Nearly half of all pre-schoolers with ADHD are on medication [WashingtonPost.com]

The first national survey of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder shows that nearly half of pre-schoolers are on medication for the condition, and more than a fifth were receiving neither of the recommended therapies.

American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines call for the use of behavioral therapy first with children younger than 6 because the long-term impacts of medications on developing brains are not well known. But the data show that 46.6 percent of the pre-school aged children with the disorder had taken medication alone or with behavioral therapy in the previous week, and 53.2 percent had used behavioral therapy in the previous year. Another 21. 4 percent received neither therapy. The data come from the 2009-2010 National Survey of Children With Special Health Care Needs.

[For more of this story, written by Lenny Bernstein, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/...d-are-on-medication/]