concerta. Her grades which had typically been B’s have plummeted to failing grades, also bringing down her confidence. Debbink, referring to her daughter, said,  “once she got behind she couldn’t catch up” and “by the end of the year we were just trying to prevent her from failing.” 

Most children with ADHD feel like themselves when they are on their medication, but without medication they may not feel like themselves anymore. For example, Drew Tolliver (age 12) said “when on my medication I feel like I know myself. I feel like a better me, like how myself should be.” The only way to get his medication is to go to a pharmacy 40 minutes away from his mom’s work who works 10 hour shifts 6 times a week. Low self esteem can affect learning because children stop feeling like they are good enough to do the work and lose motivation to do anything, making a huge impact on their school life.  

Since New Tech is a project based learning school and projects often take lots of time to complete, students can lose motivation and focus, causing them to fall behind and lose confidence after not being able to complete projects. 

In conclusion, the ADHD medication shortage affects learning in extreme ways and we need to figure out how to solve this problem to help children who have ADHD so parents can stop taking their children either completely off their medication or rationing the medicine.

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