Kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who were on medication scored slightly higher on standardized math and reading tests than their unmedicated peers.
Compared with unmedicated kids, average scores for medicated children were almost three points higher in math and more than five points higher in reading. The difference amounts to about three months ahead in reading and two months in math.
A couple thoughts on this: First, all other things being equal (and they are of course not always equal), are a few points upside on a standardized test worth the potential downside of kids on daily meds? Second, now you can definitely expect some highly competitive parents to put their symptom-free kids on ADHD drugs to give them an edge getting into the right school, etc.
As mentioned in a previous post, the potential edge provided by ADHD drugs is being sought by college students as well.
