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While I wish that I could answer no to the question, "Can ADHD in friends put your child in danger?" I cannot. I speak not only as a mother of a 16 year old ADHD daughter, but also as a professional at the MA level, and having years in an acute hospital setting. When people think of the term ADHD, they often are thinking of the little hyperactive neighbor child that bounces off the walls and has risk taking behaviors that net him many injuries. People also think of the ADD child that seems to be daydreaming and in a world of their own. In answering this question, I need to take more of the factors used to determine ADHD. One of these factors is impulsivity.

Many children with ADHD are extremely impulsive. When you factor this piece of the puzzle into hyper active and a lack of attention, ADHD can become a very dangerous disorder. There is not a magic pill. Medication can be very helpful; however, it does not always cure or even come close to extinguishing the behaviors. My own child required a very high dose of stimulant and she still had impulsivity. She could focus better on the things she wanted to focus on, but their was an impulsive factor that medications did not address. In the acute care setting I have observed that every child is different. Every child needs their own course of medication and sometimes this has to be given at an exact and specific time with other medications in order to notice positive change. The child might receive a dose of stimulant first thing in the morning, but by 4pm the child is crashing and exhibiting very bad behavior. This child might need a second dose of the stimulant not at 4pm, rather, he might be prescribed a dose at 3pm to ward off the crashing of the morning dose.

One of the more common drugs for impulsivity is Clonidine. At first it seems a life saver because it makes the child very sleepy; however, this will wear off within a few weeks of its usage. Frequently this medication in combination with a stimulant will take care of the ADHD child's impulsivity and that is a positive. Unfortunately there are side effects to each drug that may necessitate discontinuing their usage, and, their are children that do not respond 100% to medication therapy. At this point the child might be re-evaluated for other disorders.

Assuming that other disorders are ruled out and medication therapy is not the quick fix so many parents, including myself, think and want it to be, one is left with the original question, "Can ADHD

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