Dear Parent,

After much consideration, I have decided to no longer prescribe stimulant drugs for the management of ADD/ADHD. Instead, I will be implementing a more comprehensive but necessary approach to help you and your child overcome this complex, confusing, and overly-used diagnosis.

We will focus on family and educational dynamics contributing to your child’s behavior, and hopefully make practical and effective changes in the parenting, environment, and instruction of your child to achieve a drug-free solution to this problem.

As a father of six and a pediatrician who has been using drugs to treat this problem for nearly twenty years, I have seen first-hand the futility and harm of using powerful, mind-altering agents not only in individual children and families, but also in the community. I am hopeful that as a parent, you will come to this same conviction for the sake of your child. Since I would never give these drugs to my own children, I can no longer justify giving them to yours.

I will be asking all adults who care for your child, including your child’s teacher, to be actively involved in managing this problem, and will discuss this in more detail at your next follow-up visit.

For those who desire long term stimulant use, I will continue to prescribe your child’s medication until September 1, 2013. This gives you six months to make arrangements for another physician to take on this task.

Respectfully,

Dr. Ryan

For the PDF version click here