How I picked my Senior Project

Shockingly enough, my senior project idea has been a question that has perplexed me since 7th grade. When my brother was a Senior in High School he discovered he had extreme ADD. Finally being diagnosed, it only solidified what my brother already knew about himself. From a younger sister perspective, even I could tell he had it. This was through countless conversations with my brother about how he could never focus in school and always had to run around in the backyard after school because he had "so much energy to burn after sitting for so long." After being diagnosed Michael told me that he knew he had it his whole life and always resented my parents for never getting him prescribed Adderall so he could "have the same benefits that people like [him] get." Hearing my parents defense of not wanting him to be dependant on a drug that wasn't necessary to his health so early on in life, made my perspective on subject change into a confusion. I started to wonder if all the kids who are dependant on Adderall to focus are really better off. This question has been in my mind ever since, and not so shockingly enough my opinion has continued to change. As my brother went onto college he discovered that after years of struggling to figure out how he learns, it finally clicked. Without medication he was able to find ways to cope with his ADD and thrive. About to graduate from Puget Sound, I thought nothing could be more suiting than to study the question that has perplexed me for so long: Does prescribing young children adderall help or hurt them in the long run?