Buffalo is one of 40 sites involved in testing its use in children. Ritalin must be taken three times a day to achieve the necessary effect, a regimen that is particularly difficult for school-age children. There are few school nurses anymore, which means the children have to receive their medicine from the teacher or from someone in the school office.
Kids have to remember to do that.
The problems get worse as they get older, because teens don't want their friends to see them taking medication. Participants in both trials must be between the ages of 6 and 12. For the methylphenidate trial, children must be receiving Ritalin currently and responding well to it. The trial will be conducted at UB on five consecutive Saturdays. They will be assigned randomly to a drug regimen that will vary each week.