Some do well without medication for a time and others are miserable. Some doctors recommend that children be taken off medication now and then to see if the child still needs it. This allows the family to assess the non-medicated child s ability to use newly acquired behavioral, organizational, and cognitive skills. Parents, physicians, and mental health workers need to be educated about the camp environment. Another reason to take the child off medication is to allow nutritional and sleep patterns to normalize in order to prevent retardation in growth and development.
Doctors often recommend temporarily stopping the drug during school breaks and summer vacations.
Discuss the holiday with parents. Request permission to talk with the family physician about expectations of the child at your camp and the possible need for medication to be continued during this time. Request that medication be sent along just in case it is needed. The parent and physician need to be contacted before the medication is resumed. The documentation as to why the medication was needed is very important.